Images of the fairy tale "Snow Maiden" in the fine arts, literature, folklore. A.N
The Snow Maiden is perhaps the least typical of all the plays by Alexander Ostrovsky, which stands out sharply among other things in his work with lyricism, unusual problems (instead of social drama, the author paid attention to personal drama, designating the theme of love as the central theme) and absolutely fantastic surroundings. The play tells the story of the Snow Maiden, who appears before us as a young girl, desperately longing for the only thing she never had - love. While remaining faithful to the main line, Ostrovsky simultaneously reveals a few more: the structure of his semi-epic, semi-fairytale world, the customs and customs of the Berendeys, the theme of continuity and retribution, and the cyclical nature of life, noting, albeit in an allegorical form, that life and death always go hand in hand.
History of creation
The Russian literary world owes the birth of the play to a happy accident: at the very beginning of 1873, the building of the Maly Theater was closed for major repairs, and a group of actors temporarily moved to the Bolshoi. Deciding to take advantage of the opportunities of the new stage and attract the audience, it was decided to arrange an extravaganza performance unusual for those times, immediately involving the ballet, drama and opera components of the theater team.
It was with the proposal to write a play for this extravaganza that they turned to Ostrovsky, who, taking advantage of the opportunity to put a literary experiment into practice, agreed. The author changed his habit of looking for inspiration in the unattractive aspects of real life, and in search of material for the play he turned to the work of the people. There he found a legend about the Snow Maiden, which became the basis for his magnificent work.
In the early spring of 1873, Ostrovsky was hard at work on the creation of the play. And not alone - since staging on stage is impossible without music, the playwright worked together with the still very young then Pyotr Tchaikovsky. According to critics and writers, this is precisely one of the reasons for the amazing rhythm of The Snow Maiden - words and music were composed in a single impulse, close interaction, and imbued with each other's rhythm, initially making up one whole.
It is symbolic that Ostrovsky put the last point in The Snow Maiden on the day of his fiftieth birthday, March 31. A little more than a month later, on May 11, the premiere performance was shown. He received quite different reviews among critics, both positive and sharply negative, but already in the 20th century literary critics firmly agreed that The Snow Maiden was the brightest milestone in the work of the playwright.
Analysis of the work
Description of the work
The plot is based on the life path of the Snow Maiden girl, born from the union of Frost and Spring-Red, her father and mother. The Snow Maiden lives in the Berendey kingdom invented by Ostrov, but not with her relatives - she left her father Frost, who protected her from all possible troubles - but with the family of Bobyl and Bobylikh. The Snow Maiden longs for love, but she cannot fall in love - even her interest in Lelya is dictated by the desire to be the only and unique, the desire that the shepherd, who evenly gives all the girls warmth and joy, be affectionate with her alone. But Bobyl and Bobylikha are not going to bestow their love on her, they have a more important task: to cash in on the beauty of the girl by marrying her off. The Snow Maiden looks indifferently at the Berendey men, who change their lives for her sake, reject brides and violate social norms; she is internally cold, she is alien to the full of life Berendei - and therefore attracts them. However, misfortune also falls to the lot of the Snow Maiden - when she sees Lel, who is favorable to the other and rejects her, the girl rushes to her mother with a request to let her fall in love - or die.
It is at this moment that Ostrovsky clearly expresses the central idea of his work to the limit: life without love is meaningless. The Snow Maiden cannot and does not want to put up with the emptiness and coldness that exists in her heart, and Spring, which is the personification of love, allows her daughter to experience this feeling, despite the fact that she herself thinks bad.
The mother turns out to be right: the Snow Maiden, who has fallen in love, melts under the first rays of the hot and clear sun, having managed, however, to discover a new world filled with meaning. And her lover, who had previously left his bride and was expelled by the Tsar, Mizgir, parted with his life in the pond, seeking to reunite with the water, which became the Snow Maiden.
Main characters
(Scene from the ballet-performance "The Snow Maiden")
The Snow Maiden is the central figure of the work. A girl of extraordinary beauty, desperate to know love, but at the same time cold at heart. Pure, partly naive and completely alien to Berendey people, she is ready to give everything, even her life, in exchange for knowing what love is and why everyone is so hungry for it.
Frost is the father of the Snow Maiden, formidable and strict, who sought to protect his daughter from all sorts of troubles.
Spring-Krasna is the mother of a girl who, despite a premonition of trouble, could not go against her nature and her daughter's pleas and endowed her with the ability to love.
Lel is a windy and cheerful shepherd who was the first to awaken some feelings and emotions in the Snow Maiden. It was because she was rejected by him that the girl rushed to Spring.
Mizgir is a merchant guest, or, in other words, a merchant who fell in love with the girl so much that he not only offered all his wealth for her, but also left Kupava, his failed bride, thereby violating the traditionally observed customs of the Berendey kingdom. In the end, he gained the reciprocity of the one he loved, but not for long - and after her death he himself lost his life.
It is worth noting that despite the large number of characters in the play, even the secondary characters turned out to be bright and characteristic: that the king Berendey, that Bobyl and Bobylikh, that the former bride of Mizgir Kupava - all of them are remembered by the reader, have their own distinctive features and characteristics.
"The Snow Maiden" is a complex and multifaceted work, both compositionally and rhythmically. The play is written without rhyme, but thanks to the unique rhythm and melodiousness that literally exists in every line, it sounds smoothly, like any rhymed verse. Decorates the "Snow Maiden" and the rich use of colloquial phrases - this is a completely logical and justified step by the playwright, who, when creating the work, relied on folk tales telling about a girl from the snow.
The same statement about versatility is also true in relation to the content: behind the outwardly simple story of the Snow Maiden (went out into the real world - rejected people - received love - imbued with the human world - died) lurks not only the assertion that life without love is meaningless, but also many other equally important aspects.
So, one of the central themes is the interconnection of opposites, without which the natural course of things is impossible. Frost and Yarilo, cold and light, winter and the warm season outwardly oppose each other, enter into an irreconcilable contradiction, but at the same time, the thought runs through the text that one does not exist without the other.
In addition to lyricism and the sacrifice of love, the social aspect of the play, displayed against the backdrop of fairy-tale foundations, is also of interest. The norms and customs of the Berendey kingdom are strictly observed, for violation they face expulsion, as happened with Mizgir. These norms are fair and to some extent reflect Ostrovsky's idea of an ideal old Russian community, where fidelity and love for one's neighbor, life in unity with nature are at a premium. The figure of Tsar Berendey, the “kind” Tsar, who, although he is forced to make harsh decisions, regards the fate of the Snow Maiden as tragic, sad, evokes unambiguously positive emotions; such a king is easy to sympathize with.
At the same time, in the Berendey kingdom, justice is observed in everything: even after the death of the Snow Maiden, as a result of her acceptance of love, Yarila's anger and argument disappear, and the Berendey people can again enjoy the sun and warmth. Harmony prevails.
Composition
The poetic fairy tale "The Snow Maiden" stands apart from a number of other works by Ostrovsky. In other plays, Ostrovsky paints gloomy pictures of the merchant environment, criticizes harsh morals and shows all the tragedy of a lonely soul forced to exist in the "dark kingdom".
The work "The Snow Maiden" is an amazing fairy tale, which shows the beauty of the world, love, nature, youth. The work is based on folk tales, songs, traditions and legends. Ostrovsky only connected fairy tales, legends and songs together and gave folk art a very peculiar flavor. In "The Snow Maiden" the main place is occupied by human relations. At first glance, the plot looks absolutely fantastic. But then it turns out that living human characters are visible in this phantasmagoria.
The action takes place in a fabulous place - the kingdom of Berendey. Describing the laws of this country, Ostrovsky seems to draw his own ideal of social order. In the kingdom of Berendey, people live according to the laws of conscience and honor, trying not to provoke the wrath of the gods. Beauty is very important here. The beauty of the surrounding world, the beauty of girls, flowers, songs are valued. It is no coincidence that the singer of love Lel is so popular. He, as it were, personifies youth, ardor, ardor.
King Berendey himself symbolizes folk wisdom. He has lived a lot in the world, so he knows a lot. The king worries about his people, it seems to him that something unkind appears in the hearts of people:
In the hearts of people I noticed I will cool
Considerable; fervor of love
I haven't seen Berendey for a long time.
The service to beauty has disappeared in them;
I do not see the eyes of youth,
Moistened with bewitching passion;
I don't see thoughtful maidens, deep
Sighing. On eyes with a veil
There is no sublime longing for love,
And see completely different passions:
Vanity, envy of other people's outfits
And so on.
What values does Tsar Berendey think about? He is not worried about money and power. He cares about the hearts and souls of his subjects. Drawing the king in this way, Ostrovsky wants to show the ideal picture of a fairy-tale society. Only in a fairy tale can people be so kind, noble and honest. And this intention of the writer in depicting the fabulous ideal reality warms the soul of the reader, makes one think about the beautiful and the sublime.
Indeed, the fairy tale "The Snow Maiden" is read with enthusiasm at any age. And after reading it, an idea arises about the value of such human qualities as spiritual beauty, fidelity and love. Ostrovsky speaks of love in many of his works.
But in The Snow Maiden, the conversation is conducted in a very special way. In the form of a fairy tale, the reader is presented with great truths about the enduring value of love.
The ideal kingdom of the Berendeys lives so happily precisely because they know how to appreciate love. That is why the gods are so merciful to the Berendei. And it is worth breaking the law, insulting the great feeling of love, so that something terrible happens.
I've been living for a long time, and the old order
Quite well known to me. Berendey,
Beloved by the gods, lived honestly.
Without fear, we entrusted the daughter to the guy,
A wreath for us is a guarantee of their love
And faithful to death. And never
The wreath was not desecrated by treason,
And the girls did not know deceit,
They did not know resentment.
It is no coincidence that Mizgir's betrayal of Kupava caused so much pain in everyone around him. Everyone took the guy's ignoble behavior as a personal insult:
... Everyone is offended,
Offense to all Berendeyka girls!
In the kingdom, simple but wonderful relations have been formed between people for a long time. The deceived girl Kupava first of all turns to the protector king with a request to punish the culprit of her grief. And having learned all the details from Kupava and those around him, the king delivers his verdict: the guilty must be punished. What punishment does the king choose? He orders to drive Mizgir out of sight. It is in exile that the Berendeys see the most terrible punishment for a delinquent person.
Honest people, worthy of the death penalty
His fault; but in our way
There are no bloody laws; may the gods
Execute him according to the crime,
And we are the court of the people of Mizgir
We are condemned to eternal exile.
There are no bloody laws in the kingdom. This could only be in a fairy tale created by the imagination of the writer. And this humanity makes the realm of the Berendey even more beautiful and pure.
The figure of the Snow Maiden is remarkable. She is completely different from everyone around. The Snow Maiden is a fairy-tale character. She is the daughter of Frost and Spring. That is why the Snow Maiden is a very controversial creature. In her heart, the cold is the legacy of her father, the harsh and gloomy Frost. For a long time, the Snow Maiden lives in the wilderness of the forest, and her terem is diligently guarded by a stern father. But, as it turned out, the Snow Maiden looks like not only her father, but also her mother, the beautiful and kind Spring. That is why she is tired of living alone, locked up. She wants to see real human life, to know all its beauty, to take part in girlish amusements, to listen to the wonderful songs of the shepherd Lel. "Without songs, life is not joyful."
In the way the Snow Maiden describes human life, one can see her genuine admiration for human joys. The cold heart of a fabulous girl does not yet know love and human feelings, but nevertheless she is already attracted, attracted by the bewitching world of people. The girl realizes that she can no longer remain in the realm of ice and snow. She wants to find happiness, and perhaps this, in her opinion, is only in the kingdom of the Berendeys. She says to her mother:
Mom, happiness
Whether I find it or not, I'll look for it.
The Snow Maiden amazes people with her beauty. The family in which the Snow Maiden ended up wants to take advantage of the girl's beauty for their own personal enrichment. They beg her to accept the courtship of rich Berendeys. They cannot appreciate the girl who became their named daughter.
The Snow Maiden seems more beautiful, more modest and gentle than all the surrounding girls. But she does not know love, therefore she cannot respond to hot human feelings. There is no warmth in her soul, and she looks aloof at the passion that Mizgir feels for her. A being that does not know love causes pity and surprise. It is no coincidence that no one can understand the Snow Maiden: neither the tsar, nor any of the Berendeys.
The Snow Maiden attracts others so much precisely because of her coldness. She seems to be a special girl for whom you can give everything in the world, and even life itself. At first, the girl is indifferent to everyone around. Gradually, she begins to have some feelings for the shepherd Lelya. This is not love yet, but it is already hard for the icy beauty to see the shepherd with Kupava:
... Kupava,
Razluchnitsa! This is your word;
She called me a lover,
You yourself are separating from Lel.
The shepherd Lel rejects the Snow Maiden, and she decides to beg her mother for ardent love. One that burns the human heart, makes you forget about everything in the world:
Deceived, offended, killed by the Snow Maiden.
Oh mother, Spring-Red!
I run to you with a complaint and a request:
I ask for love, I want to love.
Give the Snow Maiden a girl's heart, mom!
Give me love or take my life!
Spring gives her daughter a feeling of love, but this gift can be disastrous for the Snow Maiden. Spring is tormented by heavy forebodings, because the Snow Maiden is her daughter. Love is tragic for the heroine. But without love, life loses all meaning. The Snow Maiden cannot cope with the desire to become the same as all the people around her. Therefore, she decides to ignore the precepts of her father, who warned her against the disastrous consequences of human passion.
The Snow Maiden in love becomes surprisingly touching. A whole world opens up for her, completely unknown to her before. Now she understands all those who experience love yearning. She answers Mizgir with her consent to become his wife. But Mizgir is not able to give up his intention to appear before all the Berendeys with his bride, considering the beauty's fears a whim.
The first bright rays of the sun kill the Snow Maiden.
But what about me? bliss or death?
What a delight! What feelings of languor!
Oh mother Spring, thank you for the joy,
For the sweet gift of love! What a bliss
Languishing flows in me! Oh Lel,
Your enchanting songs are in my ears,
In the eyes of fire ... and in the heart ... and in the blood
All over the fire. I love and melt, melt
From sweet feelings of love. Goodbye everyone
Girlfriends, farewell, groom! Oh honey
The last look of the Snow Maiden to you.
Mizgir cannot put up with the death of his beloved, so he throws himself from a high mountain. But the death of the Snow Maiden seems to be something natural to the Berendeys. The Snow Maiden was alien to the warmth of the soul, so it was difficult for her to find her happiness among people.
As a character, she is reflected in the visual arts, literature, cinema, and music. And the images of the fairy tale "The Snow Maiden" in painting became the personification of the external image of the girl.
Snow Maiden: the origin of the heroine
Only Russian New Year's mythology has a positive female hero in its composition. Despite its uniqueness, its origin is shrouded in mystery. There are three most popular theories, which not only are not interconnected in any way, but also contradict each other.
The images of the fairy tale "The Snow Maiden" in the visual arts clearly describe all three theories.
The young companion of Santa Claus is credited with various family ties. She and the daughter of the Big Spruce, who appeared out of nowhere: climbed out from under a spreading spruce branch. She is the daughter of Frost and Spring. Also, her appearance is associated with childless old people who, at sunset, thought about children. Ivan and Marya made a little girl out of the snow, and this is how the Snow Maiden was born.
Girl made of snow
IN AND. Dal wrote that in Rus', snowmen, snowmen and bullfinches were called birds (birds) that wintered in the forests. In addition, he noted that these are "blocks made of snow." According to V.I. Dahl, these blockheads had the image of a man.
It is noteworthy that Dahl's words generally characterize all the images of the fairy tale "The Snow Maiden" in the visual arts.
The image of a girl molded from the snow by old people appeared after the baptism of Rus'.
"The Snow Maiden" is Ostrovsky's fairy tale, she is the most popular reflection of the character we are considering. However, the work is not single and unique.
The Russian folk tale "The Snow Maiden" shows us a heroine who was born from direct contact with a stove: a grandmother and a grandfather...
IN AND. Dal in his fairy tale "The Snow Maiden Girl" presents the birth of the heroine as follows:
Mythologized image of frozen winter waters
Zharnikova S.V., an ethnologist, believes that the image of the Snow Maiden found its first reflection in the god Varuna. Svetlana Vasilievna explains it simply: the Snow Maiden is a faithful companion of Santa Claus, and he originates in the time of Varun. Therefore, Zharnikova suggests that the Snow Maiden is the embodiment of frozen (winter) waters. Her traditional attire also corresponds to her origin: white clothes combined with silver ornaments.
Snow Maiden - the prototype of Kostroma
Some researchers associate our heroine with the Slavic ritual of the funeral of Kostroma.
What is common in the images of Kostroma and the Snow Maiden? Seasonality and external image (in one of the interpretations).
Kostroma is depicted as a young woman in snow-white robes, she holds an oak branch in her hands. Most often shown surrounded by many people (round dance).
It is this face of Kostroma that makes her related to the Snow Maiden. However, the straw effigy of a woman (the second image of Kostroma) also has much in common with the snow maiden. It is believed that the games end with the burning of an effigy: this means that winter is over - spring is coming. Similarly, the Snow Maiden ends her annual cycle: she melts by jumping over the fire.
What else do the Snow Maiden and Kostroma have in common? Kostroma is not only a female folk image, but also the city of the Central Federal District of Russia, which is the birthplace of the granddaughter of Santa Claus.
Fairy tale-play by Ostrovsky A.N. "Snow Maiden"
In the estate "Shchelykovo", located in the Kostroma region, there is a small homeland of the playwright who wrote the work "The Snow Maiden".
The fairy tale of Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich "The Snow Maiden" reveals the image of a girl from a slightly different side than the works of Russian folklore.
Ostrovsky tests his heroine:
- it is not understood by others (residents of Sloboda);
- Bobyl and Bobylikha, unlike the grandfather and grandmother from the folk tale, do not love their daughter, but use her, pursuing only one goal: profit.
Ostrovsky puts the girl to the test: she goes through mental anguish.
Images of the fairy tale "Snow Maiden" in the visual arts
"Spring Tale" by A.N. Ostrovsky came to life and acquired its melodiousness thanks to the composer, whose name is N. Rimsky-Korsakov.
After the first reading of the play, the composer was not inspired by its drama, but already in the winter of 1879 he began to think about creating the opera The Snow Maiden.
Here the images of the fairy tale "The Snow Maiden" in the fine arts begin their journey.
The first artist who captured the image of a fabulous Russian beauty can be called V.M. Vasnetsov. It was he who performed the scenery for the opera N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Snow Maiden", staged at the Bolshoi Theater.
Inspired by the opera, Viktor Mikhailovich not only created the scenery for the production, but also became the author of a separate work: the painting The Snow Maiden (1899).
Vasnetsov is not the only artist who brought to life the images of the fairy tale "The Snow Maiden". Sketches of costumes and scenery belong to N.K. Roerich. He was involved in the design of the play "The Snow Maiden" four times.
The first versions of the design (1908 and 1912) by N.K. Roerich's works carried the viewer into the world of ancient pre-Christian Rus', when paganism reigned in society and recklessly believed in fairy tales. And the production of 1921 was distinguished by a more modern (for those years) vision of the plot.
To create the image of the Snow Maiden, M.A. also applied a brush. Vrubel.
V.M. Vasnetsov, N.K. Roerich, M.A. Vrubel - painters, thanks to which the Snow Maiden "found" her snowy image: a radiant white bandage on her hair, a light snow vestment, girded with ermine fur, a short fur coat.
The image of a snow girl was captured on their canvases by artists: Alexander Shabalin, Ilya Glazunov, Konstantin Korovin.
V.M. Vasnetsov - images of the fairy tale "Snow Maiden"
Viktor Mikhailovich created the image of the Snow Maiden, consisting of a sundress and a hoop on her head. It is noteworthy that the artist himself was engaged in painting the girl's attire. Many parts of the scenery also belong to his brush. Later, art historians will say that V.M. Vasnetsov became a full-fledged co-author of the play.
ON THE. Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Snow Maiden
The opera "" did not immediately fall in love with musicians and listeners. Like a play, it reveals its facets only to the most sensitive perception. But having once managed to comprehend her true cosmic beauty, no one will be able to stop loving her. Like a young heroine, out of modesty, she does not show all the depth at once. But through a fairy tale in Rus' since ancient times, the most valuable thoughts were conveyed.
Summary of the opera Rimsky-Korsakov "Snegurochka", history and interesting facts about this work, read on our page.
|
Characters |
Description |
|
| Freezing | bass | father of the Snow Maiden, the embodiment of harsh natural forces |
| Spring | mezzo-soprano | mother of the Snow Maiden, hope, charm and warmth of nature |
| soprano | daughter of cold and heat, beauty incapable of love | |
| Lel | contralto | shepherd and poet-singer, delighting hearts |
| Kupava | soprano | Snow Maiden's girlfriend |
| Mizgir | baritone | Kupava's fiancé, overseas merchant |
| Berendey | tenor | ruler of the Berendey kingdom |
| Bobyl | tenor | foster parents of the Snow Maiden who took her into their home |
| Bobylikha | mezzo-soprano | |
| People (Berendey), royal servants | ||
Summary of "Snow Maiden"
The libretto was based on Alexander Ostrovsky's play The Snow Maiden. The second title of the work is "Spring Tale". There is a lot of allegorical in it - in the spring such transformations take place with nature that this process can be compared with magic. The fairy tale is inhabited by fairy-tale characters, and the development of the plot is not built on the canons usual for that time.
The daughter of Spring and Frost, the Snow Maiden, grew up in the forest under the protection of mystical forest creatures. But for a long time he has been watching people, and with all his might strives to understand their world. She begs her parents to let her live among people.
Once in the house of Bobyl and Bobylikh, she begins to explore the world of human relations. It turns out that people are looking for love and get married when they meet it. The heart of the Snow Maiden is cold from birth. She listens to Lel's songs, talks with her friend Kupava, but does not feel anything.
The measured course of village life is disturbed by the appearance of Mizgir, the groom of Kupava. The wedding has already been scheduled, when suddenly Mizgir meets the Snow Maiden and is captivated by her coldly restrained beauty. He rushes after the Snow Maiden, begging her to become his wife.
Kupava is disgraced and cannot recover from grief. Neighbors advise her to go to the wise Tsar Berendey. Their philosophical conversation about whether to love and believe is touching and compassionate. Calling Mizgir to court, Berendey cannot solve the dilemma: how can one force a person to love against his will? To which Mizgir invites the king to look at the Snow Maiden, the culprit of the misfortune. At one glance at her, the king understands who is standing in front of him. She is the reason that God Yarilo sends trials to the realm. Berendey gives a decree: until the morning of the next day (the day of Yarila's holiday), someone must melt the icy heart of the Snow Maiden - to fall in love with her. Lel, a shepherd who sings sweet songs, undertakes to complete the task. Mizgir begs permission to try too.
The Snow Maiden reaches out to Lelya, with whom she has become friends. But he suddenly turns his gaze to Kupava. And this hurts the Snow Maiden painfully. She begins to experience hitherto unknown feelings. Passionately she prays to mother Vesna to bestow the ability to love. Spring comes to meet her, but warns that from now on the rays of the sun are dangerous for the Snow Maiden, she can melt under them.
Awakened for love, the Snow Maiden meets Mizgir and now looks at him with different eyes - she loves, and asks him to be with her. Together they go to Yarilina Glade, where the wedding ceremony is already taking place - Tsar Berendey sanctifies the union of everyone.
And Mizgir and the Snow Maiden ask for blessings. At this moment, the sun is already rising high, and the Snow Maiden begins to melt. Until the very last minute, she says how happy she was able to love. Mizgir from grief rushes into the lake.
Now Berendey is sure that the hardships of his people are over. Life goes on. The opera ends with a choral scene depicting a happy people freed from the curse, singing the hymn "Light and power, God Yarilo!".
| Performance duration | |||
| I - II Act | III - IV Act | ||
| 45 min. | 55 min. | ||
Photo:
Interesting Facts:
- Work on the opera was completed on March 31, 1881, on the composer's fiftieth birthday.
- This is one of the heralds of the fantasy genre - the plot involves fabulous (Leshy, Frost, Spring) and realistic (Lel, Kupava, Mizgir) characters, the plot itself has an archetypal structure.
- The image of the Snow Maiden is unique in the entire world culture - there is nothing like it anywhere else, except for Russian folklore. It is shrouded in mystery, there are no clear ideas about its origin, but this image is present in the visual arts, legends, songs.
- V. Dal mentioned that snowmen, bullfinches, snowmen were called "boobs made of snow", having the image of a man.
- It is believed that the image of the Snow Maiden appeared after the baptism of Rus'.
- For Viktor Vasnetsov, the image of the Snow Maiden has become a key in his work.
- In 1952, a cartoon was filmed to music from the opera. ON THE. Rimsky-Korsakov .
Famous arias and numbers from the opera "The Snow Maiden"
Snegurochka's aria "Walk for berries with girlfriends" (prologue) - listen
Lel's third song "The cloud conspired with thunder" (III act) - listen
choir "Ay, in the field there is a linden" (III act) - listen
duet of the Snow Maiden and Mizgir "Wait, wait!" (IV act) - listen
final chorus "Light and power, god Yarilo" (IV act) - listen
The history of the creation of the "Snow Maiden"
He began work on the opera in the summer of 1880. As a basis for the plot, he took Alexander Ostrovsky's verse play "The Snow Maiden", which was published in 1873. The play itself caused a great resonance in society. Few appreciated it. The fairy tale was admired by F.M. Dostoevsky, A.I. Goncharov, I.S. Turgenev. Young at that time, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, at the request of the author, was invited to write music for the theatrical production of The Snow Maiden.
But most of the public and especially critics met the play coldly. Her images and allegory were incomprehensible to contemporaries. Oral Russian folk art, ritual song folklore and mythology, the cult and beliefs of the ancient Slavs were something distant and uninteresting for the then audience. Superficially perceiving the play, critics immediately accused the author of escaping from reality. Having become accustomed to his already established role as a exposer of the vices of Russian society, the audience was not ready to plunge into the complex world of fairy tale allegories.
Ostrovsky was accused of being seduced by decorative images and a light fairy-tale subject, "fantastic" and "meaningless." The poetic syllable with which the play was written also complicated the perception. The ingenious Russian playwright traveled to the farthest provinces, collecting motifs and rhythms of folk songs and legends, the play contains many Old Slavonic words and phrases. Only a true connoisseur and connoisseur of Russian folklore can truly understand and appreciate the beauty of the style of these poems.
And Rimsky-Korsakov himself, on his first acquaintance with the play, was not too imbued with it. Only after a while, upon re-reading (in the winter of 1879-1880), did he suddenly “see the light”, the whole depth and poetry of the work was revealed to him. He was instantly ignited by the desire to write an opera on this plot. This desire led him first to Ostrovsky - to ask permission to write music for his magical work, and then to the Stelyovo estate, where the opera was written in unison.
The composer himself acted as a librettist, making changes to Ostrovsky's original text. All work was completed in a matter of months. By the end of March 1881, the opera was completed, and in January 1882 the premiere took place. Rimsky-Korsakov himself described the period of creation of the opera as creatively filled, he wrote extremely quickly and easily, with inspiration. The Snow Maiden became his favorite opera.
First productions
Despite the fact that Ostrovsky spoke very enthusiastically about Rimsky-Korsakov's music for his Spring Tale, the music was much closer to him. Tchaikovsky written for the play. And the thrill that Nikolai Andreevich himself experienced for his opera was not supported by the musicians and the audience of the first performances. So the first performances were saturated with disappointment.
The scenery for the stage was made by Viktor Vasnetsov, an itinerant artist, moreover, he designed both the theatrical production of the play and the opera. Using specific elements of Russian architecture, architecture, embroidery motifs, he achieved a realistic embodiment of the atmosphere of peasant life.
Music
From early childhood he was very fond of Russian folk music, its special rhythm, close to colloquial, expressive intonations, melodious melody. In The Snow Maiden, he expressed this love with the skill of a mature composer. He practically does not use direct quotes from folk songs, but he stylizes them very accurately, creating his songs that are amazingly similar in spirit to folk songs.
This music is very picturesque - the imagination vividly draws pictures of the winter forest, the chirping of birds, the appearance of Spring-Red, the cold and detachment of the Snow Maiden. The gradual awakening of nature and the Snow Maiden's desire for human warmth and love are also shown in music, it becomes passionate, even expressive. At the same time, the fantastic character of the fairy tale is sustained.
The opera opens with a prologue, in which the main characters are presented by musical means - the forces of nature, the severe Frost, the tender Spring, the fragile Snow Maiden. The orchestra imitates bird trills, ringing streams, natural metamorphoses. The Shrovetide scene at the end of the prologue almost completely illustrates the ancient rite of the meeting of spring with winter, the choral episodes colorfully describe folk festivals. The scene is so colorful that it is often performed in gala concerts.
Creating images of the main characters, the author carefully thought out the melodic and dramatic characteristics of each. For each category of characters (fairy-tale characters, real people, representatives of the elements), a separate intonational-rhythmic and timbre sphere has been created. Rimsky-Korsakov's operatic vocal numbers are notable for their melodiousness combined with simplicity. The chorus is often another character for him - the people, and also brings additional color to the whole sound. At the same time, the richness of orchestration never argues with the vocal beginning, but, on the contrary, complements and enriches it.
The composer is characterized by a special attitude to the female lyrical image. His Snow Maiden Martha from The Tsar's Bride , Olga from "The Maid of Pskov" are examples of touching, sublime, reverent femininity, the embodiment of captivating ideal beauty. The transformation of the image of the Snow Maiden is also reflected in her vocal part. If at the beginning of the opera its melody is close to instrumental (and is accompanied by overflowing flutes ), then the more she reaches out to people, the more melodiousness, melody, and ardor appear in the music (there are now more strings in the orchestra).
In general, the composer himself provided a complete musical analysis of the opera in the book “The Chronicle of My Musical Life” and the article “Analysis of the Snow Maiden”. In it, the author spoke in detail about the artistic concept and its implementation. It should be noted that the need for such documents was caused by the dissatisfaction of the author with the first productions. Like Ostrovsky's play itself, the opera production did not initially meet with a response from the performers, conductor, and critics. Later, after the appearance of explanations, a more successful performance took place, close to the author's interpretation.
It is amazing how mathematically accurately he designed the dramaturgy and the development of the action. The depth and innovation of the composer could not meet with instant acceptance of this music. They did not coincide with the main themes in the art of that time. However, already a decade later, it becomes the locomotive of artistic transformation in national art.
Allegory in fairy tale and opera
Rimsky-Korsakov's music is most often said to be light, pure, sublime. The fairy tale "The Snow Maiden" has a truly naive plot, which attracted the composer. It contains a description of the way of life of an ideal society, the Berendeys, with a surprisingly wise and unusual ruler - Tsar Berendey, who teaches his people to live according to their hearts, to preserve moral purity and nobility. This is a utopian picture even for a resident of the 19th century. However, in the Russian ancient epic it was not rare.
Russian land can be fertile and fruitful. But the climate is harsh and unpredictable. They survived the long winter at the expense of the summer harvest. And the yield depended on the vagaries of nature, and not on the diligence or talent of the peasant. Under such conditions, the sun, which gives warmth and growth to plants and animals, became the main deity. But he was not just worshiped, people were looking for (and found) a connection between their behavior and thoughts - and the answer of the Sun-God. Therefore, Berendey was worried and complained that the god Yarilo turned away from the Berendey kingdom, believing that its inhabitants began to think too much about self-interest.
Allegories in a fairy tale:
Opera "Snow Maiden" can be called a national treasure. he was a true patriot of his homeland, having traveled half the world while serving in the navy, he invariably returned his thoughts to the greatness of the Russian people. His aesthetic ideal and desire was to preserve the traditions of Russian folklore, to emphasize it. Inventing new artistic techniques and composing techniques, he sought to place the people's sense of beauty at the center of his work. And in the "Snegurochka" he succeeded famously.
Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov "The Snow Maiden"
Mythopoetic oppositions in the play
A.N. Ostrovsky "Snow Maiden"
A.V. Semenov
Many scientists, including Yu.M. Lotman, V.V. Ivanov, V.N. Toporov, A.V. Yudin, Claude Levi-Strauss, believed that the thinking of primitive or ancient people was mythological. In order to perceive the world, ancient people had to decompose it into components in their minds and oppose these components to each other, which made the picture of the world clear and understandable. Myths and folklore reflect the mythological consciousness of ancient people.
The play by A.N. Ostrovsky "The Snow Maiden" is based on folklore material. The work clearly reflects the features of the consciousness and worldview of the ancient Slavs, which is manifested in the presence of mythopoetic oppositions in The Snow Maiden.
The purpose of this work:
Identification of mythopoetic oppositions in A.N. Ostrovsky's play "The Snow Maiden" and their comprehensive characterization.
Research objectives:
a) a general description of East Slavic mythology and the determination of the place of mythological oppositions in it;
b) comparison of traditional mythological characters with the characters of Ostrovsky's play; identification of similarities and differences;
c) comparison of the plots of the Russian folk tale "The Snow Maiden" and Ostrovsky's play; identification of similarities and differences; highlighting mythological oppositions common to folk tales and plays;
d) identification and description of mythopoetic oppositions in A.N. Ostrovsky's play "The Snow Maiden";
e) classification of mythopoetic oppositions in The Snow Maiden;
f) determination of the main functions of mythopoetic oppositions in the studied play by Ostrovsky.
Images of mythological characters in the folklore tradition and their interpretation by A.N. Ostrovsky in "The Snow Maiden"
Many heroes of Ostrovsky's spring fairy tale correlate with traditional characters of East Slavic mythology. Other heroes of the play cannot be called such, but they have peculiar names that evoke certain associations in the minds of readers or viewers. Creating his work, Ostrovsky used the images of traditional folklore characters, but interpreted them in his own way. Unlike folklore characters, who were carriers of specific, stable features and functions, the heroes of A.N. Ostrovsky's play "The Snow Maiden" are endowed with individual characters. The oppositions, of which these characters are members, become not only functional and gender, but also characteristic.
Comparison of the Russian folk tale about the Snow Maiden and the spring tale of A.N. Ostrovsky
The spring fairy tale of Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky "The Snow Maiden" occupies a special place both in the writer's work and in Russian drama in general. A fairy tale is one of the genres of oral folk art, it has its own special structure, its own laws (see "Fairy tale morphology" by V.Ya. Propp). Ostrovsky, based on the well-known plot of a Russian folk tale, created a completely new, original work, preserving folklore traditions in it.
There are at least 4 versions of the folk tale about the Snow Maiden. For research, we chose the simplest and most common plot: childless old people fashioned a girl out of snow in winter, she came to life, became their assistant and adopted granddaughter. In the summer, the Snow Maiden went with her friends to the forest for a walk, jumped over the fire and melted (Afanasyev A.N. Russian folk tales). It is probably this variant that is transformed and developed in the play. From another version of the tale, Ostrovsky borrowed forest animals helping the Snow Maiden.
As noted earlier, Ostrovsky, having preserved the main points of the folklore plot, transformed it, creating a new work, which in many respects diverges from the folk tale. First, there are many more characters in a play than in a fairy tale. Secondly, the heroes of the play are endowed with characters, the author tries to show their psychology, which is completely uncharacteristic of folklore. Thirdly, there is a love conflict in the play, the participants of which are opposed to each other in several ways. Fourthly, Ostrovsky's work describes a state entity, and not just a village. Fifthly, not only the Snow Maiden dies in the play, but also Mizgir, and the death of the heroes is more tragic than the death of a girl in a folk tale.
So, let's draw conclusions. In the folk tale and in Ostrovsky's play "The Snow Maiden" two oppositions, traditional for East Slavic folklore, coincide: the fundamental opposition warm - cold(Snegurochka - the sun) and opposition own - someone else's world, represented by the opposition house - forest. All other oppositions in the spring tale of A.N. Ostrovsky are the result of changes, additions and complication of the plot of the Russian folk tale.
Mytho-poetic oppositions
A.N. Ostrovsky was quite familiar with Russian oral folk art. Traveling through Northern Rus', the homeland of his ancestors, Ostrovsky visited several villages, observed the life, life, traditions of Russian peasants, and was interested in folklore. Probably, the playwright learned a lot from the works of Afanasiev "Poetic views of the Slavs on nature" and "Russian folk tales", which were well known to him. There is an opinion that one of the sources of The Snow Maiden could be the novel by P.I. Melnikov-Pechersky "In the forests", containing an artistic processing of the myth of the ancient Slavic god Yaril. One way or another, it is obvious that Ostrovsky was confidently oriented in the source material: he knew the fairy tale about the Snow Maiden melting in the flames of a fire, Russian folk traditions, holiday rituals and songs, as well as mythological and poetic oppositions characteristic of Russian folklore.
I.Oppositions.
The fundamental opposition in the play "The Snow Maiden" is the opposition heat and cold. This opposition is binary and multilevel. It is expressed in a fairy tale in different ways and many times, it has several sublevels. It is on this opposition that the main conflict of the play is based. Let's try to identify the main sub-levels of opposition:
1) Warm- This . With the onset of the warm season, nature comes to life, the gifts of which, in turn, are the source of people's lives. Cold destroys life, lulls nature, takes away sources of food, is capable of killing. So the opposition life death goes back to the opposition heat-cold. In The Snow Maiden, life-giving warmth is opposed to deadly cold.
2) Opposition winter spring obviously correlates with heat - cold and life - death. It is already arranged by nature itself that the cold season is opposed by the warm season. The division of the year into two main seasons has long determined the way of life of Russian peasants. In cold weather, rest, preparation for the coming harvest, a series of winter holidays, in warm weather - the main work, supplies for the winter, summer holidays. We pay attention to the holidays for a reason. In the spring tale of Ostrovsky, the change of seasons is reflected in the rituals and songs that accompany folk festivals. The author reflected in the play the traditions of Maslenitsa and Semik, that is, seeing off winter, meeting spring and summer. This is symbolic in the work: cold gives way to warmth, life replaces death, love awakens...
3) The definition of the human heart as cold or hot is often found in the literature. A person with a cold heart is an insensitive, indifferent being, incapable of strong emotions, and therefore deprived of the gift of love. Love is characteristic of people with a warm heart. Such a person is endowed with a tendency to experience a range of vivid emotions in relation to others, he perceives the world and people differently than a person with a cold heart. Opposition love is indifference brightly shown in the "Snow Maiden". All the heroes of the play can be divided into capable and incapable of love. The second includes the Snow Maiden and Frost, the first - all the rest. The Snow Maiden and Frost are the offspring of a cold winter, while the rest are sweet in warm spring and summer. Misunderstanding and rejection arise between the characters, a conflict develops.
4) The division of heroes on the basis of love - coldness entails a number of gender oppositions:
a) On the very first pages of the work we meet two mythical characters - Spring and Santa Claus. They are the personifications of the cold and warm seasons. Spring brings with it warmth and love, but both are alien to Frost. However, the contradiction in the opposition Frost - Spring is not the most acute. Being a man and a woman, they find a common language. Frost responds to the frivolous coquetry of Spring, and the result of their fragile union is the daughter of the Snow Maiden.
b) The Snow Maiden is a creature with a cold heart. She doesn't know love. Once in the world of people, she encounters those who are capable of experiencing passionate feelings. Opposition Snow Maiden - Lel creates one of the main conflicts in the play. Lel is an ardent young man, loving, brought up by the Sun. He constantly craves love and affection. The Snow Maiden cannot give them to him, although she really likes Lel. This situation gives rise to a conflict between the Snow Maiden and Lelya and an internal conflict of the Snow Maiden. And yet the contradiction in this opposition does not reach its maximum point. Lel's heart is not broken by the girl's coldness; the Snow Maiden's sympathy for the young man is due to his handsomeness and talent.
c) Opposition Snow Maiden - Kupava not gender, but the tension is growing here. Passionate, wholly devoted to love, Kupava is the complete opposite of the cold, restrained, modest Snow Maiden. The difference between the girls from each other leads to the emergence of two love triangles: Snegurochka - Kupava - Mizgir, Snegurochka - Kupava - Lel. The situation is very conflicting, there are two ways out of it: the harmonious union of Kupava and Lel, the death of the Snow Maiden and Mizgir. Both are implemented in the work.
d) Contradiction reaches its maximum intensity in gender opposition Snow Maiden - Mizgir. The girl is the embodiment of coldness, passions boil in Mizgir. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the Snow Maiden is not just indifferent to Mizgir, she is unpleasant to her, his pressure and sudden strong feelings frighten her. Mizgir's desire to possess the Snow Maiden clashes with her unwillingness to belong. The passion of the hero is contraindicated in the cold heart of the Snow Maiden. The girl and Mizgir are so incompatible that, by magic, the resulting reciprocal feeling of the Snow Maiden leads her to death. This is the most inharmonious resolution of the conflict.
All the oppositions discussed above are realizations of the fundamental opposition heat-cold.
Opposition Snow Maiden - Mizgir requires additional attention. It manifests itself as a kind of confrontation between heat and cold, but is not limited to this. There is another level here. When the Snow Maiden, wearing a wreath of magical flowers, acquires the ability to love, for a short time she ceases to be the opposite of Mizgir on the basis of love - coldness. But there is another contradiction: selfless love is selfish love. Mizgir initially cares only about his feelings and about the satisfaction of his desires. Having fallen in love with the Snow Maiden, he imposes himself on her, later resorting to the use of force. The persistence and recklessness of Mizgir leads to discord between the Snow Maiden and Kupava and Lel. The Snow Maiden knows how to sacrifice her well-being for the sake of others. Obeying her adoptive parents, she drives Lel away against her will. Realizing the importance of the ability to love, the girl is ready to sacrifice her life for a single moment of love. In fact, that's exactly what she does. The Snow Maiden knows that the rays of the sun will melt her, but she submits to the will of Mizgir and goes with him to the meadow to meet Yarila. What about Mizgir? He wants to achieve the king's forgiveness and prove that he kept his word, conquered the Snow Maiden. Mizgir is intoxicated with success, he does not heed either fear or the requests of the bride and leads her straight to death. In a different situation, sacrificial love and selfish love could well coexist and even complement each other, but Ostrovsky ordered otherwise. He brought two kinds of one feeling together and brought the matter to a tragic denouement.
One of the most important oppositions in Ostrovsky's spring tale is the opposition Snow Maiden - Yarilo. Yarilo is the god of the sun, fertility, dying and resurrecting life. Its time is summer. Yarilo is quite cruel, demanding and vengeful. The cult of this deity involved sacrifices, sometimes bloody. All this is reflected in the play under consideration. From the very beginning, from Frost's speech, we learn about Yarila's anger and his intention to kill the Snow Maiden. Later, King Berendey speaks of the extreme displeasure of the sun god. He sees the reason for the bad weather, the cold, short summer, in the cooling of human hearts, the diminution of love. Why is the sun god so angry? Yarilo is primarily responsible for fertility, for the continuation of life. And in the world of people there is an ugly picture. Love, the natural consequence of which is marriage and the birth of children, is losing its position in human hearts. There are betrayals, mutual cooling of husbands and wives, indifference of boys and girls to each other. All this was largely facilitated by the birth of the Snow Maiden, and then her appearance in the settlement and the settlement of the Berendeys. The Snow Maiden is a product of Frost, she increases the camp of the forces of Winter and cold. In addition, Spring, for the sake of her daughter, indulges the abuses of Frost. Of course, Yarilo cannot help being angry. And the cruel god takes out his irritation on people. There is another irreconcilable contradiction between Yarila and the daughter of Spring and Frost. The Snow Maiden is the embodiment of chastity, which is absolutely incompatible with sensual love, marriage and the birth of children. She is a creature initially opposed to Yarila, so God seeks to destroy her. The conflict between Yarila and the Snow Maiden is an allegory of marriage. The groom must deprive the bride of chastity in order to be able to give birth to a new life. Yarila’s anger at the Snow Maiden is also strengthened by the fact that the appearance of a new beauty in the settlement quarreled between the young men and their brides, that is, brought even more contention and coldness towards people, upset more than one marriage. The conflict is irreconcilable, the only way out of it is the elimination of one of the participants. God is strong and immortal, the Snow Maiden dies.
Very curious in Ostrovsky's play is the opposition own - someone else's world. This opposition is most characteristic of folklore genres, especially fairy tales. In the spring fairy tale, it is expressed by the opposition forest - home, otherwise forest - settlement and Berendey settlement. Your world or home is the world of people in which otherworldly forces cannot act. Representatives of the other world are closed here. An alien world or forest is a dangerous space for people. Spirits, gods, magical creatures live here. Some of them are friendly, others are neutral, others are hostile towards people. In Snegurochka, their world is represented by Sloboda, Posad and all the Berendeys. The forest, Frost, Spring, Goblin and other inhabitants of the thicket, Yarilo belong to a foreign world. The sun god is close to people, they worship him. Nevertheless, yarilo is alien to the human world. It’s not just that a holiday in his honor is arranged in a clearing in the middle of the forest, and not in a settlement or a suburb. The Snow Maiden occupies a special position between her own and the other world. She was born and raised in the forest, but can also live among people. However, the appearance of the Snow Maiden in her world causes discord in him. The world of people rejects the representative of another world. The opposition is not broken.
Another traditional folklore opposition in The Snow Maiden is wedding - funeral. Wedding and funeral rites were similar in many ways. The bride is somewhat akin to the dead, she passes from one state to another. In Snegurochka, weddings and funerals are brought together as close as possible. The holiday in honor of Yarila should be crowned with the marriage of many young men and women. But the same moment in the play is marked by the death of the Snow Maiden and the mizgir. Moreover, the death of the Snow Maiden is necessary for the successful completion of the wedding ceremony. In an incomprehensible way, the funeral of the Snow Maiden and Mizgir, who violated the harmony of this world, is woven into a pagan wedding ceremony in front of Yarila. Such a close proximity of death and marriage in the play can be explained by the peculiarity of the cult of the sun god. Yarilo is the deity of life and death continuing each other.
Analyzing the oppositions in the play "The Snow Maiden", one should dwell on the opposition ancestors are descendants. Ancestors act as keepers and defenders of antiquity, descendants are representatives of the new time, bearers of changed mores. Otherwise, this opposition can be represented as antiquity - modernity. In Ostrovsky's tale, it is permissible to name Tsar Berendey and Kupava's father Murash as ancestors. We hear stories about them about how life used to be. Murash speaks of the honesty and loyalty to the word of the former Berendeys. The king is of the opinion that in his youth people loved each other more and everything in the world was good and right. The descendants in the play are all youth. They have nothing to compare the surrounding reality with, and they take everything for granted. There is an inevitable clash of morals. The wise king does not like the behavior of Mizgir, Elena the Beautiful, boys and girls, and Berendey is endowed with power and is trying to change the situation. However, no one offers much resistance to him. Young people are imbued with the spirit of the holiday in honor of Yarila, the mood of love and spring. Justice triumphs.
These are the main oppositions in A.N. Ostrovsky's play "The Snow Maiden".
II. Classification of oppositions.
Oppositions in the spring tale can be divided into two groups:
1) Contradictions, characteristic mainly of folklore genres.
2) oppositions firmly established in fiction.
Of course, this classification is highly arbitrary. Most of the oppositions in "The Snow Maiden" somehow come into contact with folklore. However, some of them have a clear mythological connotation. Such oppositions include all gender oppositions, the participants of which are fabulous creatures, namely Spring - Frost, Snow Maiden - Yarilo. The same group belongs to the opposition of their own - someone else's world. This opposition rarely goes beyond folklore genres. The exception is the works of romantic writers, chivalric and fantasy novels, in which another world is necessarily present. However, such works are most often based on folklore and are close to myths, fairy tales, bylichkas, legends, traditions. Another folklore opposition is a wedding - a funeral. The original wedding and funeral rites were preserved in the peasant environment for a very long time, but they did not find a place in the noble, and later in modern society. As a result, the rites, their similarities and opposition to weddings and funerals are almost not reflected in the literature. The opposition under consideration remained the property of folklore genres.
The second group of oppositions from the play "The Snow Maiden" includes oppositions whose belonging to mythology turned out to be fragile. We are talking about oppositions that migrated from folklore genres to fiction. For example, the opposition of heat and cold in its gender and characteristic expressions has become quite traditional for many literary genres. Perhaps most clearly it manifests itself in sentimental novels and short stories (for example, "Sensitive and Cold" by N.M. Karamzin). At the heart of such oppositions lies the opposition love - indifference, ascending to heat - cold. Thus, the oppositions Snegurochka - Lel, Snegurochka - Kupava, Snegurochka - Mizgir, love - indifference can be called more poetic than mythological. This group should also include the opposition ancestors - descendants. The conflict of fathers and children, old and new generations, outdated and modern beliefs and mores is repeatedly beaten by poets and writers (for example, “Fathers and Sons” by I.S. Turgenev). The difference between ancestors and descendants is an inevitable and natural phenomenon in human society. This is due to the constant development of science, culture, religion and, as a result, the people themselves. Each new generation is ahead of the previous one in some way, there is a mismatch of beliefs, often leading to conflicts. Probably, it has always been like this, therefore the opposition between ancestors and descendants is characteristic of both ancient folklore genres and modern literature.
III. Functions of oppositions.
As noted earlier, A.N. Ostrovsky's play "The Snow Maiden" is based on oppositions. Such a construction of the work cannot be accidental. Each opposition must perform one function or another. Let's try to determine what goals the oppositions in the spring fairy tale serve to achieve.
A.N. Ostrovsky, calling his play a fairy tale, obliged himself to follow certain traditions of the folklore genre. The participants in many oppositions in the play are mythical and fabulous creatures: the Snow Maiden, Frost, Spring, Goblin, Yarilo. According to fairy tales, myths and folk beliefs, they opposed both each other and people. Oppositions involving alien beings mythologize Ostrovsky's play and turn it into a fairy tale. The same goal is served by contrasting one's own - someone else's world, otherwise the house is a forest. This opposition is a distinctive feature of folklore genres; its presence in Ostrovsky's work makes it possible to identify the play with a fairy tale. The opposition wedding - funeral also brings the play closer to folklore.
The plot of Ostrovsky's "The Snow Maiden" only very remotely resembles the plot of a Russian folk tale about a girl molded by an old man from snow and melted in the flames of a fire. The author of the play took a fresh look at the folklore plot, transformed it, created a neomyth (see Domansky Yu.V. The word-forming role of archetypal meanings in a literary text). One of the means of accomplishing this task was the opposition. The leading role in the spring fairy tale is assigned to the love conflict and its participants, which is not in the folk tale. At the heart of this conflict are the characters of the characters, their ability or inability to love, warmth or coldness in their hearts. Pushing the Snow Maiden with Lel, Kupava and Mizgir, Ostrovsky creates a completely new plot of the fairy tale.
In the folk tale, the conflict between the Snow Maiden and Yarila is not indicated, however, even there the snow girl is afraid of heat and sunlight, hides from them, and is sad with the advent of summer. Ostrovsky uses this motif in his play and develops it. In fairy tales, action always dominates, and the complexity and depth of the conflict, the motives of the characters are ignored. Ostrovsky is trying to show all aspects of the conflict. To do this, he introduces the opposition Snegurochka - Yarilo and complicates the plot. Analyzing this opposition, we understand the complexity of the opposition of heat and cold, Summer and Winter in Slavic mythology.
When determining the functions of oppositions in a spring fairy tale, it must be remembered that the Snow Maiden is a participant in most oppositions. This girl is an oxymoron being, as she is the daughter of Spring and Frost, who oppose each other. The Snow Maiden is cold, but knows how to appreciate friendship and talent. The girl has an icy heart, but she wants to love and gets such an opportunity. The daughter of Spring and Frost does not wish harm to anyone, but causes a lot of trouble to the people around her. The Snow Maiden is a product of a strange world, and yet she is quite capable of living among the Berendeys. Everything in the Snow Maiden is contradictory and at the same time harmoniously merged into one. One gets the impression that the duality of the culture and beliefs of the Russian people is embodied in the image of the main character. Russian mythology is characterized by a combination of the incompatible, for example: marriage unions of creatures hostile to each other, the ability of a person to visit another world, interact with its representatives and return back. Even the functions of the gods are contradictory: Yarilo brings both life and death; Veles patronizes both merchants and thieves. The pagan deities themselves take either masculine or feminine gender. A vivid example of the ambivalence of Russian folk culture is the phenomenon of dual faith, a harmonious combination of pagan beliefs, rituals and holidays with Christian ones. It is likely that Ostrovsky used the opposition to reflect the contradictory spirit of the Russian people in the play.
Finally, let us consider the main function of oppositions in the spring fairy tale. Opposition implies a collision, a collision leads to a conflict, the presence of a conflict is the main condition for the development of the plot. We must not forget that "The Snow Maiden" is a play. Here action prevails, and the conflict should be pronounced and as sharp as possible. All this is fully ensured by the construction of the play on oppositions. The use of various contrasts gave the author the opportunity to create not only the main conflict, but also several secondary conflicts that deepen the main and complicate the plot.
Conclusion
So, we managed to cope with the task. We identified and examined the main oppositions in A.N. Ostrovsky's play "The Snow Maiden", classified them and tried to determine their functions in the work. Some oppositions in the spring fairy tale have several meanings and perform more than one function. It can be concluded that the oppositions in the work under consideration are intertwined into a complex system, the components of which complement, explain, complicate and deepen each other's meanings. The use of oppositions helped the author to create an expressive picture of the customs and beliefs of the Russian people in the pre-Christian era. In addition, it is precisely the oppositions that determine the dual nature of the play itself: The Snow Maiden is a realistic depiction of folk life in a fantastic form. On some oppositions, the plausibility of the work is based, on others - its fabulousness. Let us conclude that without the mythological and poetic oppositions there would be no play "The Snow Maiden", at least not as it is known to us.
Based on folklore material, A.N. Ostrovsky created a work that clearly reflects the traditions, rituals, songs, beliefs and worldview of the ancient Slavs. Because the « The Snow Maiden is a work of art, the author allowed himself to interpret some mythical characters in his own way. Ostrovsky created new, even more colorful images and tried to reveal them as fully as possible. The heroes of Ostrovsky turned out to be very memorable and began to be associated in the minds of readers with mythological characters, displacing traditional ideas about them. The images created by Ostrovsky in the spring fairy tale had a significant impact on the further use of the plot of the fairy tale about the Snow Maiden by other writers.
It can be concluded that the play « The Snow Maiden" has become one of the models for creating new mythologized works.
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