Snegurochka
(The Snow Maiden)
Snegurochka, the daughter of Frost and Spring, is deaf to her parents'
warning, and resolves to leave her woodland solitude and to seek the
companionship of mortals. Her numb heart is warmed by the songs of Lel,
the shepherd, but her inclination for him meets with no response, for
Lel is in love with Kupava. She is the affianced of Mizguir, a Tatar,
and in his breast Snegurochka kindles so fierce a flame of passion that
he deserts his betrothed. Snegurochka, bewildered by the vagaries of
Cupid, returns to her mother, who, in maternal solicitude, bestows upon
her ill-fated child the power of human love. But no sooner does the
Snow-Maiden utter, at the dictates of her newly awakened sensibility,
an avowal of love for Mizguir, than a ray of the warm spring sun falls
upon her and she floats to Heaven in a vapour.
synopsis by M. Montagu Nathan, Rimsky-Korsakof, Duffield & Co.,
New York, 1917.
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