The most typical of the early purely Russian native ballets was the _Snegourotchka_--‘The Snow Maiden’--which was first performed in 1876 in Moscow. Tschaikowsky took for his musical themes half a dozen folk-songs from Brokunin’s collection, and a few from the lips of the village people near Kieff. This ballet has been of the greatest success on the Russian stage thus far. This is musically and choreographically a dramatized fairy tale. The Snow Maiden is the issue of the union of the gladsome fairy, Spring, with the grim old geni, Winter. The father jealously guards her from the courting Sun-God, who is eager to pour upon her his scorching and destructive rays. Winter would like to keep her in the forest, but the mother, proud of her child’s beauty, wants to send her into the busy world to charm its inhabitants. After a serious conflict of the parents the father yields. The girl feels the strange emotions of love and trembles, singing a thrilling melody. She wanders from village to village in search of a lover, but her numerous admirers are unable to stir her heart, because snow circulates through her veins. She realizes that she is void of real passion. Spring appears to her and endows her with the tenderness of a lily, the languor of a poppy and the desire of a rose. The Snow Maiden’s heart is touched at last, but in the moment when she wishes to fall on her lover’s neck a brilliant sun ray pours its Summer heat on her. She dissolves in vapor and floats into the skies. The score is wholly Russian in mood and color. The dramatic treatment of the subject is the best that Tschaikowsky has ever done. The Snow Maiden’s theme is very sad and beautiful in the last movement. The pantomime and steps are excellent, and seem to melt into one magic whole. Tschaikowsky, with his peculiar genius for evolving floating, curving dance rhythms and his remarkable gift for lyrical characterization, made ‘The Snow Maiden’ a great success. Of less success was Tschaikowsky’s second ballet, ‘Swan Lake,’ though it has been in recent years a favorite ballet with the Petrograd audiences. Like the first, it was built on a fairy tale and an old folk legend theme. It was performed in 1876. Another ballet full of imaginary episodes and pretty music is ‘The Sleeping Beauty.’ The finest pages of this score are found in the _Adagio misterioso_, describing the sleep of the princess. But choreographically the best part is the _Pas d’action_, in which the _prima ballerina_ seems to melt into one audio-visible beauty that thrills the utmost depths of the soul. The ‘Nut Cracker’ has had less success than the others, yet it is a magnificent work of art. It probably lacks the feminine sentimentality that is always sure of a stage success.