The Snow Maiden

The Snow Maiden (, Snegurochka) is a play in verse by Alexander Ostrovsky written in 1873 and first published in the September 1873 issue of Vestnik Evropy. It was adapted into an opera of the same name by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, which premièred in 1882. Background The idea of the play based on a fairytale about Snegurochka came to Ostrovsky in his Shchelykovo estate, the place he admired and almost worshipped, imagining it as a piece of wonderland here on Earth, saturated with the spirit of Old Rus with its heroic warriors and gentle, benevolent tsars. The play tells the story of an idyllic utopian kingdom ruled by the Berendei, a poet and an artist who believes in love, peace and good will and promotes this belief of his. The play's plot was based on the Russian folk fairytale Ostrovsky read in the Vol. 2 of Alexander Afanasyev's book The Slavs' Views Upon Nature (1867). History In 1873, the Malyi Theatre was closed for renovations, and its cast was performing at the Bolshoy Theatre location. The management decided to unite the actors of all Imperial theatres for one grand production, for which Ostrovsky was asked to write a play.