About the work
Opera in a prologue and four acts by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov after Alexander Ostrovsky's like-named spring fairy tale (1873), for which the composer wrote his own libretto. Composed in the summer of 1880 at his country estate, it was first performed on 10 February 1882 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg.
Plot
The Snow Maiden, daughter of Spring and Grandfather Frost, grows up among the sun-worshipping Berendey people, longing for a love that has always eluded her. When she falls for the shepherd Mizgir and finally returns his passion, the rising sun makes her melt away. Her sacrifice appeases the sun-god Yarilo, and the land's harsh winter ends.
Cultural significance
Rimsky-Korsakov called The Snow Maiden his own favourite among his works and revised its orchestration once more in 1898. The opera is regarded as one of the most vividly coloured evocations of Slavic nature mythology in the Russian repertoire.