Ivan the Fool (Иванушка-дурачёк in Cyrillic; Ivanuška-duračok in transliteration) is an opera-fairytale for children in three tableaux, by César Cui, composed in 1913. The libretto was written by Nadezhda Nikolaevna Dolomanova, using Russian folk tales. (It is not derived from Leo Tolstoy's story of the same name.)
The title can be rendered in English in a number of ways, depending upon whether one wishes to consider the diminutives involved: Foo...
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Ivan the Fool (Иванушка-дурачёк in Cyrillic; Ivanuška-duračok in transliteration) is an opera-fairytale for children in three tableaux, by César Cui, composed in 1913. The libretto was written by Nadezhda Nikolaevna Dolomanova, using Russian folk tales. (It is not derived from Leo Tolstoy's story of the same name.)
The title can be rendered in English in a number of ways, depending upon whether one wishes to consider the diminutives involved: Foolish Ivan, Ivan the Little Fool, Johnny the Little Fool, etc. (The printed Russian score of 1913 adds a parallel title in French, Jeannot "le bêtà".)
The performance history of this opera has yet to be traced.
Tableau I. In a clearing in a forest, Ivan has set his horse free. His wagon contains things that are supposed to be driven home for his family, but he empties the wagon so as to place the pots around the freezing tree stumps and to throw out the grain for the birds to eat. When his parents and brothers find him and reprimand him for his...
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