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Easiness and quickness of composing the opera were the evidence of not only Rimsky-Korsakov’s keenness on Ostrovsky’s fairy tale subject but of his maturity as composer. The opera was completed in clavier within two months and a half! The sensitive composer could catch the main idea – <i>The Snow Maiden</i> was not cold and heartless, without any feeling of love but she was longing to love, to be near the people, feel and experience as most of them. The author of the fairy tale A.N. Ostrovsky admired the opera. Both musicians who performed <i>The Snow Maiden</i> and audience fell in love with the opera at once; it won the composer’s heart as well.
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The Snow Maiden (a spring fairy tale), opera in 4 acts with the prologue
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Libretto by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov based on the like-named play by A.N. Ostrovsky
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Characters and performers in the prologue:
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Spring beauty – Nina Terentieva, mezzo-soprano<br>
Father Frost – Georgy Seleznev, bass<br>
Snow maiden – Irina Zhurina, soprano<br>
Wood goblin – Oleg Biktimirov, tenor<br>
Maslenitsa, the straw woman – Vladimir Pashinsky, bass<br>
Bobyl Bakula – Alexander Arkhipov, tenor <br>
Bobylikha, his wife – Raisa Kotova, mezzo-soprano
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Characters and performers in the opera:
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Tsar Berendei – Alexander Fedin, tenor<br>
Bermyata, the confidant of the tsar, a boyar – Boris Morozov, bass<br>
Spring beauty – Nina Terentieva, mezzo-soprano<br>
Snow maiden – Irina Zhurina, soprano<br>
Bobyl Bakula – Alexander Arkhipov, tenor<br>
Bobylikha, his wife – Raisa Kotova, mezzo-soprano<br>
Lel, a shepherd – Tatiana Erastova, mezzo-soprano<br>
Kupava, a young girl, a daughter of a wealthy settler – Lyudmila Sergienko, soprano<br>
Mizgir, a merchant guest from Berendey settlement – Igor Morozov, baritone<br>
First heralds – Konstantin Baskov, Yuri Markelov, tenors<br>
Second heralds – Nikolay Nizienko, Stanislav Suleimanov, bass<br>
Tsar’a boy – Sasha Karpikov<br>
Wood goblin – Oleg Biktimirov, tenor<br>
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Chorus, Children Chorus and Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre <br>
Chief Choir Master – Stanislav Lykov <br>
Choir Master – Igor Agafonnikov <br>
Conductor – Alexander Lazarev
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