The Snow Maiden
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- For the Russian fairy tale character, see Snegurochka; for the 1952 Soviet animated feature film - an adaptation of this opera - see The Snow Maiden.
The Snow Maiden (Снегурочка in Cyrillic, Snegurochka in transliteration) is an opera in four acts with a prologue by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composed during 1880-1881. The Russian libretto, by the composer, is based on the like-named play by Alexandr Ostrovsky (which had premiered in 1873 with incidental music by Tchaikovsky). The first performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera took place at the Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg, 29 January 1882 (Old Style) under the conductorship of Eduard Nápravník. By 1898 it was revised in the edition known today. It remained the composer's own favorite work.
The story deals with the opposition of eternal forces of nature and involves the interactions of mythological characters ((Frost, Spring, Wood-Sprite), real people (Kupava, Mizgir'), and those in-between, i.e., half-mythical, half-real (Snow Maiden, Lel’, Berendey). The composer strove to distinguish each group of characters musically, and several individual characters have their own associated leitmotifs. In addition to these distinctions, Rimsky-Korsakov characterized the townspeople particularly with folk melodies. For a deeper understanding of this work from the composer's point of view, the reader is directed to his autobiography, as well as to his own incomplete analysis of the opera from 1905.
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[edit] Characters and Setting
(Note: in the score the characters for the prologue and for the opera proper are given in separate lists.)
- Tsar Berendey: tenor
- Bermyata, a boyar a boyar and confidant of the tsar: bass
- Spring Beauty: mezzo-soprano
- Grandfather Frost: bass
- The girl Snow Maiden (Devushka-Snegurochka), [their daughter]: soprano
- Bobyl’ [i.e., landless peasant] Bakula: tenor
- Bobylikha, his wife: mezzo-soprano
- Lel’, a shepherd: alto
- Kupava, a young maiden, daughter of a rich villager: soprano
- Mizgir’, a merchant guest from the Berendeyans' trading quarter: baritone
- First Herald: tenor
- Second Herald: bass
- The Tsar's Page-Boy: mezzo-soprano
- The Wood-Sprite: tenor
- Carnival (or Shrovetide), a straw effigy: bass
- Boyars, their wives and the tsar's retinue, gusli-players, blind men, skomorokhi, gudok-players, bag-pipers, shepherds, lads and lasss, male and female Berendeyans of every age and calling, forest sprites, Spring's retinue -- birds (cranes, geese, ducks, rooks, magpies, starlings, larks, and others), flowers: chorus
The action takes place in the land of the Berendeyans, in pre-historic times.
[edit] Synopsis
Prologue. On Red Hill, near the Berendeyans' trading quarter and Tsar Berendey's capital. The fifteen-year-old Snow Maiden wants to live with the people in the nearby village, and her parents, Spring Beauty and Grandfather Frost, agree to let her be adopted by Bobyl’-Bakula and his wife.
Act I. In the village of Berendeyevka, on the other side of the river. Snow Maiden is enchanted by Lel’'s songs, but is saddened when he goes off with a group of other girls. Kupava enters and announces her own wedding to Mizgir’. The ceremony takes place, but then Mizgir’ notices Snow Maiden, becomes smitten with her, and begs her to love him. Kupava brings this affrontery before the villagers, and they advise her to go to the Tsar for redress.
Act II. In Tsar Berendey's palace. Kupava complains of Mizgir’ to Tsar Berendey, who decides to banish Mizgir’ to the forest. But these deliberations are disrupted by the appearance of the beautiful Snow Maiden. The Tsar asks her whom she loves, and she says, "no one." The Tsar declares that whoever successfully woos Snow Maiden will win both her and a royal reward. Although the maidens present Lel’ as the likely candidate, Mizgir’ swears that he will win Snow Maiden's heart. The Tsar agrees to the contest as the people sing his praises.
Act III. In a forest reserve, that evening. The people amuse themselves with song and dance. The Tsar invites Lel’ to choose a maiden. Despite Snow Maiden's pleas, he kisses Kupava and goes off with her. Snow Maiden, left alone and disconsolate, wonders why Lel’ has rejected her. Suddenly Mizgir’ appears and tries once more to win her love. Frightened by his words, she runs off; but the Wood-Sprite tricks Mizgir’ to follow an apparition of Snow Maiden instead. Lel’ and Kupava enter, declaring their mutual love. Snow Maiden finds them and, seeing their happiness, at last truly wishes to have the capacity to love.
Act IV. In the valley of Yarilo (the sun god), dawn is breaking the next day. Snow Maiden calls on her mother, Spring-Beauty, who appears from a lake surrounded by flowers. Spring gives her daughter a garland and warns her to stay out of the light of the sun. Spring and her retinue sink into the lake. Before Snow Maiden can enter the protection of the forest, Mizgir’ appears. No longer able to resist, she professes her love for him. The Berendeyans, in ritual bride-and-groom pairs, arrive to celebrate Yarilo's Day. Before the Tsar Mizgir’ presents Snow Maiden as his bride. As she declares her love for Mizgir’, a bright ray of sunlight appears, and Snow Maiden bids farewell: the power to love is the source of her demise. To the astonishment of the people, she melts. The inconsolable Mizgir’ drowns himself in the lake. The Tsar calms the horrified Berendeyans with the fact that this event has ended the fifteen-year-long winter that has befallen them. In response the people strike up a stirring hymn to Yarilo.
[edit] Important Excerpts
(Items in bold face are included in the orchestral suite from this opera.)
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Chorus of the Birds
- Snow Maiden's Aria
- Chorus: Sending Off of Maslenitsa [i.e., Carnival]
- Act I
- Lel’'s First Song
- Lel’'s Second Song
- Act II
- Procession of Tsar Berendey
- Act III
- Dance of the Skomorokhi
- Lel’'s Third Song
[edit] Bibliography
- Halbe, Gregory A. Music, Drama, and Folklore in Rimsky-Korsakov's Opera "Snegurochka". Ph.D. dissertation, Musicology, Ohio State University, 2004.
- Lischke, André. "Les leitmotives de Snegourotchka analyses par Rimsky-Korsakov," Revue de musicologie 65/1 (1979), pp. 51-75.
- Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai. My Musical Life. Trans. from the 5th rev. Russian ed. by Judah A. Joffe; ed. with an introduction by Carl Van Vechten. London : Ernst Eulenburg Ltd, 1974.
- _______. Разбор “Снегурочки". Литературные произведения и переписка. Полное собрание сочинений, Том IV. [Analysis of "Snowmaiden". Literary Works and Correspondence. Complete [sic] Collection of Works, Vol. IV.] Москва: Гос. муз. изд-во, 1960, pp. 393-426.
- 100 опер: история создания, сюжет, музыка. [100 Operas: History of Creation, Subject, Music.] Ленинград: Издательство "Музыка," 1968, pp. 336-341.
