Ippolit Shpazhinsky

Ippolit Vasilievich Shpazhinsky (; ) was a Russian playwright and poet. He is best known for his play The Enchantress (Чародейка), which Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky adapted as his opera of the same name.

Biography Ippolit Shpazhinsky was born in Voronezh in 1848.

That year, Shpazhinsky had provided a libretto for Vladimir Kashperov for his opera Taras Bulba. Savina in particular was dubbed "The Enchantress of the Russian Stage", after her appearances in the play. Vera Komissarzhevskaya was also known for her appearances in his plays.

The dramatist Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky admired The Enchantress and one scene in particular. He pointed it out to his brother, the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who proceeded to write a duet based on that scene. Pyotr saw the play in January 1885, after which he wrote to Shpazhinsky, asking him to convert the drama to an opera libretto. and the two men met that month to discuss the project. Shpazhinsky's play The Enchantress was translated into French, German and Czech, as was The General's Wife. In the meantime, Tchaikovsky had become friendly with Shpazhinsky's estranged wife Yuliya, who had been forced by her husband to move to Sevastopol with their children. She and Tchaikovsky exchanged many letters of mutual support.

In May 1887, Shpazhinsky had offered Tchaikovsky another of his libretti, The Bayadere, based on Goethe's ballad Der Gott und die Bajadere. He had considered making it available to the French-born Russian composer Anton Simon, but felt Tchaikovsky's music was of greater quality. Tchaikovsky gave this idea some consideration, but eventually rejected it.

Although The Enchantress received mediocre reviews at its November 1887 premiere, Tchaikovsky liked Shpazhinsky's style and he approached him for another libretto, this time based on Alexander Pushkin's historical novel The Captain's Daughter, which the writer started in the spring of 1888. The composer abandoned this plan before doing any work on it.

In 1890, Shpazhinsky became President of the Society of Russian Dramatists and Opera Composers.

In 1900, he offered Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov the same libretto that Tchaikovsky had rejected in 1887, The Bayadere, only to have it rejected again.

Other works by Shpazhinsky include: Вопрос жизни (The Question of Life) Княжна Тараканова (Princess Tarakanova; 1904, based on the character of Princess Tarakanoff) Лакомый кусочек Упрёки прошлого Лёгкие средства (1879) Фофан (1880) Кручина (1882) Где любовь, там и напасть (1882) Княгиня Курагина (1887) В старые годы (1888) Жертва (1892) Тёмная сила (1895) В забытой усадьбе Дело житейское Прахом пошло Питомка Предел Ложь, да правды стоит Вольная волюшка Луч Простая история.

He won the Griboyedov Prize for Two Fates (Две судьбы, 1898).

He died in Moscow in 1917, aged 68.

His son Yuri was an artist whose works appeared in the Tretyakof Gallery. He also had two children out of wedlock, one of whom, Boris Raikov, became a professor of history.