The Bronze Horseman (poem)

The Bronze Horseman (Russian Медный всадник / Medny wsadnik; literally The copper horseman ) is a poem by Alexander Pushkin. The 1833 published poem deals with the equestrian statue of Tsar Peter the Great on the St. Petersburg 's Senate Square. The poem gave the already built in 1782, its distinctive character epithet.

The poem is one of the most important texts of Russian literary history. It still stands today on any Russian curriculum and is considered causative work of the Petersburg text.

With a strong flood of the Neva, the bride of a poor officer comes to. He is to blame the Tsar Peter I, who built the wrong place at Petersburg. He threatens and curses his memorial, and then this comes alive and the officers pursued until it is insane.

With " The Bronze Horseman " Pushkin replied to Adam Mickiewicz's invective (insults ) against the Russian state in Part III of the cycle dramas funeral ( " ustęp "). Pushkin compared Tsarism and the Russian history as a whole with the flood of the Neva (central motif of the poem ). After Pushkin it makes no sense to hate an impersonal element: the poor officer directs his hatred based persist the capital and the Bronze Horseman. Life goes on and is beautiful. The sympathies of the author are the main heroes of the poem, a " little guy". The conflict between the personal tragedy and the glory of life remains unsolved.

The poem has been the subject of numerous musical settings, including:

• Jakowlewitsch Nikolai Mjaskowski Tenth Symphony in f minor op for 30
• Reinhold Gliere Moritzewitsch: ballet " The Bronze Horseman ", Op 89
• Boris Vladimirovich Assafjew ​​: opera " The Bronze Horseman "