N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Kashchey the Immortal”: From the Text of the Fairy Tale to the Text of the Opera

Abstract

“Kashchey the Immortal” (1902) became one of the most notable operas-tales of N. A. Rimsky- Korsakov. This article is devoted to the history of the libretto text’s creation. It is associated with E. M. Petrovsky who originally worked on the text and was an employee of the Russian musical newspaper, journalist, and writer. Petrovsky proposed his own text, primarily in the symbolic style, to the composer. Preserved musical and epistolary documents of Rimsky-Korsakov show that while working on the opera, already having completed the music for two of the three parts, the composer rejected Petrovsky’s text and wrote its own version, relying on Russian folk tales, predominantly A. N. Afanasyev’s collection, and introduced literary and musical corrections into the prepared text. The final version of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “literary fairy tales” fit well into his modern field of work in this genre of famous writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, although he was much inferior to them on an artistic level. In addition, the particular design of the literary and musical texts allow one to speak of Rimsky- Korsakov’s introduction of elements of the “antiskazka,” in particular the interpretation of traditional images and typical situations. “Kashchey the Immortal” became the antithesis of other operas by the composer, primarily “Snow Maiden” written earlier, and this did not prevent the creation of composer from becoming persuasive, an innovative musical interpretation of an opera’s literary idea.