Ippolit Shpazhinsky

Ippolit Vasilievich Shpazhinsky (Russian: Ипполит Васильевич Шпажинский) (22 April [O.S. 10 April] 1848 – 15 February [O.S. 2 February] 1917) 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.

Ippolit Shpazhinsky was born in Voronezh in 1848. He received a military education, and served for some years in an uhlan regiment. He resigned his commission to devote himself to writing plays. His first drama appeared in 1876, and he went on to write tragedies, psychological and historical dramas, comedies, and individual scenes. Many of these were staged at the state theatres in Saint Petersburg and Moscow, as well as in the major provincial theatres.

The Russian Theatre in Riga, the oldest Russian theatre outside Russia, opened on 2 October 1883, with the premiere of Shpazhinsky's play The General's Wife (Майорша, 1878).

That year, Shpazhinsky had provided a libretto for Vladimir Kashperov for his opera Taras Bulba. This was premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in May 1887, but it was dropped from the repertoire after only four performances.

The Enchantress was first produced in 1884 at the Maly Theatre in Moscow, and soon it had seen more performances than any other play being staged in Moscow or St Petersburg. The actresses Maria Yermolova and Maria Savina were prominent in the title role. Savina in particular was dubbed "The Enchantress of the Russian Stage", after her appearances in the play.Vera Komissarzhevskaya was another known for her appearances in his plays.

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