When I first saw advertised a new Snow Queen ballet with music by Rimsky-Korsakov, I automatically assumed it was a balletification of R-K’s opera The Snow Maiden (based on Ostrovsky).
But the more I read the review, the more puzzled I became. Snow Queen? Ah yes, that’s our heroine. Jack Frost? I suppose that’s her Grandfather Frost. Summer Princess? Well, maybe a ballet needs extra characters—but R-K’s Snow Maiden opera ends with the coming of Spring. Summer shouldn’t really appear on stage at all, and certainly not at the same time as Winter. And what’s all this about a magic mirror?
Now I learn that the ballet uses R-K’s music but has nothing in common with R-K’s (= Ostrovsky’s) story. But have I got even that much correct?
I feel as if I’d seen advertised a ballet Carmen with music by Bizet, and I discover that the music is indeed by Bizet, but the story is the story of Carmen Sylva Queen of Hungary.
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