Prologue of N. A. “The Snow Maiden”. Berendeyans meet Snow Maiden in the forest

“Everything is green here, and there is vegetation even in the scenes that have no special indications in the charts. This consistently green frame suits Snow Maiden. However, if we go from quantity to quality, we will see that there is little style in this ‘spring for the eye,’ because it never achieves the joyous flourishing that sounds in Korsakov’s ‘spring for the ear’… There is little fictional relish in the set and the general character of the performance. Because even on the comparatively real characters in ‘The Snow Maiden” we should see the patina of this blissful vernal fable, which covers (not hides!) all of the sharp discrepancies of real life, like a thin mist.” (Engel p. 329)