The Maid of Pskov (Russian: Псковитянка) is Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's first opera, written in 1872 and based on a play by Lev Mey (later, another of his works would inspire The Tsars Bride). In 1898, Rimsky-Korsakov composed a one-act prequel, The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga.
The town of Pskov is alarmed at the approach of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, right after his army violently raided Novgorod. Opinions are divided on what to do: Prince Yuri Tokmakov advises the people to welcome the Tsar, since they have always been his loyal subjects, but Mikhaylo Tucha leads the young men of the town away in rebellion.
To complicate matters, Prince Yuri's daughter Olga is in love with Mikhaylo but promised to another, a boyar Matuta.
To further complicate matters, Olga is revealed not to be Prince Yuri's biological daughter: her mother was his wife's sister, and the father is soon revealed to be Ivan the Terrible.
Tropes featured in the opera:
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the play, Olga stabs herself. In the opera, she runs into battle after she hears Mikhaylo's voice and is accidentally killed by a gunshot.
- Exact Eavesdropping: Olga happens to eavesdrop on the very conversation between Prince Yuri and Matuta where Prince Yuri reveals her actual parentage.
- Family Relationship Switcheroo: Olga was raised by her uncle and aunt, believing them to be her parents.
- Freudian Slip: Tsar Ivan addresses Olga as "Olga Ivanovna... I mean Yurievna".
- Happily Married: Prince Yuri and his wife Nadezhda are heavily implied to have been an example. Yuri talks of Nadezhda's death with sadness even though it happened long ago, and the very fact that he went along with her plan of acknowledging her sister's child as her own (even though it resulted in rumors about Olga's dubious parentage) and adopted Olga as his daughter shows how supportive he was of her.
- Heroic Bastard: Olga, revealed to be Tsar Ivan's illegitimate daughter, is kind, honest and brave.
- Long-Lost Relative: Olga feels irrationally fond of Ivan, and he immediately senses she is familiar to him. They are actually father and daughter.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Ivan begins to confess to Olga he is her biological father, but he never finishes the sentence, and she is already dead by that point.
- Not Good with Rejection: Matuta kidnaps Olga after their betrothal is broken.
- Posthumous Character: Vera Sheloga, Ivan Sheloga and Nadezhda Tokmakova are all long dead by the time of the plot.
- Spurned into Suicide: Downplayed. Ivan Sheloga suspected his wife has been unfaithful and had a child out of wedlock, and he was so tormented by it he went off to war and was killed.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Olga is the spitting image of her mother Vera, which prompts Ivan to recognize her quickly.
- Sudden Downer Ending: Tsar Ivan has all but acknowledged Olga and promises her to spare Mikhaylo, setting up a Bittersweet Ending at the worst... and then Olga runs into the fighting to defend her beloved and gets fatally shot.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Tsar Ivan genuinely wants to keep his country strong and unified, but the tyrannical methods he uses for it are way, way too excessive.
