PROLOGUE
1598. Boris Godunov has retreated to the Novodievichy Monastery near Moscow. The Streltsy police force a crowd to beg Boris to become Tsar of Russia. The boyar Shchelkalov announces that Boris still refuses the throne and sorrows over Russia’s insoluble misery. A procession of pilgrims prays to God for help. The Streltsy warn the crowd to be at the Kremlin the next morning ready to cheer.The following day the bells of Moscow herald the coronation of Boris. On a square in the Kremlin, the new tsar, overcome by fear and melancholy, implores God to look kindly on him. He invites the people to a feast. The people cheer.

序幕
1598年。鮑里斯·戈杜諾夫撤退到了莫斯科附近的新聖女修道院。負責治安工作的射手衞隊強迫民眾到修道院請願，懇求鮑里斯成為俄國沙皇。波雅爾謝爾卡諾夫宣稱鮑里斯依然拒絕皇位，並且為俄羅斯解決不了的苦難深感悲痛。一列朝聖者���旁祈求������。此時射手衞隊指令群眾翌日早上務必到克里姆林宮前集合，隨時準備慶賀。翌日，莫斯科各地的鐘聲響起，預告新沙皇鮑里斯的加冕。克里姆林宮內的廣場上，內心充滿恐懼和鬱結的新沙皇懇求上天眷顧。鮑里斯邀請群眾赴宴一起慶祝。眾人高聲歡呼。


ACT I
1603. In the Chudov Monastery, the monk Pimen is writing the last chapter of his history of Russia. The novice Grigori awakens from a nightmare and expresses regret that he hasn’t tasted glory in war and society. He questions Pimen about the dead Tsarevich Dimitri, rightful heir to Boris’s throne. Pimen recounts the events of Dimitri’s murder (the assassins implicated Boris before they died) and remarks that the tsarevich would have been Grigori’s age. Alone, Grigori condemns Boris and decides to escape the cloister.

Now on a mission to expose Boris and proclaim himself the Tsarevich Dimitri, Grigori is trying to cross into Lithuania to find support for his cause. He falls in with two vagrant monks, Varlaam and Missail, at an inn near the border, and uses them as cover. No sooner has he asked directions to the border from the innkeeper, who warns that the frontier is heavily patrolled, than a police officer enters with a warrant for Grigori’s arrest. The officer is illiterate, so Grigori reads the warrant, substituting a description of Varlaam for his own. But Varlaam can read. Grigori escapes, pursued by the Streltsy.

第一幕
1603年。楚鐸夫修道院內，僧人皮門正埋首於他的俄國史的最終章。見習修士格里戈里從惡夢中驚醒，對自己未曾在戰場和社會上嘗到勝利的滋味而感到遺憾。他向皮門詢問鮑里斯所佔皇位的正統繼承人──沙皇太子德米特里之死。皮門憶述德米特里被殺的經過（刺客臨死前曾暗示鮑里斯是主謀），並提及如果沙皇太子仍在世的話，應與格里戈里同齡。獨自靜思的格里戈里譴責鮑里斯所為，並且決定逃離修道院。

格里戈里密謀揭露鮑里斯惡行，並且宣稱自己就是沙皇太子德米特里，試圖越境進入立陶宛尋求支持。在邊境附近的一家旅館里，他遇到瓦爾拉姆和米賽爾兩位流浪僧人，決定利用兩人做掩護。格里戈里向旅館東主詢問去邊境的路怎樣走，東主警告他邊境守衛森嚴，話音剛落，一名警官帶著拘捕格里戈里的手令進入旅館。格里戈里見警官目不識丁，閱過手令後將對自己的描述改成對瓦爾拉姆的描述。可是瓦爾拉姆受過教育，格里戈里見事敗逃走，被射手衞隊追捕。


ACT II
In Boris’s apartments, his daughter mourns the death of her fiancé. Boris comforts her tenderly, talks intimately with his son about inheriting the throne and its responsibilities, then reflects to himself on the crime that gained him the throne and the fears that torment him. Shuisky, a powerful boyar, brings news of a pretender to the Russian throne, supported by the Polish court and the Pope. When Boris learns that the pretender claims to be Dimitri, he is deeply shaken, and Shuisky reassures him again that the real tsarevich was in fact killed. Shuisky leaves and Boris gives way to his terror, imagining that he sees Dimitri’s ghost. Torn by guilt and regret, he prays for forgiveness.

第二幕
在鮑里斯的寓所，其女兒哀悼逝世的未婚夫。鮑里斯一邊細心地安慰她，一邊與其子私下傾談繼位一事及沙皇的責任。接著，鮑里斯反思自己為登上帝位而犯下的罪行和折磨他的恐懼。權傾朝野的波雅爾叔伊斯基帶來一個消息，報稱有人冒認自己為沙皇繼位人，並且得到了波蘭皇室和教宗支持。當得悉冒認者自稱是德米特里，鮑里斯大為震驚，但叔伊斯基再度向他保證真正的沙皇太子其實早已被殺。叔伊斯基告退後，鮑里斯不敵自身的恐懼，幻想自己見到德米特里的鬼魂。飽受內疚和悔意折磨，鮑里斯向上天祈求寬恕。


ACT III
Grigori, who now openly claims to be Dimitri, has made his way to Sandomir Castle in Poland, where he hopes to court and win the powerful Marina Mnishek. Marina intends to win Grigori in order to realize her ambition of ascending the throne of Russia. But the Jesuit Rangoni has his own plan: Marina must seduce Grigori for the glory of the church, and through their union convert Russia to Catholicism. Grigori awaits Marina in the castle garden, receives assurances of Marina’s love from Rangoni, and finally courts Marina. She rejects his protestations of love until she is certain of his determination to become tsar.

第三幕
格里戈里公開宣稱自己是德米特里後，成功抵達波蘭的桑多梅日城堡，希望得到擁有龐大實力的瑪莉娜．姆尼士的歡心。瑪莉娜則企圖得到格里戈里，從而實現她登上俄羅斯沙皇帝位的野心。然而耶穌會士蘭戈尼另有所圖，認為瑪莉娜必須為了教會的榮耀而勾引格里戈里與她結婚，並且通過兩人的關係使俄羅斯改信天主教。格里戈里在城堡花園靜候瑪莉娜，從蘭戈尼處確定瑪莉娜對他的愛意後，決定追求她。起初瑪莉娜不斷拒絕格里戈里的表白，直到肯定他決心成為沙皇。


ACT IV
Outside the Cathedral of St. Basil in Moscow, starving peasants debate whether Tsarevich Dimitri still lives, as news reaches them that his troops are near. A group of children torment a Holy Fool and steal his last kopek. When Boris and his court come from the cathedral to distribute alms, the Holy Fool asks Boris to kill the children the way he killed Dimitri. Shuisky orders the Holy Fool seized, but Boris instead asks his accuser to pray for him. The Holy Fool refuses to intercede for a murderer. When Boris’s retinue passes and the people disperse, the Holy Fool laments Russia’s dark future.

In the Duma, the council of boyars passes a death sentence on the pretender. Shuisky arrives with an account of Boris’s hallucinations of the murdered tsarevich. Boris suddenly storms in, disoriented and crying out to Dimitri. When he regains his composure Shuisky brings Pimen before the Duma. Pimen tells of a man who was cured of blindness while praying at Dimitri’s grave. Boris breaks down. He sends the boyars away, calling for his son. Naming him heir to his throne, he bids a loving farewell to the boy and dies.

In a forest clearing near Kromy, an angry mob seizes and humiliates several boyars and Streltsy police. Varlaam and Missail enter proclaiming Boris’s guilt. The mob strengthens its resolve to tear down the old order, and when two Jesuits appear, at the vanguard of the Polish-Catholic advance, they are attacked and brutalized by the crowd. The false Dimitri arrives with Marina, Rangoni, and his army. He calls for the cheering people to follow him on his march to Moscow. The Holy Fool stays behind, lamenting Russia’s bleak, uncertain fate.

第四幕
莫斯科聖巴西爾大教堂外面，飢餓的農民爭論究竟沙皇太子德米特里是否仍然在生，因為他們收到消息指沙皇太子的部隊已迫近莫斯科。一群小孩欺負一位聖愚，連他最後的一分錢也偷走。當鮑里斯及其隨從步出教堂分發救濟品時，聖愚要求鮑里斯以殺死德米特里的方法殺死那群小孩。叔伊斯基命令捉拿聖愚，鮑里斯則請求指控他殺人的聖愚為他祈禱。聖愚拒絕為殺人兇手祈求寬恕。當鮑里斯的隨從離開，群眾四散後，聖愚哀歎俄羅斯的暗澹未來。

在杜馬，波雅爾組成的議會通過對沙皇繼位人冒認者執行死刑的判決。叔伊斯基抵達議會，收到有關鮑里斯見到遇害沙皇太子幻象的消息。鮑里斯突然驚慌失措地衝入議會，向德米特里高聲喊叫。鮑里斯恢復鎮定後，叔伊斯基帶領皮門進入議會。皮門道出一個男人的故事：他在德米特里的墳前祈禱後治好了失明。鮑里斯聞言情緒崩潰，命令所有波雅爾離開。他召見他的兒子並任命兒子為皇位繼承人後，鮑里斯與兒子痛別，之後駕崩。

在克羅米附近森林中的一幅空地，參與暴亂的憤怒民眾捉住了若干波雅爾和射手衞隊，並對其大肆侮辱。瓦爾拉姆和米賽爾加入並宣讀鮑里斯的罪名。民眾堅定了推翻舊制度的決心，當兩位耶穌會士作為進襲的波蘭天主教軍的先遣隊現身時，卻遭到民眾殘酷攻擊。假德米特里連同瑪莉娜、蘭戈尼及他的車隊抵達，他號召歡呼中的人群跟隨他進軍莫斯科。聖愚留下，哀歎前景黯淡不明的俄羅斯。