What is "mavra"

Mavra is a one-act opera buffa composed by Igor Stravinsky, and one of the earliest works of Stravinsky's 'neo-classical' period. The libretto of the opera, by Boris Kochno, is based on Aleksandr Pushkin's The Little House in Kolomna. Mavra is about 25 minutes long, and features two arias, a duet, and a quartet performed by its cast of four characters. The opera has been characterised as both an homage to Russian writers, and a satire of bourgeois manners and the Romeo and Juliet subgenre of romance. Philip Truman has also described the music as satirising 19th-century comic opera. The dedication on the score is to the memory of Pushkin, Glinka and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Mavra premiered in Paris on June 3, 1922, staged under the auspices of Sergei Diaghilev, with Oda Slobdoskaya, Zoïa Rosovska and Bélina Skoupevski among the original cast, at the Théatre national de l'Opéra, orchestra conducted by Grzegorz Fitelberg. The opera was a failure at the premiere, partly because the large space of the Paris Opéra overwhelmed the small scale of the opera.

Stravinsky himself thought very highly of this composition, saying once that "Mavra seems to me the best thing I've done". Erik Satie praised the work after its premiere. Stravinsky himself reacted with hostility to people who criticized it in later years.

The opera was given its United States premiere by the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia on December 28, 1934 with Maria Kurenko as Parasha and Alexander Smallens conducting. The Santa Fe Opera mounted Mavra in 1962.

The first aria of the work has been arranged for cello and piano, and recorded with Mstislav Rostropovich under the title "Russian Song".

Mavra is a collection of poems written in the poetic style free verse by the Urdu poet Noon Meem Rashid.

Category:Urdu poetry

Mavra is a one-act opera buffa composed by Igor Stravinsky.

Mavra may also refer to:

• Mavra Shuvalova (1708–1759), Russian lady in waiting and a confidante of Empress Elizabeth of Russia
• Dominik Mavra (born 1994), Croatian professional basketball player
• Mavra (poetry), a collection of poems by the Urdu poet Noon Meem Rashid
• Mavra Chang, a major character in the science fiction Well World series by Jack L. Chalker
• Lady Mavra Chan, a villain in the Australian webcomic and print comic series Terinu
• Mavra, a recurring vampire character in The Dresden Files novel series