Alexandr Ostrovsky
Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky (
Александр Николаевич Островский in
Russian) (
April 12 (
March 31,
O.S.)
1823—
June 14 (
June 2,
O.S.)
1886) was a Russian dramatic author.
Ostrovsky graduated from the First Moscow
Gymnasium (
1835 -
1840) and then studied
law at
Moscow State University (1840 -
1843), which he left without having submitted to the final examination. He was then employed as a
clerk in the office of the
Court of Conscience, and subsequently in that of the Commercial Court at
Moscow. Both
tribunals were called upon to settle disputes chiefly among the Russian
merchant class, from which Ostrovskiy was thus enabled to draw the chief characters for his earliest comedies. Among these are
The Poor Bride (Bednaya nevesta),
Poverty Is No Crime (Bednost' ne porok), and
Don't Put Yourself In Another Man's Sledge (Ne v svoi sani ne sadis'). Of this last
Nicholas I said, it was not a play, but a lesson. The uncultured, self-satisfied Moscow merchants are strikingly portrayed in
The Tempest and
Svoi lyudi - sochtyomsya!. The last-mentioned comedy was prohibited for ten years, until the accession of
Alexander II, and Ostrovsky was dismissed from the government service and placed under the supervision of the
police. The liberal tendencies of the new reign, however, soon brought relief. Ostrovsky was one of several well-known literary men who were sent into the provinces to report on the condition of the people. Ostrovsky's field of inquiry lay along the upper
Volga, a part of the country memorable for some of the most important events in Russian history. This mission induced him to write several historical dramas of great merit, such as
Kozma Zakhar'yich Minin-Sukhoruk (the full name of the famous butcher who saved Moscow from the
Poles),
The False Dmitriy and Vasily Shuisky,
Vassilisa Melentieva (the name of a favorite court lady of
Ivan the Terrible) and the comedy
Voyevoda. Many of his later works treat of the Russian nobility, and include
Beshaniye Dengi,
Bespridannitsa, and
Volki i Ovtsi; others relate to the world of actors, such as
Les,
Bez viny vinovatiy, and
Talanty i Poklonniki. Ostrovskiy enjoyed the patronage of
Alexander III, and received a pension of 3000
rubles a year. With the help of Moscow
capitalists, he established the
Malyi Theatre as a model theatre and school of dramatic art, of which he became the first director. He also founded the Society of Russian Dramatic Art and Opera Composers.
Ostrovsky died on his way to his estate in
Kostroma.
Works adapted in music
Several of Ostrovsky's plays figure into the works of composers, mostly Russian ones. His early comedy
Live Not As You Would Like To [
Не так живи, как хочется] (
1854) was adapted as the tragic opera
The Power of the Fiend (premiered in
1871) by
Alexander Serov. The play
The Storm [
"роза] inspired the opera of the same name by V. N. Kashperov (
1867 and
Káťa Kabanová by
Leoš Janáček, as well as an
overture by
Pyotr Tchaikovsky. The historical drama
The Voyevoda was transformed into two operas: one by Tchaikovsky (under the same title) and later another by
Anton Arensky entitled
Dream on the Volga. The most notable Russian opera based on an Ostrovsky play is Rimsky-Korsakov's
Snow Maiden.*
*
Free ebook of Alexandr Ostrovsky at
Project Gutenberg*
Works in Russian at
Lib.ru
