snegurochka

[peter sekirin]

TO: Professor G. Fowler
Indiana University

Re: Snegurochka

I have located several sources on the origin of "Snegurochka" by Ostrovsky.
Very few, if any, connections with Pushkin, but abundant folklore material.
Here are several quotes:

1. "Ostrovsky widely used Russian folk legends and
songs while he was writing 'Snegurochka.'
Among the major sources were: RUSSIAN FOLK TALES by
A.N. Afanasiev, collections of Russian folk songs recorded by P.
Rybnikov, A. Tereshchenko, T. Filippov, P. Kireevsky. He also used the
materials of his anthropological expedition and his field study (1856)"
A. Ostrovsky. "Complete Works."  Mocow, 1963.  vol. 6, p.476-477.

2.  "In 1867 Ostrovsky received material prepared by Russian scholar
Driansky on Russian folklore, in particular, the description of the
Festival of the Sun (Prazdnik solntsa) celebrated in some regions of Middle
Russia."
N. Dolgov.  "A.N.Ostrovky. Zhizn, i tvorchestvo."  Moscow, 1923, p.184.


3. A letter from Danilevsky to A Suvorin (1873?):
"In 'Snegurochka,' Ostrovsky made a mess... of several folk songs with 'Slovo o
polku Igoreve,'  and added some staff from A. Tolstoy and Mey..."
V. Lakshin.  "Alexandr Nikolaevich Ostrovsky." Moscow, 1976.  p.455.

4.  "During his work at 'Snegurochka' ...
Ostrovsky read folkore material from  'Yaroslavskie gubernskie
vedomosti' (1849), 'Tverskie gubernskie vedomosti' (1854) and his
notebook filled with Russian folk songs and customs collected during his
expedition to the Kostenevo village..."
L.Rozanova. "Alexandr Nikolaevich Ostrovsky." Moscow-Leningrad, 1965, p.102.

5.  "The topic 'Snegurochka i folkor' was studied by several
generations of Russian scholars...  Ostrovsky was definitely
influenced by Pushkin's  'Skazka o medvedikhe' ... and by the
folk poetry...
(An extensive review of several articles in rare and ephemeral Russian
periodicals, 1915-1939, on this topic).

A.L. Stein.  "Master russkoi dramy".  Moscow, 1973,
pp.257-279.(!!! Includes the most detailed study about the origin and sources
of this play by Ostrovsky, with an occasional mentioning of a fairy-tale
by Pushkin.)  If you do not have this material in your
library, I can send you the photocopies of these pages by mail.


About a month ago, the Canadian Ballet Company staged Snegurochka
at the Royal Alexandra Theater in Toronto...
If you are inetersted, I could send you the booklet of this
performance (20 pages, full color) and an audio-casette with their
recording.

Best wishes,
Peter Sekirin
PhD Candidate
Slavic Department
University of Toronto          e-mail:    "psekirin @ epas.utoronto.ca"