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
- Kazenbek: bass
- Fatima, his daughter: soprano
- Mariam, her friend: mezzo-soprano
- Abubeker, Fatima's fiance: baritone
- Fekherdin, a mullah: bass
- A Russian Prisoner: tenor
- 1st Circassian: tenor
- 2nd Circassian: baritone
- 2nd Mullah: tenor
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