KAVKAZSKIJ PLENNIK

Prisoner of the Caucasus; Le prisonnier du Caucase; Der Gefangene im Kaukasus

An opera in three acts

Composed by Cesar Cui

Libretto by Viktor Krylov, after Pushkin's poem

Date of composition: 1857-8, 1881-2

First Performed: St. Petersburg, 1883


Click here for a transliteration of Pushkin's original poem.

Cast of Characters

Circassian men and women

Setting: Place of action in the Caucasus, in a village of unruly highlanders

Synopsis

Russian military prisoner meets muslim girl. Girl is engaged to someone else but falls in love with Russian. Girl helps Russian escape. Crowd condemns girl. Girl stabs self to death.


[Sobinov as the Russian prisoner, ca. 1900]
[Tsvetkova as Fatima, ca. 1900]

Author: Lyle Neff, lneff@ucs.indiana.edu
Last Updated: July 1996