The first performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera took place at the Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg on 10 February [O.S. 29 January] 1882 conducted by 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.
The U.S. premiere was held Jan 23, 1922 at the Metropolitan Opera, conducted by Artur Bodanzky, directed by Samuel Thewman, designed by Boris Anisfeld, and with Lucrezia Bori in the title role, sung in French.[1]
In March 2014 University College Opera presented a new English translation of The Snowmaiden in the Bloomsbury Theatre.
Roles
Role
Voice type
St. Petersburg premiere, 10 February 1882 (Conductor: Eduard Nápravník)
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
Synopsis
Leonid Sobinov as Tsar Berendey (Bolshoy Theatre, Moscow 1911)
Time: Pre-historic times
Place: The land of the Berendeyans
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 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 effrontery before the villagers, and they advise her to go to the Tsar for redress.
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.
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.
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. Mizgir introduces 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.
Principal arias and numbers
Prologue
Introduction
Chorus of the Birds
Snow Maiden's Aria
Chorus: Farewell to Maslenitsa
Act 1
Lel's First Song
Lel's Second Song
Act 2
Procession of Tsar Berendey
Act 3
Dance of the Skomorokhi (Danse of the Tumblers / Danse of the Clowns)
2021 (BD and DVD release): 2017 Opéra national de Paris production, Aida Garifullina (Snowmaiden), Yuriy Mynenko (Lel), Martina Serafin (Kupava), Maxim Paster (Tsar Berendy), Thomas Johannes Mayer (Mizguir), Elena Manistina (Spring Beauty), Vladimir Ognovenko (Father Frost), Franz Hawlata (Bermyata), Vasily Gorshkov (Bobyl Bakula), Opéra national de Paris, Mikhail Tatarnikov, conductor, (Dmitri Tcherniakov stage direction).
Movie
In 2017, the Paris Opera made a film of a Russian language performance of the opera, based on a live production by Orchestre de l'Opera National de Paris. The Snowmaiden was Aida Garifuluna, and Lel was Yurit Mynenko. The conductor was Mikhail Serafin, with stage direction and set design by Dmitri Tchiarniakov.
Abraham, Gerald (1936). "X.-- Snegurochka ('Snow Maiden')". Studies in Russian Music. London: William Reeves / The New Temple Press. pp. 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.
