The Snow Maiden
| The Snow Maiden | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov | |
Yevgeniya Zbruyeva as Lel at the Bolshoy Theatre, Moscow (1894) | |
| Native title | |
| Librettist | Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov |
| Language | Russian |
| Based on | The Snow Maiden by Alexander Ostrovsky |
| Premiere | |
The Snow Maiden: A Spring Fairy Tale (Russian: Снегурочка–весенняя сказка, romanized: Snegurochka–vesennyaya skazka) is an opera in four acts with a prologue by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composed during 1880–1881. The Russian libretto, by the composer, is based on the like-named play by Alexander Ostrovsky (which had premiered in 1873 with incidental music by Tchaikovsky).
The first performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera took place at the Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg on 10 February [O.S. 29 January] 1882 conducted by Eduard Nápravník. By 1898 it was revised in the edition known today. It remained the composer's own favorite work.