The Snow Maiden (Snegurochka), Act III: Dance of the Tumblers: Full Orchestra Conductor Score & Parts

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) composed The Snow Maiden (Snegurochka) in 1880-81, completing the initial sketch during the summer of 1880 and the orchestration on March 26, 1881. For his third opera, the composer wrote his own libretto based on Alexander Ostrovsky's 1873 play The Snow Maiden: A Spring Fairy Tale, drawing extensively on Russian folklore, folk song, seasonal rituals, and the contrast between winter and the life-giving warmth of the sun. Rimsky-Korsakov later described The Snow Maiden as his favorite of his own compositions, and its fairy-tale world of the Berendeyans provided an ideal setting for the brilliant orchestral color and fascination with pre-Christian Russian culture that became hallmarks of his music. The exuberant Dance of the Tumblers, more literally the Dance of the Skomorokhi, occurs in Act III during the festivities in Tsar Berendey's forest preserve and depicts the skomorokhi (the itinerant musicians, dancers, actors, and acrobatic entertainers of old Russia) with breathless rhythms, rapidly changing orchestral colors, and increasingly dazzling virtuosity, providing one of the opera's most energetic contrasts to its predominantly lyrical and atmospheric music. The complete opera received its premiere on February 10, 1882 (January 29 Old Style) at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, conducted by Eduard Nápravník. Rimsky-Korsakov substantially revised the opera around 1895, and that later form became the basis of the standard score. Although The Snow Maiden itself remains less frequently staged internationally than several other Russian operas, the Dance of the Tumblers has achieved an extensive independent concert life and is among the most familiar excerpts from Rimsky-Korsakov's operatic output, appearing in orchestral concerts and numerous transcriptions where its rhythmic vitality, brilliant scoring, and spectacular conclusion make it an enduring virtuoso showpiece. Instrumentation: 2+1(Picc).2.2.2: 4.2.3.1: Timp.Perc(3-4): Str (9.8.7.6.5 in set). Reprint edition.