The history of the creation of Pushkin’s poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila”

Plot[edit]

Vladimir's daughter Krasnoe Solnyshko Lyudmila and one of his best knights Ruslan are legally married. But they were unable to enjoy the joys of marital sex: the evil sorcerer Chernomor steals the beautiful Lyudmila right from her bed. In upset feelings, Vladimir scolds Ruslan for screwing his bride, and announces that he will give Lyudmila’s hand to the one who returns her home. Three unlucky contenders for the princess’s hand immediately respond to the proposal: the yap, drinker and glutton Farlaf (an obvious Scandinavian), the knight of the blood Rogdai (undoubtedly a Sarmatian) and the romantically inclined good guy Ratmir (called a Khazar right in the text). Ruslan also wants to rehabilitate himself, so the four of them set out to search for Lyudmila.

Having reached the crossroads, the warriors decide to split up. Ruslan, continuing his journey alone, stumbles upon a cave - the home of the wizard Finn. No, the sorcerer is not a Celt and has nothing in common with the Celtic hero of the same name; The sorcerer is Finnish (Suomalainen) by nationality, and this has become a nickname. Finn shares incredibly useful information with Ruslan: firstly, it is Ruslan who is destined to find Chernomor’s secret home, secondly, the decrepit sorcerer has long been impotent, of all his male wealth he only has a beard left, and let Ruslan not fear for the honor of his bride. We had dinner, drank, word for word - and now the old sorcerer tells Ruslan how he came to live like this.

In his youth, Finn fell in love with the beautiful Naina, but she spanked him because he was a simple shepherd. Then Finn became a dashing Viking, but even then it didn’t work out for him. In desperation, he decided to study the art of magic and seduce Naina with spells, but he got upset: while he was studying at Hogwarts there, forty years passed and Naina grew old. At the same time, the love spell worked on her, and she fell head over heels for Finn. Oh yes, Naina admitted that she, too, knows witchcraft. Since then, the unlucky boyfriend has been hiding in this cave.

Meanwhile, Rogdai decided to take a shortcut and get rid of his competitor in the person of Ruslan. He turns his horse and runs into Farlaf, who is just sitting on the lawn to have lunch. Mistaking him for Ruslan, Rogdai gives chase, Farlaf runs away from him and eventually falls from his horse. Rogdai saw that it was not Ruslan, spat and drove away.

Here, as if on purpose, he meets an old witch (Naina, who else) and tells him where to find Ruslan. She persuades Farlaf to abandon the quest - for a while.

Lyudmila, being captured by Chernomor, took the invisibility cap from the dwarf. After that, she was finally no longer afraid of the advances of the old bearded man. She ran through the magical gardens, had fun in every possible way and trolled her jailer.

Rogdai attacked Ruslan and tried to kill him, but Ruslan was not timid and killed Rogdai himself. He drives further and comes across a field strewn with dead bones. Beyond the field rose a mountain, which close up turned out to be a giant sleeping head, through whose efforts this collection of skeletons appeared. At first, Ruslan and the Head quarreled, then they made peace, and under the Head, Ruslan found a treasure sword. The head turned out to be the brother of the treacherous Chernomor, and the sword was a weapon from which the death of both brothers was predicted. Chernomor killed his brother with this sword, and bewitched his head and placed him there to guard the wonderful weapon. The head gave the sword to Ruslan so that Ruslan would take revenge.

Meanwhile, Naina flies to Chernomor to tell him that a mighty hero is riding for his soul. Chernomor replies that everything is fine: as long as his beard is intact, no one will defeat him.

Yes, an adventure also happened with Ratmir: he was invited to a wonderful castle on a rock, where only young beauties lived. Yes, yes, it was Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin who invented the Furuncle Castle. “Screw her, this Lyudmila!” - thought Ratmir and remained the owner of the harem, although not for long.

Ruslan wandered in the direction indicated by Finn all autumn and finally came across the stronghold of Chernomor. By that time, Chernomor himself had figured out how to get Lyudmila: he took the form of the wounded Ruslan, and Lyudmila, rushing to him, fell into a magic net, from which she fell asleep. But before Chernomor had time to get under her skirt, Ruslan’s horn was heard, challenging Chernomor to battle.

The battle lasted two days, youth won. Ruslan cut off Chernomor's beard (with the same sword) and deprived him of his magical powers. Alas, it was not possible to wake up Lyudmila, and Ruslan took her to Kyiv like that. On the way back, he pleased the dying Head with the bound Chernomor and met Ratmir, who found his happiness with a young fisherman and lives a pastoral life.

Here Farlaf, trained by Naina, comes onto the stage again. After waiting for Ruslan to stop, Farlaf killed him and disappeared with Lyudmila. He returned the girl to her father and received the right to become her husband, but with the wedding Oblomingo came out: the girl did not wake up.

Finn found the murdered Ruslan and resurrected him with the help of living and dead water, after which he gave him a magic ring, which should remove the spell from Lyudmila.

It’s very convenient that Kyiv is besieged by the Pechenegs - otherwise how would Ruslan be rehabilitated? But thanks to the timely victory over the Pechenegs, he entered Kiev as a hero, woke up Lyudmila, forgave Farlaf, after which he finally married his chosen one, and they lived happily ever after.

The history of the creation of M.I. Glinka’s opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila”

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The history of the creation of the opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by M.I. Glinka

Work on the opera began in 1837 and continued for five years with interruptions. Glinka began composing music without having anything ready. Because of Pushkin's death, he was forced to turn to other poets, including amateurs from among his friends and acquaintances - Nestor Kukolnik, Valerian Shirkov, Nikolai Markevich and others.

The text of the opera includes some fragments of the poem, but in general it was written anew. Glinka and his librettists made a number of changes to the cast of characters. Some characters disappeared (Rogdai), others appeared (Gorislava); The plot lines of the poem also underwent some alteration.

The concept of the opera differs significantly from the literary source. Pushkin's brilliant youth poem (1820), based on the themes of the Russian fairy-tale epic, is characterized by features of light irony and a playful attitude towards the heroes. Glinka resolutely rejected such an interpretation of the plot. He created a work of epic proportions, full of great thoughts and broad life generalizations.

The opera glorifies heroism, nobility of feelings, fidelity in love, ridicules cowardice, condemns treachery, malice and cruelty. Throughout the entire work, the composer conveys the idea of ​​the victory of light over darkness, the triumph of life. Glinka used the traditional fairy-tale plot with exploits, fantasy, and magical transformations to show a variety of characters and complex relationships between people, creating a whole gallery of human types. Among them are the knightly noble and courageous Ruslan, the gentle Lyudmila, the inspired Bayan, the ardent Ratmir, the faithful Gorislava, the cowardly Farlaf, the kind Finn, the treacherous Naina, and the cruel Chernomor.

The opera was written by Glinka over five years with long breaks: it was completed in 1842. The premiere took place on November 27 (December 9) of the same year on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater in St. Petersburg.

Glinka's opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila" brief description

CHARACTERS:

SVETOSAR, Grand Duke of Kiev (bass) LYUDMILA, his daughter (soprano) RUSLAN, Kiev knight, groom Lyudmila (baritone) RATMIR, Prince of the Khazar (contralto) FARLAF, Varangian knight (bass) GORISLAVA, captive Ratmira (soprano) FINN, good wizard (tenor) NAINA, the evil sorceress (mezzo-soprano) BAYAN, singer (tenor) CHERNOMOR, the evil wizard (without words) SONS OF SVETOZAR, VITYAZI, BOYARS AND BOYARINS, SAY GIRLS, NANNS AND MUMMS, YOUTHS, GRIDNY, CHASHNIKI, STOLNIKI, DRUGHINA and PEOPLE; MIRDS OF THE MAGIC CASTLE, DWARFS, SLAVES OF CHERNOMORA, NYMPHS AND UNDINES.

Time of action: epic (“days long gone”). Location: Kyiv and fabulous places. First performance: St. Petersburg, November 27 (December 9), 1842.

Action 1. Svetozar, the Grand Duke of Kiev, throws a feast in honor of his daughter Lyudmila. The suitors for Lyudmila’s hand are the knights Ruslan, Ratmir and Farlaf, who surround the beautiful princess. Lyudmila offers her hand to Ruslan. The prince approves of his daughter's choice, and the feast turns into a wedding celebration. Bayan predicts in his songs the misfortune that threatens Ruslan and Lyudmila. The people wish happiness to the young. Suddenly a terrible thunder shakes the mansions. When everyone comes to their senses, it turns out that Lyudmila has disappeared. Svetozar, in desperation, promises Lyudmila’s hand to the one who returns the disappeared princess.

Act 2

Scene 1. And so Ruslan, Farlaf and Ratmir went to look for Lyudmila. Ruslan finds the hut of the wizard Finn. Here the young knight learns that his bride is in the power of the evil dwarf Chernomor. Finn talks about his love for the arrogant beauty Naina and how he tried to charm her love for him. But he fled in fear from his beloved, who by that time had grown old and become a witch. Naina's love has turned into great anger, and now she will take revenge on all lovers.

Picture 2.

Farlaf is also trying to pick up Lyudmila's trail. Suddenly the evil sorceress Naina appears. She advises him to go home, promising to “get” Lyudmila for him.

Scene 3. Meanwhile, Ruslan is already far away. The horse brings him to an enchanted field strewn with dead bones. A huge head - Chernomor's victim - mocks Ruslan, and he strikes her. A magic sword appears, the head dies, but manages to tell a secret: only with this sword can one cut off Chernomor’s beard and deprive him of his magical powers.

Act 3 The sorceress Naina promised Farlaf to save him from his rivals. Her enchantresses lured Ratmir to her and do not let him go, depriving him of his will, seducing him with songs, dances and their beauty. Here the “Persian Choir” sounds, written by Glinka based on the Azerbaijani folk song “Galanin Dibinde”. Then Ratmira must kill Naina. The same fate awaits Ruslan. Her captive Gorislava, who left her harem in search of Ratmir, is trying to stop Naina’s charms. But Finn appears and frees the heroes. They all go north together.

Act 4

In the palace of the evil Chernomor, Lyudmila is entertained with music and dancing. But it's all in vain! Lyudmila thinks only about her beloved Ruslan.

But finally Ruslan ends up in Chernomor’s palace. Chernomor puts Lyudmila into a deep sleep, and then accepts Ruslan's challenge to a mortal combat. With a magic sword, Ruslan cuts off the dwarf's beard, which contained his power. Ruslan defeats Chernomor and hurries to Lyudmila. Ruslan sees that his bride is fast asleep, and involuntary jealousy seizes the knight. But Ratmir and Gorislava calm him down. Ruslan takes her and, accompanied by friends and former slaves of Chernomor, leaves the palace, heading towards Kyiv in the hope of waking up the young princess there.

Act 5 Scene 1. Night. On the way to Kyiv, Ruslan, Ratmir, Gorislava and the freed slaves of Chernomor accompanying them stopped for the night. Ratmir guards their sleep. His thoughts are turned to Gorislava, he is overwhelmed by resurrected love for her. Chernomor's slaves run in and tell Ratmir that Farlaf, instigated by Naina, kidnapped the sleeping Lyudmila, and Ruslan disappeared into the darkness of the night. Finn appears and orders Ratmir to follow Ruslan to Kyiv and gives him a magic ring that will wake Lyudmila from sleep.

Scene 2. In the Svetozar garden in Kyiv they mourn the beautiful Lyudmila, whom no one can wake up. It was brought by Farlaf, who kidnapped her, but he is unable to wake her up. The noise of approaching horsemen is heard - it’s Ruslan and his friends. The cowardly Farlaf is horrified. Ruslan approaches Lyudmila and puts Finn’s magic ring on her finger. Lyudmila awakens. The people praise the great gods, the holy Fatherland and the wise Finn.

Compiled by: M.A.Bulygina music teacher

Place in eternity[edit]

Cat-scientist as a meme: חתול מדען (khatul madan: a cat engaged in scientific activities) Bukva-Land Publishing House
In the opinion of your humble servant, it would be better if this book was included in the school curriculum, and not “Eugene Onegin” (although this book is already included , but only in the fifth grade and therefore in a heavily censored form). Firstly, the problems of Onegin and the secular society of that time are infinitely far from the modern world. Secondly, the modern reader may not understand the disappointment in romanticism, of which disappointment the novel consists more than entirely. “Ruslan and Lyudmila” is such a romantic work that you can study the entire course from it. Well, and most importantly, Pushkin finished this poem at the age of 20 - that is, when he himself was still close in age to a modern schoolboy. He writes about things that are understandable even to children - love-carrots, all kinds of makhach, adventures, intrigues (see how much more plot twists there are here compared to Onegin?), and even the Middle Ages with swords and horses - but at the same time his poetic talent has already revealed itself in full force, and under the sauce of a fascinating narrative it is possible to demonstrate to a wide range of readers the beauty of Pushkin’s style. True, it is worth mentioning at the beginning of the lesson that critics found the poem “indecent” and “immoral” (yes, Ruslan seriously faces a moral dilemma - whether to fuck the sleeping Lyudmila or not).

Despite all the playfulness and frivolity, the poem is so good that if ASP had not written anything else, he would have received a place on the iconostasis of Russian classics. But, to our delight, he lived another 17 years and accomplished a lot during that time.

And, of course, the saying “Lukomorye has a green oak” is a separate song in every sense of the word. Any Russian person knows it by heart and many from national minorities and neighboring countries; they have become the object of many cultural references, plays, parodies and retellings. The most famous of them:

• Children's folklore: “They cut down an oak tree near Lukomorye...”
• Creative development of the theme in V. Vysotsky’s song “Lukomorye is no more” (there are direct references to the previous point).
• The Strugatsky brothers, “Monday begins on Saturday”: a learned cat, an oak tree and a mermaid appear. And there is also the character Naina Kievna. And in the modern cartoon “Ivan the Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf,” where Ivan is not a prince at all, and the rest is even more shabby.
• And also in the cartoon “Plasticine Crow” (for fun).

Tropes and cliches[edit]

• A magnificent non-canon is the epic Eruslan Lazarevich, borrowed in turn from the Shahnameh, which, when borrowed from the staunch Zervanist Rustam, turned from the Turks into the Muslim Arslan, and then in the epic into the Orthodox Christian Eruslan.
• Bloodless massacre - not only cutting off the heads of the Pechenegs, but even the scene where the jester “made two out of one” (i.e., cut the traitor in half lengthwise) are shown bloodlessly. Children's fairy tale!
• Magic cats - a scientist cat that walks around in a chain, from the introduction, which states that he told the author the story itself. By the way, this is the already captured infamous cat Bayun! And people read and are moved.
• The harem is not a joy - Ratmir preferred one simple villager to a whole bunch of beauties and was happy with her.
• Gilligan montage - “I won’t eat!” I won't listen! I will die among your gardens!” / I thought - and... began to eat.
• Borrowing - V. Gubarev in the book “The Tradition of Deep Antiquity” called Farlaf “the main sorcerer of Novgorod.”
• Evil for its own sake - Naina's behavior. Why is she encouraging the essentially harmless coward Farlaf to cross the moral horizon of events by killing Ruslan, who didn’t do anything bad to her? Is it really only because Finn, with whom the sorceress has a difficult relationship, wants to help him?
• The sinister dwarf and the old man Pokhabych - Chernomor. The Many-Sinful Beard and the Wise Beard - aka. Pedal to the floor and several more floors deep. +100500 points for the fact that all the strength is in the beard.

Genre, features of epic drama

Pushkin’s poem, as interpreted by Glinka, is distinguished by its epic tone; it seems to be “sung in an epic manner” (Asafiev). The composer called his work a “grand magic opera.” The genre is folk fairy-tale-epic opera [3].

The new genre determined the features of the dramaturgy of “Ruslan”. It is characterized by:

• the unhurried unfolding of events, characteristic of Russian epics;
• the large role of “accident” in the development of the plot [4];
• replacing the acute intonation conflict (which took place in “A Life for the Tsar”) with contrast. Hostile forces here do not so much collide as they are juxtaposed in contrast. The most intense and dramatic moments remain behind the scenes (for example, the battle between Ruslan and Chernomor);
• the measured epic narrative develops into an alternation of large contrasting scenes: Act 1 – exposition of the images of the main characters (introduction: the wedding feast of Ruslan and Lyudmila in the princely chambers of Svetozar) and the beginning of the plot (the kidnapping of Lyudmila). What follows is a series of individual paintings - episodes of the fairy-tale adventures of the heroes.
• Act 2: Scene 1: Ruslan’s meeting with the wizard Finn, his story about his love for the sorceress Naina;
• 2nd picture: Farlaf’s meeting with Naina, who promises to help him find Lyudmila;
• 3rd picture: Ruslan’s meeting with the Head, the duel, the Head’s story, Ruslan receiving a sword with which to defeat Chernomor;
• Act 3: Naina’s magic castle, which first Ratmir and then Ruslan find themselves in. Finn saves them from Naina's magic spell;
• Act 4: Lyudmila yearns in the magical gardens of Chernomor. Chernomor appears. Ruslan calls Chernomor to battle with the sound of a signal horn and wins, cutting off his beard, in which magical power is hidden. Ruslan finds Lyudmila, but cannot wake her up.
• Act 5: Scene 1: Chernomor’s slaves inform Ratmir about Lyudmila’s disappearance and that Ruslan has gone to save her. Finn gives Ratmir a magic ring that should wake up Lyudmila.
• 2nd picture: the princely chambers of Svetozar. Farlaf brings Lyudmila, who he kidnapped, but no one can wake her up. Ruslan appears and awakens her with the help of the ring given to him by Ratmir. The people glorify the bride and groom.

At the same time, the epic “Ruslan and Lyudmila” is fabulous. And every fairy tale correlates with a sacred myth as its reduction. That is why Glinka does not deprive his “antiheroes” who oppose the bright characters of Pushkin’s humor. They are more comical than terrible. “Black Sea” and magical in “Ruslan and Lyudmila” are, of course, hostile, but as if in make-believe, in a fairy-tale way.

Musically, the positive and negative characters in Ruslan and Lyudmila are differentiated. The former are characterized by vocal music, the latter by instrumental music. Chernomor does not sing at all, he is a mute character, and Naina sings on one or two notes with a dry patter. An important means of depicting fantastic heroes is harmony - the whole-tone “Chernomor scale”, elements of a diminished scale (for example, a diminished triad in Naina’s characterization), sharp dissonances. The sophistication of Glinka's fantasy brings Ruslan closer to Weber's Oberon and Mozart's The Magic Flute.

Folk song themes dominate in the characterization of positive characters. The composer recreates the most striking features of Russian folk song, its melody, harmony, rhythm, without resorting to direct quotation. The most ancient layers of musical folklore are especially widely represented - ritual songs (wedding, great), epics, laments and laments (in the choruses of the 5th act, partly in the part of Lyudmila in captivity at Chernomor), the intonations of epic songs in the part of Ruslan.

In “Ruslan and Lyudmila,” not only reality and fantasy, but also Rus' and the East are juxtaposed in contrast. In the oriental scenes, the composer uses authentic folk melodies found in different regions of the Caucasus and the Middle East - Arabic, Persian, Georgian. Thus, Glinka’s “East” is a collective concept, without exact national coordinates. The composer's rich imagination created a whole world of colorful, exquisite, unusual-sounding musical images - sometimes temperamental and energetic, sometimes contemplative, languid, intoxicating. These discoveries later formed the basis of the original sphere of Russian music - the “Russian East”.

Adaptations[edit]

• Opera (Glinka, 1842) - lighter and softer. There is no bloody siege of Kyiv by the Pechenegs. One of the villains, Rogday, Ruslan’s rival, is missing. Finally, Farlaf, turned into an operetta comic villain, does not desecrate himself by killing Ruslan, limiting himself only to kidnapping Lyudmila under the cover of darkness. Master of ruining a party: Chernomor knows how to ruin a wedding - drop out of the blue during the feast and kidnap the bride!
• Unfortunately it failed. The dissatisfied Emperor Nicholas left the theater without waiting for the end.

They are the most

• Two-part film directed by A. L. Ptushko (1972). The plot is considerably expanded in accordance with the poem. The invasion of Kyiv by the Pechenegs is described in detail. In order for the poetic dialogues to fit properly into the action, some of them were edited, some of the author’s speech was cut into dialogues, and some of them were added (this is for Pushkin!) - so the dialogue part came out somewhat strained. Although the entertainment is quite decent, this is Ptushko. Basileus, porphyry and heretics - the arrogant Byzantine ambassadors led by Martinson (dressed, however, for some reason in Western European fashion), the object of servility of negative characters, are shown, absent from the poem.
• Big cool cat: Two lion cubs as a gift to the prince from a foreign sovereign. Cute animals sit peacefully in your arms.
• The tiger, which on Naina's orders was set against Ruslan by Leshy, is only mentioned in the prologue in the original source.