Last updated: Mar. 10, 1997

Kapitanskaja dochka

The Captain's Daughter; Die Hauptmannstochter

An opera in four acts

by Cesar Cui, libretto based on Pushkin's novel

Date of composition: 1907-1909

First Performed: 1911

Cast of Characters

• Empress Catherine the Great: mezzo soprano
• Andrey Petrovich Grinyov, a retired major: bass
• Avdotya Vasilievna, his wife: soprano
• Pyotr Andreyevich, their son: tenor
• Savelyich, a servant: baritone
• Dorofey, a proprietor of an entrenched post: tenor
• Potap, a Cossack: bass
• The Leader (Pugachov): baritone
• Ivan Kuzmich Mironov, commandant of Belgorodsky fortress: bass
• Vasilisa Yegorovna, his wife: contralto
• Masha, their daughter: soprano
• Aleksey Ivanovich Shvabrin, an ensign: baritone
• Ivan Ignatievich Zharkov, a lieutenant: tenor
• Maksimych, a sergeant: tenor
• A Corporal: bass
• Chumakov, a precentor: tenor

Garrison soldiers, residents, rebels, courtiers

Setting: 1775, Russia, during the Pugachov rebellion

Synopsis

Young Pyotr is sent to a fortress by his parents to become a soldier. On the way he his helped through a snowstorm by a guide who later turns out to be Pugachov, the leader of an upcoming rebellion. At the fortress he falls in love with Masha, the commandant's daughter. The rebels take over and kill Masha's parents. Pyotr becomes implicated in the rebellion, but Masha's appeals to Catherine the Great bring about his aquittal.