The Snow Maiden (play)
The Snow Maiden | |
---|---|
Written by | Bolshoy Theatre |
Original language | Russian |
Genre | Fairytale |
The Snow Maiden (Russian: Снегурочка, Snegurochka) is a play in verse by Alexander Ostrovsky written in 1873 and first published in the September 1873 issue of Vestnik Evropy. It was adapted into an opera of the same name by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, which premièred in 1882.
Background
The idea of the play based on a fairytale about
The play's plot was based on the Russian folk fairytale Ostrovsky read in the Vol. 2 of Alexander Afanasyev's book The Slavs' Views Upon Nature (1867).
History
In 1873, the
His work premiered on May 11, 1873 in the Bolshoy Theatre as a benefit for the actor Vasily Zhivokini. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky had written music for the play's production. It was not successful despite Ostrovsky's involvement in preparing costumes, decorations and ingenious 'magic' machinery (invented by Karl Fyodorovich Valtz).[2]
In 1900, three theatres produced the play: the Moscow Imperial troupe (with
In 1881
Reception
The play took everybody by surprise; a fairytale just couldn't be expected from an author known as a satirical realist specializing in social commentary.
One of Ostrovsky's old-time detractors, the novelist
Even the sympathizers of Ostrovsky were taken aback,
Nikolay Nekrasov, then the editor of Otechestvennye Zapiski, has been perplexed by the play. As Ostrovsky submitted the play to him for the first time, he responded with a letter (the business-like tone of which the author took as an offence) implying that only a modest fee for it could be offered. "I am your regular contributor, I enter the new direction with this work, expecting from you either advice or encouragement, and what do I get? A rather dry letter in which you evaluate my new work which is so dear to me, as cheap as none of my plays had never been assessed," Ostrovsky replied.[5]
Vexed, Ostrovsky gave The Snow Maiden to Vestnik Evropy, still assuring Nekrasov that he was not meaning to sever ties with him. "I find no reason to depart from the magazine which I sympathize a lot," he added.[2]
Unlike most of the literary men, the Russian musical community loved the play. It took Tchaikovsky just three weeks to write the music for the play's production. Several years later Rimsky-Korsakov wrote an operatic version, using the author's text as a libretto.
Decades later
References
- ^ A.N.Ostrovsky. Remembered by Contemporaries. P 259.
- ^ a b c d Lakshin, Vladimir (1982). "Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky". Iskusstvo, Moscow. Life in Art series. Retrieved 2012-03-01.
- ^ a b The Complete A.N. Ostrovsky. Vol. 6. Plays, 1871–1873. Khudozhestvennaya Literatura Publishers.
- ^ Makovitsky, D.P. Yasnaya Polyana Notes. – Literaturnoye Nasledstsvo anthology, 1979, vol. 90, book. 2, p. 350.
- ^ Makovitsky, D.P. Vol. 11, p. 426.