Mlada (Rimsky-Korsakov)

Mlada (Russian: Млада, romanized: Mláda listen^ⓘ) is an opera-ballet in four acts, composed between 1889 and 1890 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, to a libretto by Viktor Krylov that was originally employed for an aborted project of the same name from 1872. The composer was "somewhat ahead of his time, in that he combined within one scenic whole song, movement, dance, decor, reality and make-believe. Both real people and their 'souls' appear: the physical world alternates with the mystical, the commonplace with the magical, and dry land with water-the transformations are continuous".

In the middle of Mlada, a fantasy tale about ancient pagan Slavs, Cleopatra emerges in a scene that exudes sensuality. Rimsky-Korsakov said "Among my musical impressions of Paris [at the World Exhibition, summer 1889] I reflect on music in Hungarian and Algerian cafes. The virtuoso playing of a Hungarian orchestra on tsevnitsas (Pan flutes) gave me the idea of introducing this ancient instrument... during the dances at Cleopatra's. In an Algerian cafe, I was attracted to the beat of a large drum... This effect I also borrowed for the scene of Cleopatra".