Theatre
The Storm
Гроза
Alexander Ostrovsky · 1859
Opening lines
Кулигин
«Среди долины ровныя, на гладкой высоте…»
“Amid the level valley, on a smooth height…”
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from ru.wikisource.org
Synopsis
In Kalinov, a small town on the banks of the Volga, Katerina lives with her mother-in-law, the wealthy Marfa Kabanova, who enforces the law of ancient custom in the house and reproaches her son Tikhon for not keeping a close enough hold on his wife. Raised in tenderness, Katerina is suffocating; she confesses to her sister-in-law Varvara that she loves another. Boris, nephew of the powerful merchant Dikoy, loves her in secret. Tikhon leaves for two weeks. Varvara slips Katerina the key to the garden gate; after refusing it, Katerina keeps it.
Context
The play was written from July to October 1859. The author read it to the actors of the Maly at the home of the actress Lyubov Nikulina-Kositskaya, who created the role of Katerina and had been its model. It was first performed at the Maly in November 1859, for the benefit of Sergei Vasilyev, who played the husband, and appeared in a journal only in 1860. The critics tore each other apart over the heroine's morality, while the public made it a triumph.
Who it is for
Five acts and six scenes in prose; several French translations exist, including a recent stage adaptation.
Prizes and reception
It won its author the Uvarov Prize; Janáček drew his opera Káťa Kabanová from it, and Tchaikovsky an overture.