from the play, the available piano-vocal score, and Bernandt, all cited in the bibliography below.) Il'ya, a rich Moscow merchant who lives at his brother's monastery: basso Pyotr, Il'ya's son, [a young merchant]: baritone Dasha (Dar'ya), Pyotr's wife: soprano Julia Petrova, Pyotr’s mistress: basso Agafon, Dasha's father, suburbanite from Vladimir: tenor Stepanida: Dasha's mother, suburbanite from Vladimir: mezzo-soprano Afim'ya, Pyotr's aunt: mezzo-soprano Spiridonovna, proprietress of a coaching inn: mezzo-soprano Grunya, her daughter: mezzo-soprano Vasya, young son of a merchant: tenor Yeryomka, a blacksmith working at the inn: bass A Travelling Merchant: bass 2nd Merchant: tenor A Coachman: tenor A Bear-Trainer: tenor An Archer Woman: soprano An Archer Honey-and-Spice-Drink Seller Bread-Roll Seller Spice-Cake Seller: tenor Pancake Seller A Peasant 2 Revellers: tenors Offstage revelers; merchants, transients, coachmen, maiden-guests at Grunya's, crowd of carousing people, fife-players and bagpipers, maskers in the procession for the "sending off of Shrovetide", lads, peasants and their wives, women, men, a bear. Synopsis Time: The 17th or 18th century, at Shrovetide. Place: Moscow Act 1 Dasha is saddened that her husband, Pyotr, is almost completely absent nowadays. His father, Il'ya, disgusted by Pyotr's sinful treatment of his family, prepares to move away. When Pyotr enters, he evades his father's questions of his whereabouts. After Il'ya goes off to attend vespers, Dasha tries to win back Pyotr's love, but he rejects her (he has become attracted to Grunya, the innkeeper's daughter) and leaves once again. Vasya—whom Dasha had once loved before marrying Pyotr—shows up to wish her a happy holiday. Taking advantage of his Shrovetide-induced, somewhat inebriated condition, Dasha learns from him about Pyotr's secret infatuation. She decides to move away from Moscow to live with her parents. Act 2 At Spiridonovna's busy inn, Yeryomka, and then Grunya, each sing a song for the visiting merchants and coachmen. As the others depart, Spiridonovna, desiring that her daughter marry someone well-off, urges Grunya to use her wiles on Pyotr the next time he comes in. When he does, she caresses him and manages to set up a date with him to go sleigh-riding that evening. He leaves, and Grunya overhears some people she does not know: Dasha's parents enter the inn, having come to Moscow to visit; Dasha, unexpectedly meeting them there, tells them of her decision. But her father forbids her to leave her husband and move in with them. From this conversation Grunya realizes that Pyotr has