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and manages to set up a date with him to go sleigh-riding that evening. He leaves, and Grunya overhears some people she does not know: Dasha's parents enter the inn, having come to Moscow to visit; Dasha, unexpectedly meeting them there, tells them of her decision. But her father forbids her to leave her husband and move in with them. From this conversation Grunya realizes that Pyotr has deceived her concerning his marital status.
449:
tries to win back Pyotr's love, but he rejects her (he has become attracted to Grunya, the innkeeper's daughter) and leaves once again. Vasya—whom Dasha had once loved before marrying Pyotr—shows up to wish her a happy holiday. Taking advantage of his
Shrovetide-induced, somewhat inebriated condition, Dasha learns from him about Pyotr's secret infatuation. She decides to move away from Moscow to live with her parents.
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shows up with Grunya, Pyotr tries to kill him, but merely humiliates himself. After more
Shrovetide revelers draw the crowd away, Pyotr comes once again under Yeryomka's influence: the latter proposes a plan: Dasha will be told that Pyotr has become ill out at the "wolf's gully." This conversation is overheard by Vasya, who runs off to warn her.
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Out in the ravine, near a weakly lighted hut, amidst noises of a nocturnal snowstorm, Pyotr imagines voices of the previous few hours. Yeryomka enters, with Dasha, who has fallen for the ruse. When Pyotr rushes at Dasha with a knife, she runs into the hut; he follows her into it and kills her. The
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his prose play through the first three acts of the opera text, he declined to when the composer insisted on changing the happy ending of the play into a tragic one. Therefore, the remainder of the libretto was prepared by Pyotr
Ivanovich Kalashnikov and Alexander Fyodorovich Zhokhov. If not for the
466:
Waiting to meet Pyotr at the inn, Grunya bemoans her fate. Upon arriving, Pyotr reads her change of mood as she spurns him, and guesses that only Vasya could have clued her in. When she goes off with Vasya, Yeryomka suggests to Pyotr that a visit to a witch-friend of his will solve his problems.
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At
Spiridonovna's busy inn, Yeryomka, and then Grunya, each sing a song for the visiting merchants and coachmen. As the others depart, Spiridonovna, desiring that her daughter marry someone well-off, urges Grunya to use her wiles on Pyotr the next time he comes in. When he does, she caresses him
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Out in the streets, Shrovetide merry-making is in full swing, with singing of songs and selling of food. Pyotr, drunk and brooding, comes upon the scene with
Yeryomka. (The witch has told Pyotr that his future portends a wedding, hence his concern with being married still to Dasha.) When Vasya
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Dasha is saddened that her husband, Pyotr, is almost completely absent nowadays. His father, Il'ya, disgusted by Pyotr's sinful treatment of his family, prepares to move away. When Pyotr enters, he evades his father's questions of his whereabouts. After Il'ya goes off to attend vespers, Dasha
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sound of approaching sleighbells frightens
Yeryomka away: Vasya could not find Dasha to warn her, and so he, along with Il'ya and her parents, have driven to the site of the planned murder, only to come upon Pyotr, who is condemned by his father.
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Offstage revelers; merchants, transients, coachmen, maiden-guests at Grunya's, crowd of carousing people, fife-players and bagpipers, maskers in the procession for the "sending off of
Shrovetide", lads, peasants and their wives, women, men, a
277:(Note: Due to gaps in information from one source to another, this section combines data from the play, the available piano-vocal score, and Bernandt, all cited in the bibliography below.)
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delay caused by the rift with
Ostrovsky, Serov might have completed the opera, but unfortunately the music of the final act was lacking at the time of his death. His wife,
220:, and so on. As an obsolete Russian phrase, it can mean simply "Satan" or "The Devil" (indeed, the Mariinsky Theatre renders the title of the opera in English as
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The title of the opera (taken from an appellation that
Ostrovsky had applied to the fourth act of the projected libretto) has been translated in a number of ways:
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571:: опера в пяти действиях. Аранжированно для пения с фортепиано с полной оркестровой партитуры Георгием Дютш. В Москве: А. Гутхейл.
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232:("foe" or "enemy"; obsoletely "the Fiend" or "the Devil"). In the case of this drama the title relates to the character Yeryomka.
249:, composed Act 5 supposedly using her recollections of unwritten sketches that Serov had played at the piano, and the composer
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as
Yeryomka. Although in many ways it is more far-reaching than Serov's previous two operas, this work was not a success.
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224:). Part of the variety in translation derives from interpreting the initial word of the title.
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_______. "Serov, Alexander Nikolayevich," Grove Music Online (Accessed 10 January 2006), <
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487:(Note: in the original play, Pyotr gives up the idea of murder and reconciles his marriage.)
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562:Словарь опер впервые поставленных или изданных в дореволюционной России и в СССР, 1736-1959
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_______. "Vrazh’ya sila," Grove Music Online (Accessed 13 January 2006), <
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Although Ostrovsky originally agreed to act as librettist and proceeded to
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Il'ya, a rich Moscow merchant who lives at his brother's monastery:
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Opera and Drama in Russia As Preached and Practiced in the 1860s
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assisted in bringing the opera to a performable state by
177:. The opera was premiered posthumously on 19 April 1871 (
564:(Москва: Советский композитор, 1962), pp. 63–64.
174:Live Not As You Would Like To, But As God Commands
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260:Despite a new edition of the opera completed by
436:Time: The 17th or 18th century, at Shrovetide.
344:Spiridonovna, proprietress of a coaching inn:
268:still remains well outside of the repertory.
326:Stepanida: Dasha's mother, suburbanite from
362:Yeryomka, a blacksmith working at the inn:
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314:Agafon, Dasha's father, suburbanite from
228:in Russian is an adjective from the noun
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611:Russian libretto in zip file for Word
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264:for a Soviet performance in 1947,
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306:Julia Petrova, Pyotr’s mistress:
159:, composed during 1867-1871. The
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257:some of the music for Act 1.
102:Live Not as You Would Like To
80:Alexander Fyodorovich Zhokhov
401:Honey-and-Spice-Drink Seller
193:. Among the performers were
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77:Pyotr Ivanovich Kalashnikov
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631:Operas by Alexander Serov
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586:http://www.grovemusic.com
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113:14 April 1871
534:The Power of the Fiend
350:Grunya, her daughter:
290:Pyotr, Il'ya's son, :
266:The Power of the Fiend
136:The Power of the Fiend
19:The Power of the Fiend
646:Operas based on plays
651:Operas set in Russia
214:The Malevolent Power
197:as Spiridonovna and
567:Serov, Alexander.
407:Spice-Cake Seller:
236:Composition history
171:from 1854 entitled
169:Alexander Ostrovsky
73:Alexander Ostrovsky
210:The Fiendish Power
163:is derived from a
126:, Saint Petersburg
575:Taruskin, Richard
404:Bread-Roll Seller
392:An Archer Woman:
218:The Power of Evil
206:The Hostile Power
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199:Mikhail Sariotti
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99:Ostrovsky's
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641:1871 operas
569:Вражья сила
145:Вражья сила
59:Вражья сила
44:as Yeryomka
620:Categories
515:References
117:1871-04-14
66:Librettist
416:A Peasant
398:An Archer
181:) at the
179:Old Style
492:See also
431:Synopsis
328:Vladimir
316:Vladimir
293:baritone
161:libretto
151:) is an
109:Premiere
96:Based on
88:Language
555:Sources
507:Rogneda
394:soprano
301:soprano
242:versify
141:Russian
115: (
91:Russian
55:Russian
636:Operas
510:(1865)
502:(1863)
499:Judith
421:tenors
226:Вражий
520:Notes
480:Act 5
471:Act 4
462:Act 3
453:Act 2
444:Act 1
426:bear.
409:tenor
388:tenor
382:tenor
376:tenor
358:tenor
321:tenor
309:basso
285:basso
272:Roles
222:Satan
165:drama
153:opera
25:Opera
595:>
588:>
370:bass
364:bass
230:враг
185:in
167:by
27:by
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139:(
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