Alexandr Ostrovsky

Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky ( _ru. Александр Николаевич Островский) (OldStyleDate|12 April|1823|31 March–OldStyleDate|14 June|1886|2 June) was a Russian playwright.

Life and work

Ostrovsky graduated from the First Moscow Gymnasium (1835 - 1840) and then studied law at Moscow State University (1840 - 1843), which he left without having taken 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 in Moscow. Both tribunals were called upon to settle disputes chiefly among the Russian merchant class, from which Ostrovsky 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 merchant class is 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 area 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 have been turned into operas, mostly by Russian composers. 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. Particularly, the play "The Storm" ["Гроза"] inspired many operas and other works. 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 -- for which Tchaikovsky had originally written incidental music -- is Rimsky-Korsakov's "Snow Maiden."

External links

*gutenberg author|id=Aleksandr_Ostrovsky|name=Alexandr Ostrovsky
* [http://az.lib.ru/o/ostrowskij_a_n/ Works in Russian] at [http://lib.ru/ Lib.ru]