The Snow Maiden
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| Operas by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov |
|---|
The Maid of Pskov (1872) |
The Snow Maiden–A Spring Fairy Tale (Russian: Снегурочка–Весенняя сказка, Snegúrochka–Vesennyaya Skazka) 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 on 29 January 1882 (Old Style) conducted by Eduard Nápravník. By 1898 it was revised in the edition known today. It remained the composer's own favorite work.
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[edit] Analysis
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.
[edit] Performance history
The Moscow premiere followed that of St. Petersburg three years later in 1885. It was presented by the Russian Private Opera, conducted by Enrico Bevignani with scenic Design by Viktor Vasnetsov, Isaak Levitan, and Konstantin Korovin
The Bolshoy Theatre in Moscow presented the opera in 1889.
[edit] Roles
| Role | Voice type | St. Petersburg premiere, 1882 (Conductor: Eduard Nápravník) |
Moscow premiere, 1893 (Conductor: Enrico Bevignani) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tsar Berendey | tenor | Mikhail Vasilyev | Anton Bartsal |
| Bermyata, a boyar, confidant of the tsar | bass | Mikhail Koryakin | Stepan Trezvinsky |
| Spring Beauty | mezzo-soprano | Mariya Kamenskaya | Aleksandra Krutikova |
| Grandfather Frost | bass | Fyodor Stravinsky | Stepan Vlasov |
| The Snow Maiden | soprano | Feodosiya Velinskaya | Margarita Eykhenvald (Eichenwald) |
| Bobyl Bakula | tenor | Klementyev | |
| Bobylikha | mezzo-soprano | Olga Shreder (Schröder) | Pavlenkova |
| Lel | contralto | Anna Bichurina | Lidiya Zvyagina |
| Kupava, a young maiden, daughter of a wealthy settler | soprano | Makarova | Mariya Deysha-Sionitskaya |
| Mizgir, a merchant guest from the Berendeyans' trading quarter | baritone | Ippolit Pryanishnikov | Bogomir Korsov |
| First Herald | tenor | ||
| Second Herald | bass | ||
| Tsar's page | mezzo-soprano | ||
| Wood-Sprite | tenor | Sobolev | |
| Maslenitsa | bass | ||
| Chorus, silent roles: Boyars, their wives and the tsar's retinue, gusli-players, blind men, skomorokhi, gudok-players, bag-pipers, shepherds, lads and lasses, male and female Berendeyans of every age and calling, forest sprites, Spring's retinue — birds, flowers chorus | |||
(Bolshoy Theatre, Moscow, 1894) |
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[edit] Synopsis
Time: Pre-historic times
Place: The land of the Berendeyans
[edit] 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.
[edit] Act 1
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.
[edit] Act 2
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.
[edit] Act 3
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.
[edit] Act 4
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] Principal arias and numbers
Prologue
- Introduction
- Chorus of the Birds
- Snow Maiden's Aria
- Chorus: Farewell to Maslenitsa
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] Derived works
Suite from the opera The Snow Maiden
Сюита из оперы Снегурочка
- Introduction
- Dance of the Birds
- Procession of Tsar Berendey
- Dance of the Skomorokhi
[edit] Related works
Tchaikovsky: Incidental music to The Snow Maiden (1873)
[edit] Selected recordings
Audio Recordings (Mainly studio recordings)
Source: www.operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
- 1956, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Bolshoy Theatre Orchestra and Chorus, Vera Firsova (Snow Maiden), Larisa Avdeyeva (Lel), Galina Vishnevskaya (Kupava), Vera Borisenko (Spring), Valentina Petrova (Bobilichka), Andrey Sokolov (Wood Spirit), L. Sverdlova (Page), Ivan Kozlovsky (Tsar Berendey), Yuriy Galkin (Mizgir), Alexey Krivchenya (Grandfather Frost), A. Khosson (Bobil), Mikhail Skazin (Maslenitsa)
- 1976, Vladimir Fedoseyev (conductor), Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Valentina Sokolik (Snow Maiden), Irina Arkhipova (Lel), Lidiya Zakharenko (Kupava), Irina Arkhipova (Spring), Nina Derbina (Bobilikha), Aleksandr Arkhipov (Wood Spirit), Anna Matyushina (Page), Anton Grigoryev (Tsar Berendey), Aleksandr Moksyakov (Mizgir), Aleksandr Vedernikov (Grandfather Frost), Yuri Yelnikov (Bobil), Vladimir Matorin (Bermyata), Ivan Budrin (Maslenitsa), Vladimir Makhov (First Herald), Vladimir Yermakov (Second Herald)
[edit] Bibliography
- Abraham, Gerald (1936). "X.-- Snegurochka ('Snow Maiden')", Studies in Russian Music (in English). London: William Reeves / The New Temple Press, p.193-220.
- 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.
