The poem was written by the young poet for three years (1817 - 1820) and later (1828) was significantly revised. It was in the 2nd edition that the famous prologue with the learned cat was published, who told this tale.
Style and character of the poem
Having amazed contemporaries (not everyone reacted to it with unequivocal enthusiasm, the noise of critics did not subside until 1830), the poem still delights with the richness of fantasy and light content. The pictures before the reader are bright and full of liveliness and brilliance. This is a description of a wedding feast at Prince Vladimir, depicting the customs of ancient Russia, and the tragic murder of a sleeping Ruslan, and the death of a living head. The fight between Kiev and Ruslan is magnificent in the sixth song. Using the poetic achievements of his predecessors (Zhukovsky, Dmitriev and Batyushkov), the author initiated the fusion of various styles of language, creating a new literary language.
This article will reveal the images of Finn and Naina and characterize Lyudmila from the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila".
Gentle Lyudmila
The tone is immediately set by her simple name - dear to people. And what is it good for? In the fifth song, the poet frankly lists what he likes about Lyudmila. “It's a sweet princess,” the poet says and explains that she has a sensitive, modest disposition, despite the fact that she is the daughter of a powerful prince, is faithful to her husband, despite all the temptations that Chernomor wanted to bribe her with, and a little windy. From this quality, she becomes even sweeter, because there is no dull stiffness in her.
Start over
The reader meets the youngest daughter of Prince Vladimir at a wedding feast. Boyan praises her charm, "beauty worthy of heaven". The girl is pretty: golden braids, a slender figure, graceful light legs ... In combination with her beauty, bashfulness gives her a special appeal. The laughter and jokes of the feast and the upcoming wedding night excite her and make her shy. This is how the characterization of Lyudmila from the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" begins to form. When she finds herself in the chambers with Ruslan, who also has a “speaking” name (the root is Russia), the lamp suddenly goes out, darkness sets in, and the girl disappears.
In the palaces of Chernomor
Lyudmila woke up in the rich chambers of Scheherazade after a deep swoon. Excitement and vague chaos tormented her soul. She trembled and worried, pale and speechless. Servants flew up to her, combed and styled her golden hair, dressed in an azure sundress, adorned with precious necklaces. But the girl is indifferent to wealth, it is impossible to bribe her. This is the characteristic of Lyudmila from the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila". Things do not please her soul, as well as a gloomy mountain snow-covered landscape outside the window.
She goes out into a beautiful garden, where fountains gush, soft grass turns green, trees grow with unprecedented fruits. Lyudmila remains inconsolable. This luxury leaves her indifferent. She is so upset that at first she decided to drown herself, then die of hunger, so as not to break her loyalty to Ruslan. Fearless Lyudmila believed that the power of the sorcerer was not afraid of her, she could die. When she got tired of walking and began to doze off, a light breeze carried her to the chambers, where the servile slaves changed her clothes and laid her to rest.
On the couch, she trembles with fear, and here a dwarf appears with her retinue. Lyudmila is brave. She tore off the cap from the head of the villain, and he left in disgrace. And in the morning, curious, like any girl, she tried on this cap and became invisible. This is how the poet complements her image. Unseen in a magic hat, she yearns immensely and sheds tears for Ruslan and her father's house.
Devotion and loyalty are the characteristics of Lyudmila from the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila". When she was caught in the net, the girl plunged into a deep sleep, from which only the savior Ruslan, who received a magic ring from Finn, could get her out. Summing up, let's name the main qualities of Lyudmila: beauty, modesty, bashfulness, fearlessness, love for neighbors, youthful frivolity, incorruptibility.
Description of Finn from the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila"
A sage and a hermit, he spends time reading ancient books and gives instructions to Ruslan when he is looking for a missing bride.
He knows how to console the knight without opening the veil of the secrets of the future. He was a young shepherd when he met a beautiful girl and she rejected his love. Then he became a warrior and laid wealth at the feet of the proud chosen one. “I don’t love you, hero,” was the answer he received.
Then Finn decided to study magic and witchcraft to attract the ruler of his soul. He learned the necessary spells, and at his call a terrible hunchbacked old woman-sorceress, who was languishing with love, appeared. Finn was horrified and rejected her himself and got a worst enemy. These are the features the author endowed with Finn: loyalty and patience, wisdom and knowledge of magic, the ability to heal the dead.
The villainous beauty Naina
Her reader, proud and beautiful, learns from Finn's stories. Time destroyed her beauty and brought her black thoughts and actions in return.
She is a friend of the sorcerer Chernomor. She flies into his castle in the form of a winged serpent with iron scales, and they form an alliance against Finn and Ruslan. Turning into a cat, she demanded that Ruslan's rival Farlaf followed her, and led him to the place where the hero slept while resting on the way to Kiev. Farlaf, a petty soul, killed Ruslan in his sleep. Naina was triumphant: she defeated Finn, who had offended her. Excessive pride, pride, acquaintance with black magic and its use to the detriment of good people - this is the characteristic of Naina from the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila".
M.I. Glinka opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila"
The opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila" is practically the first performance that pupils of children's music schools get to know at the lessons of music literature. The famous "March of Chernomor" from the fourth act is well known not only to professionals, but also to music lovers. Such a wide polarity of the performance M.I. Glinka due to the fact that it is filled with wonderful, lyrical and such "Russian" music, fabulous, fantastic images and an exciting plot based on the work of another great Russian creator - A.S. Pushkin.
A summary of Glinka's opera "" and many interesting facts about this work read on our page.
|
Characters |
Description |
|
| Ludmila | soprano | beloved Ruslana, kidnapped during a feast by an evil wizard |
| Ruslan | baritone | a brave knight who went in search of his bride Lyudmila |
| Ratmir | contralto | one of Ruslan's rivals, prince of the Khazars |
| Farlaf | bass | the second rival of the groom Lyudmila, who also went in search of her |
| Gorislava | soprano | captive Ratmir |
| Chernomor | tenor | evil wizard who kidnapped the beautiful Lyudmila |
| Naina | mezzo-soprano | sorceress trying to put Ruslana to find a bride |
| Accordion | tenor | narrator |
| Finn | tenor | good old man |
Summary of "Ruslana and Lyudmila"
At the wedding feast of Ruslan and Lyudmila, a strange thing happens, two monsters suddenly appear and carry the bride away, leaving all the guests to stand in a dumb daze. The inconsolable father has no choice but to promise the one who finds Lyudmila to give her to the lawful spouse. Three knights go in search: Ruslan, Ratmir and Farlaf.
There are many ill-wishers and helpers on the way for young and brave warriors. So, Ruslan, thanks to the wizard Finn, finds out who kidnapped his beloved, it turned out to be the evil Chernomor. A mysterious well-wisher informs Ruslan that Lyudmila still loves him and is very much waiting for him to rescue her from the captivity of the sorcerer.
Not all knights were actually as brave as Ruslan. Farlaf, despite his beautiful bass voice, is actually just an ordinary coward who is already ready to give up his searches altogether. On the way, he comes across the sorceress Naina, who wants to help and prevent Ruslan's victory.
The next fairy-tale character that comes across on the path of the protagonist is the huge Head, who turns out to be Chernomor's brother. He gives the brave warrior a sword, with which you can defeat the villain.
Meanwhile, the insidious sorceress Naina did not waste time in vain and with cunning lured travelers to her castle with the help of beautiful maidens and visions. Only thanks to Finn's help, they manage to escape death and destroy the witchcraft. In the deadly duel between Ruslan and Chernomor, thanks to the magic sword, the knight wins, and it would seem that this is victory! But, the insidious villain bewitched Lyudmila and the girl sleeps deeply.
Ruslan went with her and his devoted friends to Kiev. But one more cowardly warrior went in search of Lyudmila, don't you forget? Farlaf waited until the retinue would stop for the night and stole the girl, hurrying to go to Kiev as soon as possible and receive the long-awaited reward. But only Ruslan can disenchant Lyudmila, because he has a magic ring presented by the kind Finn. Appearing in the palace, the brave warrior destroys the spell of Chernomor, and all the guests rejoice, glorifying the brave Ruslan and his lovely bride Lyudmila.
| Duration of the performance | ||||
| I Act | II Act | III Act | IV Act | V Act |
| 45 minutes | 40 minutes | 50 minutes | 40 minutes | 30 minutes. |
Photo :
Interesting Facts
- The work on the opera took about five years.
- Glinka said that the comedian Shakhovsky was the first to give him the idea to write an opera at one of Zhukovsky's evenings.
- When the author started working on the work, there was not even a libretto yet.
- It is interesting that the country of Lukomorye, in which the action takes place, was depicted on maps of the 16th-18th centuries. It was an area in Siberia, located on the right bank of the Ob River.
- The long-awaited premiere of the play was timed to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the first performance opera "A Life for the Tsar" .
- The opera was written by the composer within the walls of his house, located on Gorokhovaya, 5.
- It is curious that the legendary and beloved by many prologue "At the Lukomorye", A.S. Pushkin included in the poem only 8 years after it was written, during the editing.
- Despite the tremendous work done, the premiere of the opera was greeted rather coldly. This is partly due to the libretto, which was widely rumored to be written. Moreover, the culprit of these conversations is the composer himself. He wrote in one of his stories that at the next meeting, Bakhturin, drunk, in just half an hour of work, sketched a plan for the future performance.
- The original manuscript of the opera has not survived, as it burned down in a fire at the Mariinsky Theater in 1859. N. Rimsky-Korsakov , M. Balakirev and A. Lyadov I had to restore it.
- Especially for this opera, Glinka came up with a technique that allows him to show sound of gusli ... A little later, Rimsky-Korsakov took advantage of this idea in his fairy-tale operas: “ Snow Maiden " and " Sadko ».
- In his opera M.I. Glinka was the first to use a unique technique - the "Chernomor scale". This is a scale that is located in whole tones - a whole tone scale. The author specially came up with such an original scale to emphasize the image of Chernomor. Later this technique was used by Dargomyzhsky , Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin .
- Throughout its existence, the opera has been performed on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater about 700 times.
- For the film "Ruslan and Lyudmila" it took 300 birds - parrots. However, their purchase would be very expensive for the film studio, so it was decided to go for a trick. We bought several dozen parrots, and the rest of the birds were “played” by pigeons painted for them.
Popular arias and numbers from the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila"
Overture (listen)
Bayan's song "Deeds of Bygone Days" 1 act (listen)
Farlaf's Rondo "The hour of my triumph is near" from scene 2, act 2 (listen)
Ruslan's aria "About the field, the field, who covered you with dead bones" from picture 3 of act 2 (listen)
March of Chernomor Act 4 (listen)
The history of the creation of "Ruslan and Lyudmila"
Drew attention to the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" during the life of the great poet. At the same time, the composer decided to write an opera based on this plot, which interested Pushkin very much, who actively began to participate in the discussion of the work plan. However, the sudden death of the poet interrupted this cooperation. Later, K. Bakhturin, V. Shirokov and the composer himself worked on the libretto. In addition, Glinka's friends, N. Kukolnik, worked on the text of the opera. written a lot of romances , historian Markevich and censor M. Gedeonov. As a result of the work done, the plot of the performance was greatly changed. So, the epic beginning came to the first place, and the lyrics went much deeper. In addition, the main character has only two real rivals. As for the Khazar prince, he turned into Ruslan's assistant. Bayan's image is now significantly enlarged.
As a result, all the careful work on the play lasted for several years. In 1837, the composer completed the first act in full and even presented it to the theater directors. About a year later, some performances were performed on the Kachenovka estate, which were very warmly received by the audience. Work on the entire score ended in 1842.
The epic five-act opera is truly impressive. It praised heroism and true nobility. In addition, cowardice, anger and cruelty were mercilessly ridiculed and criticized. In addition, this is a fairy tale, which means that its main idea is the victory of good over evil. Another distinctive feature of the opera is the amazing gallery of images created by Glinka. Among them there are courageous Ruslan, cowardly Farlaf, cruel Chernomor, kind Finn and other heroes distinguished by their bright characters.
Performances
The premiere of the play took place on November 27, 1842 at the Bolshoi Theater. It was decided to time the production to coincide with the anniversary of the premiere of the composer's first opera, A Life for the Tsar. Moreover, Glinka's second opera was staged on the same stage, at the same time, but this did not help her. The performance did not have much success. Moreover, many reproached Glinka for not taking the creation of the libretto with due seriousness, but this is not at all the case. The well-known critic Serov noted that the opera's libretto was written without a plan, in pieces, even by different authors. However, the surviving information confirms that Glinka worked very carefully and painstakingly on this work, including paying attention to the libretto. This is confirmed by another critic, Stasov, who noted how diligently and thoroughly Glinka worked even on the smallest details of the opera.
Nevertheless, at the premiere, already during the third act, the audience cooled down, and at the end of the fifth the imperial family left the theater altogether, without waiting for the final chords. After the curtain fell, Glinka did not know whether he should go on stage. Moreover, the emperor's departure influenced the reception of the opera by the public. Despite this, the play was staged a total of 32 times in the first season.
However, gradually, with each new production, the success of the work only increased. Among the bright and notable premieres, it is worth noting the 1904 version, which was successfully staged at the Mariinsky Theater. It was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the famous composer M. Glinka. Among the soloists were such eminent singers as Slavina, Chaliapin, Ershov and others.
Among the modern productions, the premiere that took place in April 2003 at the Bolshoi Theater, on which Viktor Kramer worked, stands out. Moreover, even before the performance was presented to the public, it positioned itself as an opera of the 21st century. Original scenery, play of light, "dancing" double basses, special direction - made this production special. However, this version turned out to be a failure and survived only three performances.
A rather scandalous production took place at the Bolshoi Theater. On November 5, 2011, the public was able to get acquainted with the work of director Dmitry Chernyakov, who has long been famous for his provocative works. Only this time his idea turned out to be a failure and many spectators left the hall without waiting for the finale, the rest shouted "shame" at all. If the first act of the opera was performed rather conservatively, then in the second, innovations began. Lyudmila ended up in the villain's camp, and she was tempted with a Thai massage. There are very few clothes on the characters, and the scenery looks like a beauty salon. Everything is unusual in this version: a corporate party, movie scenery, with “corpses” leaving after work, a reminder of the country's hot spots. But the main character in this production is not Ruslan, but Finn.
Opera fell in love not only in Russia, but also abroad, where it was repeatedly presented to the public. Foreign art connoisseurs first got acquainted with the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila in 1906 in Ljubljana, then in 1907 in Paris, London, Berlin and other European cities. Among them, the work of C. McKeras, which he presented in Hamburg in 1969, stands out the most. This time Balanchine was the choreographer. The audience very warmly welcomed the singers and appreciated the work of the great composer.
Such an interesting plot interested filmmakers very much. So, for the first time the poem was filmed in 1914 by Vladislav Starevich. A little later, Viktor Nevezhin and Ivan Nikitchenko took over, which came out in 1938. The third film adaptation was conceived by director Alexander Ptushko in 1972. The two-part fairy tale film immediately captivated viewers with its magnificent plot, luxurious costumes and unsurpassed acting. It is interesting that the non-professional actress Natalya Petrova was invited to play the role of Lyudmila, for whom this role became her debut and practically the only one. By the way, Chernomor was also not played by a professional.
Great opera for over a hundred years Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka captivates the hearts of lovers of classical music, and this applies even to the smallest admirers of the performance. The stunning plot, the magnificent music of the composer captivates literally from the first chord, forcing, together with the actors, to plunge into this fabulous atmosphere. We offer you to watch the opera "" and, together with the main character, try to overcome all difficulties and free your beloved from Chernomor's captivity. You can watch Glinka's opera right now in excellent quality and original production.
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka "Ruslan and Lyudmila"
Year of writing: 1820
Genre of the work: poem
Main characters: Vladimir- the old prince, Ludmila- daughter, Ruslan- prince, Chernomor- Wizard, Rogday, Ratmir, Farlaf- knights.
Plot
Ruslan and Lyudmila got married. On the wedding night, the bride disappears. Prince Vladimir is not happy with Ruslan's inaction. He sends knights in search. The reward is half of the kingdom and the bride. Looking for Lyudmila and Ruslan. He drove into the cave where the old wizard was sitting. He said that the girl was stolen by Chernomor and said that Ruslan would save her. Rogdai decides to kill his rival, looking for him. Lyudmila is not happy about anything, but Chernomor is not given it, putting on an invisible hat. Ruslan defeats Chernomor in battle, cut off his magic beard. He finds Lyudmila sleeping and takes her to Kiev. Rogdai kills the hero in a dream, but the wizard from the cave resurrected the knight. He gave a ring, thanks to which the bride will wake up. And so it happened.
Conclusion (my opinion)
Ruslan did not give up, but was looking for Lyudmila by all means. This showed real feelings. He was courageous, he was not afraid of obstacles. Even death for the hero is not the end.
“The first thought about Ruslan and Lyudmila was given to me by our famous comedian Shakhovsky ... At one of Zhukovsky's evenings, Pushkin, speaking about his poem“ Ruslan and Lyudmila, ”said that he would have changed a lot; I wanted to know from him exactly what alterations he intended to make, but his premature death did not allow me to fulfill this intention. " This is how Glinka describes the conception of the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila. The composer began working on the opera in 1837, without yet having a finished libretto. Due to the death of Pushkin, he was forced to turn to secondary poets and amateurs from among his friends and acquaintances. Among them were N.V. Kukolnik (1809-1868), V.F.Shirkov (1805-1856), N.A. Markevich (1804-1860) 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. Some characters disappeared (Rogdai), others appeared (Gorislava); the subject lines of the poem underwent some alteration.
The idea of the opera is largely different from the literary source. Pushkin's brilliant youthful poem (1820), based on the themes of the Russian fairy tale epic, has features of light irony and a playful attitude towards heroes. Glinka resolutely refused such an interpretation of the plot. He created a work of epic proportions, full of big thoughts, broad generalizations of life.
The opera praises heroism, nobility of feelings, fidelity in love, ridicules cowardice, condemns deceit, malice and cruelty. Throughout the entire work, the composer carries the idea of the victory of light over darkness, of the triumph of life. Glinka used a traditional fairy tale plot with feats, fantasy, and magical transformations to show various characters, 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 insidious Naina, the cruel Chernomor.
The opera was written by Glinka for five years with long breaks: it was completed in 1842. The premiere took place on November 27 (December 9) of the same year at the Bolshoi Theater in St. Petersburg.
Music
Ruslan and Lyudmila is an epic opera. Monumental images of Kievan Rus, the legendary figures of the Grand Duke Svetozar, the hero Ruslan, the prophetic folk singer Bayan transport the listener to an atmosphere of deep antiquity, give rise to an idea of the beauty and greatness of folk life. A significant place in the opera is occupied by fantastic pictures of the kingdom of Chernomor, the castle of Naina, the music of which is endowed with an oriental flavor. The main conflict - the clash of the forces of good and evil - is reflected in the music of the opera due to the relief opposition of the musical characteristics of the characters. Vocal parts of positive characters, folk scenes are full of songwriting. Negative characters are either deprived of vocal characteristics (Chernomor), or are outlined with the help of a recitative "talk" (Naina). The epic makeup is emphasized by the abundance of choral crowd scenes and the unhurried development of the action, as in an epic narration.
The idea of the work - the triumph of the light forces of life - is revealed already in the overture, in which the jubilant music of the opera's finale is used. In the middle section of the overture, mysterious, fantastic sounds emerge.
The first act impresses with the breadth and monumentality of the musical embodiment. The act opens with an introduction, which includes a number of numbers. Bayan's song "Deeds of Bygone Days", accompanied by the fingering of harps imitating the gusli, is sustained in a measured rhythm, full of majestic calm. Bayan's second song "There is a desert land" has a lyrical character. The introduction ends with a powerful healthy chorus "To the Bright Prince and Health and Glory." Lyudmila's Cavatina "I'm sad, dear parent" - a developed stage with a chorus - reflects the different moods of a girl, playfully graceful, but capable of a great sincere feeling. The choir "Lel mysterious, delightful", revives the spirit of ancient pagan songs. The abduction scene begins with harsh chords from the orchestra; the music takes on a fantastic, gloomy flavor, which is also preserved in the canon "What a wonderful moment", which conveys a state of numbness that gripped everyone. The act is crowned by a quartet with the chorus "O Knight, Quickly Into the Open Field", full of courageous determination.
The second act, consisting of three pictures, begins with a symphonic introduction, depicting a harsh, mysterious northern landscape enveloped in a wary silence.
Finn's ballad takes center stage in the first film; her music creates a noble image, full of deep humanity and moral beauty.
The second picture is by its nature the opposite of the first. The appearance of Naina is outlined by prickly rhythms of short orchestral phrases, cold instrumental timbres. A well-aimed comic portrait of a jubilant coward is captured in Farlaf's rondo "The hour of my triumph is near."
In the center of the third picture is Ruslan's aria, magnificent in music; her slow introduction, "O field, field, who has covered you with dead bones" conveys a mood of deep, concentrated meditation; the second section, in a fast energetic movement, is endowed with heroic features.
The third act is the most diverse in terms of the brilliance and picturesqueness of the music. Alternating choirs, dances, recitals paint the setting of Naina's magical castle. The flexible melody of the Persian choir "Lies in the field the darkness of the night" sounds enchantingly seductively. Gorislava's cavatina "Love is a luxurious star" is full of hot, passionate feelings. Ratmir's aria "And heat and heat replaced the night with a shadow" is marked with a pronounced oriental flavor: a whimsical melody of a slow section and a flexible waltz-like rhythm of a fast one outline the ardent nature of the Khazar knight.
The fourth act is notable for its lush decorativeness, brightness of unexpected contrasts. Lyudmila's aria "Oh, you share, share" - a detailed monologue scene; deep sadness turns into determination, resentment and protest. Chernomor's march paints a picture of a bizarre procession; an angular melody, piercing sounds of trumpets, flickering sounds of bells create a grotesque image of an evil sorcerer. The march is followed by oriental dances: Turkish - smooth and languid, Arabic - mobile and courageous; the dance suite is concluded with a fiery, whirling lezginka.
There are two pictures in the fifth act. In the center of the first - Ratmir's romance, imbued with bliss and passion "She is my life, she is my joy."
The second scene is the finale of the opera. The harsh, woeful chorus "Oh you, light-Lyudmila" is close to the people's lamentations and laments. The second move "The bird will not wake up in the morning", interrupted by the mournful remarks of Svetozar, is also colored with sadness. The music of the awakening scene is fanned with morning freshness, the poetry of a flourishing life; Ruslan sings a melody full of lively, quivering feeling ("Joy, clear happiness"); Lyudmila joins him, and then the rest of the participants and the choir. The final chorus ("Glory to the Great Gods") sounds jubilant, light and cheerful (music of the overture).
M. Druskin
The premiere of the opera passed without a resounding success. In the future, from performance to performance, success increased. We will note the 1904 production at the Mariinsky Theater for the 100th anniversary of Glinka's birth (soloists Slavin, Chaliapin, Ershov, Kastorsky, Alchevsky, Cherkasskaya). Often staged abroad. In 1969 the production in Hamburg was staged by the choreographer D. Balanchine (director McKeras, artist N. Benois).
"Ruslan and Ludmila". A knight who embodies the ideal qualities of a valiant husband - physical strength, spiritual nobility, the valor of a warrior.
History of creation
Pushkin wrote the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" after graduating from the Lyceum, this is his first completed poem. The author worked on this work mainly during forced inactivity due to illness, and the rest of the time he led the "most scattered" life in St. Petersburg.
This text merged knightly poems that Pushkin knew in French translation, satirical poems and images inspired by Old Russian epics and fairy tales, as well as literary tales of Russian authors, among whom Kheraskov had already created works on the "heroic" theme.
The names of Ruslan's competitors and the details of their biographies were taken by Pushkin from the History of the Russian State. The poem also traces a parody of a romantic ballad called "The Twelve Sleeping Virgins". Pushkin's sublime images are lowered and diluted with frivolous jokes, grotesque and colloquial expressions, the characters of the heroes are masterfully written. The poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" is included in the school curriculum and is studied in the fifth grade.
The Moscow Theater-Workshop named after staged a play based on the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila". The premiere took place in 2014. And by the new year 2018, she staged a musical on ice based on this work, which ran from December 23, 2017 to January 7, 2018 at the Megasport Sports Center in Moscow.
Heroes also appeared on TV screens. In 1972, a two-part film based on Pushkin's poem was released. The roles of Ruslan and Lyudmila are performed by actors Valery Kozinets and Natalya Petrova.
Plot and biography
Prince Ruslan marries Lyudmila, the youngest daughter. There is a feast, next to the newlyweds - the prince's sons and a crowd of friends, the prophetic Bayan sings and plays the harp in honor of the young couple. The feast is attended by three men who are not happy with the others. These are Ruslan's rivals - the boastful Farlaf, a Khazar khan named Ratmir and a certain knight Rogdai.
The feast is coming to an end, the guests are leaving. Prince Vladimir blesses the groom and the bride, and they go to the bedroom. However, Ruslan's love dreams are not destined to come true - suddenly the light dims, thunder rumbles, a mysterious voice is heard, something soars and disappears into the darkness. When Ruslan comes to his senses, it turns out that Lyudmila is no longer with the hero - the girl has been kidnapped by an “unknown force”.
Prince Vladimir is amazed by this incident and is angry with the young son-in-law, who allowed him to kidnap his youngest daughter straight from the bedchamber and could not protect the girl. The angry prince encourages the young knights to go in search of Lyudmila and promises the maiden a wife to the one who finds her, and together with the maiden also half a kingdom. Not only Ruslan, who wants to return his young wife, is sent on the wanted list, but also three competitors - Ratmir, Rogdai and Farlaf. The knights saddle their horses and gallop away from the princely chambers along the banks of the Dnieper.
The four of the heroes are riding. Ruslan is grieving, others - who boast in advance of the exploits that they will accomplish, who soars in erotic dreams, and who maintains a gloomy silence. In the evening, the heroes drive up to the crossroads and each sets off on its own road. Ruslan drives alone and drives to a cave, inside which a fire is burning. In the cave, the hero finds a gray-bearded old man who is reading a book in front of a lamp.
The old man declares that he has been waiting for a hero for a long time. It turns out that the "unknown force" that took the girl away is an evil sorcerer, a famous kidnapper of beauties. This villain lives in the inaccessible northern mountains, where no one has ever reached, but Ruslan will certainly overcome obstacles and defeat Chernomor in battle.
Ruslan cheers up from such news, and the old man leaves the hero to sleep in the cave, and at the same time tells him his own story. The old man comes from Finland, where he worked as a shepherd and led a carefree life, until one day he fell in love with the evil beauty Naina. She did not reciprocate to the young shepherd, and the young man abandoned peaceful pursuits and became a warrior.
He spent ten years in battles and sea campaigns, but the girl again rejected his claims and gifts obtained in battles. Then the hero decided to try to go from the other side and began to learn witchcraft in order to bewitch the beauty. He managed to summon Naina with the help of witchcraft, but she appeared before him in the repulsive form of an old hag.
Ruslan and the old man-finn The hero learned that while he was learning to conjure, forty years passed imperceptibly, and his passion had time to grow old. Now Naina is 70 years old. And, worst of all, the spells worked - the old woman loves the hero. It turned out at the same time that the passion itself during this time became an evil sorceress. Seeing and hearing all this, the hero ran away in horror, forgetting his own love interest. Having escaped, he settled in this cave and now lives as a hermit.
In the morning Ruslan sets off in search of Lyudmila. In the meantime, the hero Rogdai is riding on the trail of the hero, who wants to kill the hero and thus remove the obstacle that stands between him and Lyudmila. Having identified, Rogdai almost kills the braggart Farlaf, who runs away from him in fear. The character of Rogdai, therefore, can be called treacherous - the character is cruel and angry, does not hesitate to act meanly.
Lagging behind the frightened Farlaf, Rogdai drives on and meets an old woman. She indicates to the hero where he should go to find the enemy, and when Rogdai disappears from sight, the old woman approaches the coward-Farlaf lying in the mud and tells him to go straight home, because Lyudmila, they say, will belong to him, it makes no sense further risk yourself. And the cowardly hero does as the old woman says. Rogdai, meanwhile, catches up with Ruslan and attacks him from behind. In the battle Rogdai dies - Ruslan pulls the scoundrel out of the saddle and throws him into the waters of the Dnieper, where he drowns.
Lyudmila, meanwhile, comes to her senses in the chambers of Chernomor, furnished in the manner of a palace from "A Thousand and One Nights". The heroine is reclining under a canopy, beautiful girls are looking after her - they braid her braids, dress her, decorate with a pearl belt and a crown. Someone invisible sings songs pleasant to the ear. Outside the window of the room, Lyudmila sees mountain peaks, snow and a gloomy forest.
Inside the black-mountain chambers there is a garden with exotic trees and lakes, nightingales are singing, fountains are gushing. A tent unfolds over Lyudmila by itself, luxurious dishes appear in front of the heroine, music sounds. When the heroine gets up after the meal, the tent disappears, and when in the evening Lyudmila begins to fall asleep, invisible hands grab her and carry her to bed.
The girl, meanwhile, is not happy about anything and is waiting for a catch. Suddenly, uninvited guests invade the heroine's bedchamber - a shaven-headed dwarf, whose long gray beard is carried on pillows by araps. Lyudmila attacks the dwarf, he gets scared, gets tangled in his beard and gets away under the screeching of the heroine. Here the reader sees the character of Lyudmila - this young maiden is full of determination to defend her honor and freedom and, not buying into ostentatious luxury, remains faithful to her beloved.
Later, Lyudmila finds Chernomor's invisibility cap and hides from the sorcerer under it, and meanwhile the evil sorceress Naina flies to Chernomor in the guise of a winged snake and informs him about Ruslan's approach. Chernomor believes that nothing threatens him as long as his beard is intact.
Ruslan, meanwhile, finds himself on a field littered with human bones and armor, where a battle once took place. Among the thrown weapons, the hero finds a steel spear. At night, the hero drives up to a huge living head in a helmet, which at first takes for a hill. After a short skirmish, the hero turns his head, and a sword is found under the head.
The head tells the hero where it came from, and it turns out that earlier it rested on the shoulders of the giant knight. The latter had an angry and envious younger dwarf brother - Chernomor. This brother persuaded the giant to go in search of a sword that could kill any of them two, and when the sword was found, Chernomor blew off his older brother's head. Since then, the head has been placed here to guard the sword. However, the head gives the magic weapon to Ruslan and calls on the hero to take revenge.
Meanwhile, Khan Ratmir, who went to look for Lyudmila along with the other three knights, some beautiful girls lure into the castle on the rock. Ruslan continues to go north to the mountains. Lyudmila continues to hide under an invisible hat, walking in this form around the palace of Chernomor and mocking the servants of the evil sorcerer. The cunning dwarf attracts the girl's attention, pretending to be a wounded Ruslan, but at that moment the sound of a battle horn reaches him and Chernomor goes to see what is happening there.
A fight with Ruslan begins, during which the wizard becomes invisible. The hero grabs the sorcerer by the beard, and they rush under the heavens for two days until Chernomor begins to beg for mercy. Ruslan demands to take him to Lyudmila, and on the ground he cuts off the villain's beard and ties it to his own helmet.
The beloved, discovered by Ruslan, sleeps soundly, and the hero goes with her to Kiev, where Lyudmila must wake up. On the way, Ruslan meets a poor fisherman, whom he recognizes as Khan Ratmir. He found happiness with his young wife and no longer dreams of Lyudmila.
Meanwhile, the witch Naina teaches the cowardly Farlaf how to defeat Ruslan. The villain stabs Ruslan to sleep and takes Lyudmila to Kiev. The girl, meanwhile, does not regain consciousness, even when she finds herself in her own mansion. It is impossible to wake up the heroine, while the city is surrounded by rebellious Pechenegs.
Ruslana revives an old Finn man and gives the hero a magic ring, which should awaken Lyudmila. The hero bursts into the ranks of the Pechenegs and strikes left and right, plunging the enemy into flight. Then Ruslan enters Kiev, finds Lyudmila in the tower and touches that ring. The girl wakes up, Prince Vladimir and Ruslan forgive the coward Farlaf, and Chernomor, who has lost his magic power along with his beard, is taken to the palace.
Quotes
“Even with me my faithful sword,
The chapter has not yet fallen off the shoulders. "
“I have heard the truth, it happened:
Though the forehead is wide, the brain is not enough! "
"And the girl at seventeen
What a hat won't stick! "
“Every day, rising from sleep,
Thank you heartily God
For the fact that in our times
There are not so many wizards. "