The Bard. Genesis.
M. A. Berlioz.
Posting #12.
“…Before him is a
living head…”
A. S. Pushkin. Ruslan
and Lyudmila.
A.
S. Pushkin returns to the theme of the “head” on numerous occasions in his
poetry, like for instance, in his original fairytale Ruslan and Lyudmila. Pushkin liked to read fairytales. In a letter
to his wife Natalia Goncharova, he wrote that he was reading the fairytales of
the Brothers Grimm.
Pushkin’s
love for folk tales comes to him from his nanny, a simple peasant woman Arina
Rodionovna, to whom he dedicated several of his poems, including the famous Winter Evening:
“…Why
have you fallen silent by the window,
My dear old woman?
Are you tired of the storm’s
howling?
Or are you drowsing to the
hum
Of your spindle?
Let us drink, my kind
companion
Of a miserable youth,
Let us drown the misery –
where’s the mug?
The heart will feel merrier!
Sing me a song about a
bluebird
Living quietly beyond the
sea,
Sing me a song about a maiden
Going to get water in the
morning…
Let us drink, my kind
companion
Of a miserable youth,
Let us drown the misery –
where’s the mug?
The heart will feel merrier!”
Ruslan and Lyudmila is a long poem, but all Pushkin’s enchanting
fairytales are in verse. After a short Prologue (“There’s a green oak by the Lukomorye…”),
the fairytale proper begins with a wedding, during which the princess-bride
Lyudmila is abducted by an evil wizard-dwarf. Her father Prince
Vladimir-the-Sun promises to give his daughter not necessarily to the original
bridegroom Ruslan, but to whoever brings back his youngest daughter to him.
After many adventures Ruslan as expected saves his Lyudmila, having remained
faithful and honest to her in his love.
Long before I read Pushkin’s advice to young writers
to read fairytales, in my childhood I read the most authoritative three-volume
edition of Russian fairytales compiled by Alexander Afanasyev. Not only have I
retained many of them in my memory, but reading those three thick volumes – not
a small accomplishment for a child – had forever instilled in me a love for the
fairytale genre. Since then I had read scores of books containing fairytales of
many nations – east and west, north and south.
As
I already wrote in other chapters, Pushkin’s fairytale-poem Ruslan and Lyudmila is closely connected
with the creative work of V. V. Mayakovsky, A. A. Blok, and of many other
Russian poets, and most certainly with the creative work of M. A. Bulgakov.
Pushkin’s
enchanting fairytale is also directly connected to Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Ruslan and Lyudmila was published in
1820 when Wagner was seven years old. Glinka’s opera Ruslan and Lyudmila was first staged in 1842. It is quite possible
that Wagner may have heard Glinka’s opera or at least was familiar with its
score and libretto.
I
grew up with the music of Beethoven. And I was always surprised recognizing
Russian tunes in Beethoven’s compositions. Only years later, studying German
history and literature, I found out that Beethoven, having first welcomed the rise
of Napoleon, subsequently became disappointed in him and welcomed the Russian
troops as liberators. He even developed a warm relationship with Empress
Elizabeth, wife of the Russian Emperor Alexander I, performed for her in Vienna,
and dedicated several pieces of music to her.
Russian
soldiers were predominantly peasants, their officers were members of the
Russian nobility. There were also the Cossacks – free people. Resting between
battles, the soldiers were often playing music on hand-made instruments: pipes,
reeds, and such. Thus Russian folk music found its way into Beethoven’s music.
And while the fact of Russian influence on Beethoven’s music is well-known,
very few know how it happened.
The
power of Russian folk music is such that it has crossed all national borders.
Aside from Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, many great composers used it in their
music.
So,
what does Pushkin’s enchanting tale have in common with Wagner’s Nibelungen? If
you said the love story, you guessed right. But if Siegfried under the evil
charms of the dwarf Alberich betrays his beloved Brunhilde (and she – him),
Ruslan remains faithful to his Lyudmila no matter what.
The
second part is more difficult to guess, but if the reader said “the ring,” the answer is correct. The story
in Wagner’s Cycle revolves around the magic ring of the Nibelungen. The ring in
Pushkin’s Ruslan and Lyudmila is not
a wedding ring either. It is a present from the benign wizard Finn to Ruslan,
who is instructed to touch the brow of the bewitched Lyudmila with the ring so
that the evil charms would be broken and she would wake up.
Performing
great deeds of valor, Ruslan is rushing toward his beloved bride. –
“…He
enters the silent chamber
Where the enchanted Lyudmila
is sleeping.
Lost in deep thought, Vladimir
Is standing at her feet,
gloomily.
But remembering the secret
gift of the ring,
Ruslan rushes toward the
sleeping Lyudmila,
He touches her serene face
with a trembling hand…
And a miracle! The young
princess
Opens her eyes with a sigh!..”
And
the third requirement is the sword!
The
hero-warrior’s sword in Pushkin’s fairytale is linked to the “Head,” and this is where I am moving on
to right away.
In
his quest to find his beloved Lyudmila, abducted by the evil dwarf, Ruslan
enters the “Valley of Death” and sees:
“…And
he sees: through the nightly fog
A huge mound looms black in
the distance,
And something terrible is
snoring.
He gets closer to the mound,
and closer, and he hears:
The wondrous mound as though
breathing…
Before him is a living head.
The huge eyes are overtaken
by sleep;
It is snoring, swaying the
plumed helmet,
And the feathers, high up in
darkness,
Are moving like shadows, fluttering
In their horrible beauty…”
It
is here, in the Valley of the Death, that Ruslan is looking for armor and weapons
for himself:
“…But
soon my warrior remembered
That a hero requires a good
sword,
And even armor, but the hero
Has been without them since
the last battle…
He randomly picked up a
shield [from the dead battlefield],
He found a helmet and a
sonorous horn;
And yet he could not find a
sword…
He took a spear of steel in
his hand,
Put a mail of iron on his
chest
And proceeded on his way…”
And
next the story “comes to a head…”
To
be continued…
***
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