The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov
Encyclopedia
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
Ivan Vasilyevish
Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV Vasilyevich , known in English as Ivan the Terrible , was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres,...
, the Young Oprichnik
Oprichnik
An oprichnik was a member of an organization established by Tsar Ivan the Terrible to govern the division of Russia known as the Oprichnina ....
, and the Valorous Merchant Kalashnikov, often abbreviated as The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov, is a poem by Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
written in 1837 and first published in 1838.
The plot of the poem is set during Oprichnina
Oprichnina
The oprichnina is the period of Russian history between Tsar Ivan the Terrible's 1565 initiation and his 1572 disbanding of a domestic policy of secret police, mass repressions, public executions, and confiscation of land from Russian aristocrats...
times. Rhythmically, Kalashnikov is patterned after bylina, the Russian folk epic. Its most famous scene describes a fistfight
Fistfight
Russian fist fighting is the traditional bare-knuckle boxing of Russia.-History:The earliest accounts concerning the sport date to the 13th century...
between the protagonists, Kalashnikov and oprichnik
Oprichnik
An oprichnik was a member of an organization established by Tsar Ivan the Terrible to govern the division of Russia known as the Oprichnina ....
Kiribeevich.
Adaptations
- The Merchant KalashnikovThe Merchant Kalashnikov (opera)The Merchant Kalashnikov is a three-act opera by Anton Rubinstein, with a libretto by Nikolai Kulikov. It is based on The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov by Mikhail Lermontov.-Background:...
- opera by Anton RubinsteinAnton RubinsteinAnton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos... - Song About the Merchant Kalashnikov (film)Song About the Merchant Kalashnikov (film)Song About the Merchant Kalashnikov is a 1909 Russian silent film directed by Vasily Goncharov. The film is believed to be lost.-Plot:The film was loosely based on the eponymous poem by Mikhail Lermontov and consisted of four scenes: the feast at the court of Ivan the Terrible, the assault of...
- 1909 Russian film directed by Vasily GoncharovVasily GoncharovVasily Mikhailovich Goncharov was a Russian film director and screenwriter, one of the pioneers of the film industry in the Russian Empire, who directed the first Russian feature film Defence of Sevastopol.-Filmography:...