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Opera Music Plot Synopsis
Rimsky Korsakov: Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden)
Snegurochka, the daughter of Frost and Spring, is deaf to
her parents' warning,
and resolves to leave her woodland solitude and to seek the
companionship of
mortals. Her numb heart is warmed by the songs of Lel, the
shepherd, but her
inclination for him meets with no response, for Lel is in
love with Kupava. She
is the affianced of Mizguir, a Tatar, and in his breast Snegurochka
kindles so
fierce a flame of passion that he deserts his betrothed. Snegurochka,
bewildered
by the vagaries of Cupid, returns to her mother, who, in maternal
solicitude,
bestows upon her ill-fated child the power of human love.
But no sooner does the
Snow-Maiden utter, at the dictates of her newly awakened sensibility,
an avowal
of love for Mizguir, than a ray of the warm spring sun falls
upon her and she
floats to Heaven in a vapour
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