''The Stone Guest'' (russian: «Каменный гость», Kamennyy gost') is a poetic

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

based on the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

legend of

Don Juan Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni ( Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, ''El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra'' ...

, spelled Don Guan (russian: Дон Гуан) by Pushkin.

History

Pushkin wrote ''The Stone Guest'' in 1830 as part of a collection of four short plays known as '' Little Tragedies''. The play is based on the familiar Don Juan legend, but while most traditional adaptations present it as

farcical Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

and

comedic Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

, Pushkin's "little tragedy" is indeed a romantic

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

. Save for the duel, there is little action, and though written in the form of a play, scholars agree that it was never meant for the stage. Pushkin wrote the play after seeing the premiere of a Russian-language version of Mozart's 1787 opera '' Don Giovanni''. He borrowed certain elements from da Ponte's libretto, but made the story his own, focusing more on the tragic romantic elements than on the

ones.

Synopsis

Don Juan, illegally returned from exile for having murdered Commander de Salva, seduces the latter's widow,

Doña Don (; ; pt, Dom, links=no ; all from Latin ', roughly 'Lord'), abbreviated as D., is an honorific prefix primarily used in Spain and Hispanic America, and with different connotations also in Italy, Portugal and its former colonies, and Croatia ...

Ana, when she visits the grave of her late husband. Doña Ana agrees to let him visit her home. Don Juan arrogantly invites the grave statue of the Commander to stand watch. When Juan and Ana are together, they hear the stone steps of the Commander. The statue offers a hand to Don Juan, he boldly takes it, and they both descend below the stage.

Influence

Alexander Dargomyzhsky Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomyzhsky ( rus, link=no, Александр Сергеевич Даргомыжский, Aleksandr Sergeyevich Dargomyzhskiy., ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪdʑ dərɡɐˈmɨʂskʲɪj, Ru-Aleksandr-Sergeevich- ...

adapted the play into an opera, ''The Stone Guest'', in 1872. In 2012 the English composer Philip Godfrey adapted the play into an operetta, also called ''The Stone Guest''. The phrases "Commander's steps" or "steps of the Commander" have become winged words in

Russian culture Russian culture (russian: Культура России, Kul'tura Rossii) has been formed by the nation's history, its geographical location and its vast expanse, religious and social traditions, and Western influence. Russian writers and ph ...

in reference to an approach of a sinister fate.

Alexander Blok Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publ ...

wrote a poem in 1912 titled ''Commander's Steps'' ( Шаги Командора). Venedikt Erofeev subtitled his final completed work ''Walpurgis Night'' "the Steps of the Commander."

References

* ''Alexander Pushkin: A Critical Study'' by A.D.P. Briggs, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1982. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone Guest, The 1830 plays Plays by Aleksandr Pushkin Plays adapted into operas Works based on the Don Juan legend