Mikhail Vasilyevich Popov

Mikhail Vasilyevich Popov (Russian: Михаи́л Васи́льевич Попов, 1742-1790) was a Russian writer, poet, dramatist and opera librettist of the 18th century.

Biography

Born into a merchant family, he was a pupil of the famous actor and founder of Russian theatre Fyodor Volkov. After 1757 he was an actor at the Court Theatre in St Petersburg. He entered Moscow University in 1765, and began to translate comedies from German and French. He wrote a collection of lyrics called “Songs” (1765).

During 1771–1772 he translated the poem "Gerusalemme Liberata" ("Jerusalem Delivered") by Torquato Tasso and wrote the novel "Slavyanskie Drevnosti" ("Славянские древности" – "The Slavonic Antiquities"). Together with Mikhail Chulkov, he published a collection of Russian folk songs. His own collection of songs, "Russian Erota or the Collection of the Best and Newest Russian Songs" ("Российская Эрота, или Выбор наилучших новейших русских песен"), was published posthumously in 1791. Popov wished to popularize Slavic mythology, which had been largely forgotten in Russia in his time, as a more patriotic alternative to Greek and Roman mythology. To this end, he conducted some rather inaccurate research and wrote the essay, "Описание древнеславянского баснословия" ("The Description of Ancient Slavic Fable-writing", 1768). He included this essay in the collection of his poems, translations and plays called "Dosugi" ("Досуги" – "Lesure Hours"), published at the request of Empress Catherine II. This collection also contained his famous libretto to the opera "Anyuta".

Opera librettist

He wrote a few librettos for comic operas and was especially celebrated for the text of the one-act opera "Anyuta", which was given at the (Chinese Theatre, Tsarskoye Selo, September 6 [OS August 26] 1772). The music was a selection of popular songs specified in the libretto. The story is about a girl called Aniuta, brought up in a peasant household, who turns out to be of noble birth, and the story of her love for a nobleman, Victor, which eventually ends happily with wedding bells. The music hasn’t survived, and the composer is unknown, although it is sometimes attributed to Vasily Pashkevich or even to Yevstigney Fomin, who at that time was just 11 years old.

Bibliography

Polovtsev, A.A. "Russian Biographical Dictionary" ("Русский биографический словарь" А.А.Половцова) published 1896-1918, (see the link below)

External links

* [http://www.rulex.ru/01160466.htm Biography 1]
* [http://www.poesis.ru/poeti-poezia/popovm/biograph.htm Biography 2]
* [http://www.vor.ru/English/treasures/Treasures_5.html Russian Comic Opera]
* [http://www.rulex.ru/xPol/index.htm "Russian Biographical Dictionary" that contains the most accurate information]

ee also

*Russian opera