1950s vintage soviet russian hand painted palekh lacquer box, Mstera.
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1950s vintage soviet russian hand painted palekh lacquer box, Mstera.:
$129.00
Produced in 1950s.
High level of skill
\" The Water-Nymph\"by Alexander Pushkin
Artist: Smirnov
Measures: 170 mm (6.69 inch) x 120 mm (4.72 inch)
Hand Made in USSR
About conditions:
Very goodauthentic condition.
There areslight signs of use on the box,
but nothingserious. Please, look at the photos.
All photosare real, you receive what you see on them.
About the art work:
Very delicate coloring of the painting!
The gentle somewhat cold finely nuanced domineeringcolors and beautiful contrast of warm golden colors serves not only to revealthe contents of the poem, but to convey the painter\'s own feelings.
This work is an illustration of a poem by the great Russian poet AlexanderPushkin \"The Water-Nymph\" and an opera by Alexander Dargomyzhsky Rusalka(The Water-Nymph).
Rusalka (TheWater-Nymph) is an opera in four acts, six tableaux, by Alexander Dargomyzhsky,composed during 1848-1855. The Russian libretto was adapted by the composerfrom Pushkin\'s incomplete dramatic poem of the same name. It premiered on 4 May1856 (Old Style).
“Rusalka” – thefirst Russian opera in the nature of the psychological household of musicaldrama. The main task of the composer – a reflection of spiritual heroes of theworld, their experiences and characters.
The new taskdemanded and new musical expression. That is why the opera is relatively littleclosed musical numbers, lyrical arias and ensembles. Mostly through theprinciple of development. Joint singing in the ensemble freely replaced by adialogue between the actors. And it is in the dialogues often contain vividmusical characteristics of heroes. This bold and new technique was developedlater in the works of other Russian composers – Musorgsky, Tchaikovsky.
The basis of thecontent of “Rusalka” is a social conflict. With great artistic power and truthin the opera tells of the fate of a simple Russian girl, deceived and abandoneda rich prince.
The content of thedrama of Pushkin composer largely upheld, prisochinil only end, absent inPushkin. However, some heroes of Pushkin’s drama in the opera received thenames.
The opera wastranslated into English by Leonard & Emily R. Lehrman in 1986. Excerptsfrom that translation were performed in concerts in France in 1989, 1990, 1992,1994, and 1996, and in New York in 2015. The entire work was performed inEnglish for the first time at Queens College, Nov. 22, 2015. The cast includedHelene Williams (Natasha), Gregory Mercer (the Prince), Perri Sussman (thePrincess), David Anchel (the Miller & the Matchmaker), Kathryn Wieckhorst(Olga), Jackie Bakewell (Rusalochka), and The Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus,conducted from the piano by Leonard Lehrman.
About what is depicted:
The Water-Nymph (by Alexander Pushkin)
the piece of writing:
THE DNIEPER. NIGHT
WATER-NYMPHS
A merry procession
From deep in thestream
The moon draws usupward
To bask in herbeam.
River floor andwater leaving,
Merrily at dead ofnight,
Glassy surfacehead-first cleaving
We arise to seekthe light.
Hear our voicescalling, teasing,
Vibrant throughthe upper air;
Shaken dry on freewinds wreathing,
See our green anddripping hair.
A NYMPH
Sisters, listen,hearken, hush!
In the dark woodsomething stirs...
ANOTHER
See, between themoon and us
Someone walks uponthe earth.
They hide.
PRINCE
How well I knowthese melancholy places!
I recognise eachlandmark — there\'s the mill!
It\'s fall\'n intodisuse, a heap of ruins;
The merry sound ofturning wheels is silent;
The millstonegrinds no more — the old man\'s dead,
It seems. He didnot mourn his hapless daughter
Long. A path woundthere... It\'s overgrown.
For many years noone has come this way.
There was a gardenhere with a high fence.
Could it havegrown into this riot of thicket?
Ah, here\'s thefatal oak, here\'s where she stood,
And held me in herarms, all drooping, silent—
Was it all soindeed?..
He goes up to thetree, a shower of leaves falls on him.
What does thatmean?
The leaves turnedpale before my eyes, curled round on
Themselves andrustling fell like ashes all
About me. Now thetree stands black and bare
Most like a thingaccursed.
An OLD MAN enters,ragged, half-naked.
OLD MAN
Good-day to you,
My son-in-law.
PRINCE
And who are you?
OLD MAN
A raven,
I live here.
PRINCE
Could it be? Themiller!
OLD MAN
Not what
I\'d call a miller!I have sold my mill
To poltergeistsbehind the stove, and giv\'n the money
To water-nymphsfor keeping, to my daughter,
The wisest of \'em.Now it\'s buried deep
Down in theDnieper sand. A one-eyed fish
Keeps guard on it.
PRINCE
He\'s mad, unhappyman,
His thoughts arescattered like a storm-spent cloud.
OLD MAN
You\'re late. Youshould have come to us last night —
We had a feast andwaited long for you.
PRINCE
Who waited for me?
OLD MAN
Who? My lass, whoelse?
You know I look atall that through my fingers,
You may do as youlike: and she may sit
All night withyou, till cockcrow, if you wish,
And mum\'s the wordfor me.
PRINCE
Unhappy miller!
OLD MAN
I am no miller,man. I\'ve told you who I am.
A raven, not amiller. Very strange
It was! When she(remember?) flung herself
Into the river, Iran after her
And meant to leapfrom the same rock, but then
I suddenly felttwo strong wings had grown
From \'neath myarmpits, and they bore me up
Suspended in theair. And from that day
To this I havebeen flying about and, now
And then, I peckat carrion — a dead cow, say —
Or perch on gravesand caw.
PRINCE
The pity of it!
Who cares for you,old man?
OLD MAN
Now that\'s athought!
I need to be takencare of. Getting old
I am and always upto tricks. But I
Must thank mystars I have the water-babe,
She looks to me.
PRINCE
The who?
OLD MAN
My grandchild.
PRINCE
No.
I can\'t make heador tail of what he says:
Old man, here inthe wood you\'ll die of hunger
Or some beast willdevour you. Would you not
Come home with meto live?
OLD MAN
With you? No!Thank you!
You\'ll lure me inand then, as like as not,
You\'ll strangle mewith pearls. Here I\'m alive
And fed and free.I will not go with you.
Exit.
PRINCE
And this is all mydoing. Terrible.
To lose one\'swits. To die were easier.
We look upon acorpse with due respect,
We pray for him.And death makes all men equal.
A man who\'s losthis reason is a man
No more, andspeech a worthless gift to him,
For he controlsnot words; a brother he to beasts
And to hisfellowmen — a laughing stock;
All folk are freeto mock him, no one may judge him,
Not even God! Poorman! The sight of him
Has woke thetorments of remorse in me!
HUNTSMAN
Here, here he is.I thought we\'d never find him!
PRINCE
Why are you here?
HUNTSMAN
The Princess sentus, Sire.
She was afraid foryou.
PRINCE
Unsufferable
Solicitude. Or amI a small child
Who may not walk astep without a nanny?
Exit. The WATER-NYMPHSrise up from the river.
WATER-NYMPHS
Sisters, shall weovertake them
Lapping round themas they ride,
Scare theirhorses, spray and shake them,
Whistling,laughing at their side?
No, too late. Theforest darkens
And the deep growscolder yet.
To first cockcrowwe must hearken,
Look and see, themoon has set.
ONE
Let us tarry here,sweet sister.
ANOTHER
Nay — for we mustgo, must go,
Summoned by thestern Tsaritsa
Who awaits us downbelow.
Vanish underwater.
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1950s vintage soviet russian hand painted palekh lacquer box, Mstera.:
$129.00