The musical play-tale "The Snow Maiden" (another name is "Spring Tale") was completed by the famous Russian playwright Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky by March 31, 1873. She has a prologue and four actions. However, despite the name, this work is by no means a children's fairy tale.
Less than a month and a half later, in May, the play was already staged on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. The music for the tale was written by 33-year-old Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
In the article we will give an analysis of the play and the characters of Ostrovsky's "Snow Maiden". The main plot moves of the work will be described, its creation story and the further fate of the production on the stage of the theater will be told.
Writing history
Why is it appropriate to recall how this play was created in the analysis of Ostrovsky's Snegurochka? The fact is that it was in 1873 that the building of the Maly Theater was closed for repairs and the troupe had to accommodate in the Bolshoi Theater. In order not to waste time in idle time, the leadership decided on a large production, in which all three troupes would be involved - opera, ballet and drama. The main thing was to find the author of the text part and the composer for such an unusual collaboration. And they turned to the most famous at that time domestic playwright A.N. Ostrovsky, who was then carried away by the ideas of the researcher and collector of Russian folklore, Alexander Afanasyev.
As a basis for the plot, Ostrovsky took the Russian folk tale "The Snow Maiden Girl". This story about a snow girl named Snegurka (Snezhevinochka) appeared in Afanasyev’s book "Poetic Views of the Slavs on Nature", which was published in 1869. The proof that Ostrovsky relied on this folk tale in the process of writing the play is the fact that, according to the plot of both works, the Snow Maiden dies (melts). Whereas there were other versions of the tale in which the heroine resurrected.
Both the author of the play and the composer had to work under intense conditions, the play was completed by the anniversary of the playwright: March 31, 1873 Ostrovsky turned 50 years old.
main characters
The analysis of the characters of Ostrovsky's "Snow Maiden" will begin with the central character of the play. This, as the name suggests, is Snegurochka. But in the play, she, like in the fairy tale, is not at all the daughter of Ivan and Mary, a childless couple who dreamed of a child. She is a child of Santa Claus and Spring-Red. According to the description, this is a beautiful girl who is pale in face and blonde. She looks like a boyar daughter, not a peasant; she is wearing a blue and white fur coat, a fur hat, and mittens.
The character of the main character contains seemingly incompatible traits: coldness - from the father (Frost) and a desire to love, but not the ability to feel it. When Spring gives the Snow Maiden the ability to love, the girl dies. This happens during the summer festival of the Slavs, dedicated to the sun god Yarila.
And here is another central character of the play. Lel is a suburban shepherd, the windy and fickle lover of the Snow Maiden, singing beautiful songs. About himself, he says this:
You can’t live without a shepherd!
He does not plow, does not sow; since childhood
Lying in the sun; cherishes
Its spring, and the breeze caresses.
And the shepherd basking in free will.
One thing in mind: a girl’s affection, only
And think about her.
Mizgir is the son of a wealthy merchant, Kupava's groom, who, having seen the Snow Maiden, forgot about the bride. His death at the end of the play is not so much because of the lost love, but because of the fault of the gods, at least Mizgir himself thinks so.
Characters
For further analysis of the tale "The Snow Maiden" by Ostrovsky, we consider minor characters.
A bobyl named Bakul and Bobylik is the adoptive family of the Snow Maiden. By the way, in Russia, the poorest peasants who did not have a land allotment were called bobbles. Therefore, Santa Claus and hopes that no one will take a chance on such a "bride" as the adoptive daughter of bobbles. By the nature, Bobyl is a reveler and a lazy person, and Bobylikha dreams of warmth, wealth and bliss without any labor.
Kupava is the daughter of Murash, a wealthy resident of the settlement. This is a local beauty, to which Mizgir first got involved.
King Berendey is worried about the future of his people and the favor of God Yarila to him. His close boyar is Bermyat. Bermyat's wife is Elena the Beautiful.
Radushka, Malusha - suburban girls, girlfriends of Kupava.
Brusilo, Kid, Smoking-room - suburban guys.
Summary. Prologue
The play takes place in the country of the Berendey people in ancient times. Spring comes to the Red Hill, it is accompanied by birds. It’s still very cold, but Spring promises that tomorrow the sun and the forest will warm the earth and the earth and the cold weather will come to an end.
In the prologue, Spring tells the story of what they have with old Frost a daughter named Snegurochka. Her future causes controversy and quarrels among parents: Spring wants the girl to live among people and have fun with young people, and Moroz claims that the Berendey sun god Yarilo made an oath that he would destroy the Snow Maiden as soon as she fell in love. So let it be better that she lives in a parental forest tower among animals and never goes out to people. The conversation of Spring and Frost, as always, ends in a quarrel. But finally, the couple find a compromise: they decide to give the Snow Maiden to the education of the childless Bobyl, who lives in the settlement. They believe that the guys are unlikely to drop in on a Bobyl daughter. The girl admits that she is very happy with this choice, that she loves people's songs and she likes the shepherd Lel. Santa Claus is frightened and punishes his daughter:
Snow Maiden, run from Lel, be afraid
His speeches and songs. Bright sun
It is penetrated through ...
The fourth appearance of the Prologue ends with the departure of Frost to the North, with his command to protect the Snow Maiden, if she were to attack someone in the forest. Villagers come with a sleigh, on which they carry a stuffed Maslyanytsya, they see off the winter and sing songs.
Bobyl, Bobylikha and other Berendey see the Snow Maiden and are surprised:
Hawthorn! Is it alive? Alive.
In a sheepskin coat, in boots, in mittens.
Snegurochka says that she wants to live in a settlement near the relics, and those who mistook her for the hawthorn are happy with unexpected happiness.
In order to analyze Ostrovsky’s play “The Snow Maiden”, it should be borne in mind that the appearance of the Snow Maiden in the settlement can be considered the plot of history.
First action
It begins in the settlement with the announcement of Biryuch about the appointed holiday in honor of the sun god Yarila. Next comes the conversation of the lobster with the Snow Maiden. They blame the girl that she would need to find herself a richer bridegroom to ensure the future of new parents, because she refuses everyone who marries her. The snow maiden replies that she is stingy with affection because she expects love, but she is not there.
At a stand, the shepherd Lel comes to the Bobyl family, who takes turns spending the night at different villagers. He sings songs to the Snow Maiden, she unexpectedly cries for herself and gives him a flower. Lel promises that she will save him, but as soon as the other girls call him, he throws away the gift and runs away.
When analyzing Ostrovsky's "Snow Maiden", it is necessary to clarify that the relationship between these two characters is the main thing for understanding the work.
Kupava tells the heroine about his meeting and love for Mizgir, who is “the father’s son of a trading guest from Tsar’s Posad”. On the upcoming day of veneration of Yarila, a wedding is scheduled for them.
In the next phenomenon, Mizgir comes with gifts to "buy" Kupava from friends and guys. He sees the Snow Maiden and suddenly drives the bride away, wanting to stay near a new love. Kupava runs away crying, cursing the traitor.
Action two
Events unfold in the palace of King Berendey. He laments that the earth’s heat is getting smaller, summers are getting shorter and winters are getting longer. That means, he says, that people have cooled hearts.
... for the cold of our feelings
And the Yarilo-Sun is angry with us
And the cold takes revenge.
In the analysis of Ostrovsky's Snegurochka, we briefly explain that it was Tsar Berendey who brought the usual problem of the love triangle to the plot of the machinations of the divine forces of nature.
Before the eyes of the king is Kupava, who complains about the traitor Mizgir. The enraged Berendey orders to bring the young man to him and to gather the people for trial. Mizgir blames, Murash and Bermyat offer the king to marry him on Kupava. But Mizgir dreams only of the Snow Maiden.
The tsar decides that the best appeal to Yarila and the sacrifice to him is the beauty’s wedding, and inquires of the Snow Maiden, who is her favorite. But she replies that her heart is silent. The king calls on the suitors: whoever can arouse the girl’s love will become her husband and receive a reward from him. Mizgir and Lel are called (the last at the call of the noblewoman Elena the Beautiful). Games in honor of Yarila are scheduled for the coming night, the wedding in the morning.
Action Three
This action develops in a forest glade where tents are placed. Girls and boys in wreaths are dancing. Lel, who promised the Snow Maiden to choose her as the bride, leads to Tsar Kupava. The main character looks at him in tears. But Lel confesses to Snegurochka that his heart does not lie to any girl, that he simply cannot offend anyone. Once again, he makes a promise to the Snow Maiden to choose her as his wife and disappears. Mizgir appears and offers her a priceless pearl for her to become his wife. But the girl runs away. To hide from the persistent groom in the thicket of the forest, Leshy and the forest itself help her, who fools Mizgir’s head, sending him the ghosts of the Snow Maiden.
The heroine is again waiting for her Lel. But he convinces her to wait on the sidelines, and he meets with Kupava. They persuade to get married the next morning. The snow maiden, realizing that her lover does not believe in her feelings, weeping, turns to Spring.
Oh mother, Spring is Red!
I’m running to you with a complaint and a request:
I ask for love, I want to love!
Give the Snow Maiden a girl’s heart, mother!
Give love or take my life!
Fourth action
Spring comes out of the lake in the Yarilino Valley. She reminds the girl that love can cost her life.
- Let me die, love one moment
More precious to me than years of longing and tears.
Spring puts her wreath on her head, and the girl gains feelings unknown until then. Mother warns her that her love will go to the first whom she meets. But she should immediately hide from the sun so that Yarilo does not find out that the Snow Maiden could fall in love.
The first girl meets Mizgir. He wandered through the forest all night looking for her. The snow maiden is fascinated by his speeches. Misgiru hugs her, but she begs him to hide her from the destructive rays of the sun. However, the young man does not understand, considering this a whim. And with the first ray of the sun the Snow Maiden melts. Misgir desperately rushes from the mountain to the lake.
The play ends with the words of Berendey, addressed to his people:
Frost Spawn -
Cold Snow Maiden died.
(...)
Now, with her wonderful demise,
Frost's intervention ceased.
The fate of the production
The premiere of the play and critics, and the audience were received with some bewilderment. According to the description and analysis, Ostrovsky's “Snow Maiden” was a real spring fairy tale extravaganza. But the playwright by that time had a well-established reputation as a satirist-realist, a writer and exposer of human vices. And here is the Russian national fairy tale. This violation of the usual role in many has raised questions. Probably, from here comes one of the epithets, as the verdict handed down by critics of the play is “empty”.
However, eight years later, in 1881, the Russian composer N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote an opera based on the play by Ostrovsky, which premiered in February 1882. And then she was a resounding success.
We gave a description and analysis of Ostrovsky's work "The Snow Maiden".