| The Power of the Fiend | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Alexander Serov | |
 Feodor Chaliapin as Yeryomka | |
| Native title | Russian: Вражья сила |
| Librettist |
|
| Language | Russian |
| Based on | Ostrovsky's Live Not as You Would Like To |
| Premiere | 14 April 1871 Mariinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg |
The Power of the Fiend (Russian: Вражья сила, Vrazhya sila) is an opera in five acts by Alexander Serov, composed during 1867-1871. The libretto is derived from a drama by Alexander Ostrovsky from 1854 entitled Live Not As You Would Like To, But As God Commands. The opera was premiered posthumously on 19 April 1871 (Old Style) at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg conducted by Eduard Nápravník.[1] Among the performers were Darya Leonova as Spiridonovna and Mikhail Sariotti as Yeryomka. Although in many ways it is more far-reaching than Serov's previous two operas, this work was not a success.
The title of the opera (taken from an appellation that Ostrovsky had applied to the fourth act of the projected libretto) has been translated in a number of ways: The Hostile Power, The Fiendish Power, The Malevolent Power, The Power of Evil, and so on. As an obsolete Russian phrase, it can mean simply "Satan" or "The Devil" (indeed, the Mariinsky Theatre renders the title of the opera in English as Satan[2]). Part of the variety in translation derives from interpreting the initial word of the title. Вражий in Russian is an adjective from the noun враг ("foe" or "enemy"; obsoletely "the Fiend" or "the Devil"). In the case of this drama the title relates to the character Yeryomka.