The project addresses the following issues:
What was the significance of opera for the development of Russian musical culture.
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METHODOLOGICAL PASSPORT OF THE PROJECT
Project Options | Methodological passport of the project |
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Project name | "Opera Ivan Susanin and its significance for Russian culture" |
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Developer name | Senov Ilya. Alina Polyakova, Roman Yakovenko, Sofia Konovalova, 3b grade student |
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Name of educational institution | Gymnasium No. 24 of the Luberetskiy district, Moscow region |
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Year of development of the educational project | 2012-2013 |
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Experience of use and degree of distribution | 1. All-school game "Civilization". The Golden Age of Russian Culture" (December 2012) |
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Problem situation | The guys decided to take up this project after studying the topic “Opera Ivan Susanin” at music lessons. The music of M. I. Glinka, written in the Russian style, interested the children. There was not enough time to study this topic (2 hours), so the guys were divided into groups to study in detail the history of the creation and premiere of the opera, the first performers and its significance for Russian culture. |
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Project problem | Why the opera "Ivan Susanin" has been in the repertoire of all theaters in Russia for almost 180 years and has its own unique flavor. How M. I. Glinka showed the feat of the Russian people in the struggle against the Polish Army. What expressive musical means color the intonations of folk songs. What was the importance of opera for the development of Russian musical culture |
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Target | To prove why the opera "Ivan Susanin" was the starting point in the development of opera in Russia. Find out what is the peculiarity of the musical and intonational presentation of the images of the main characters of the opera. Why did M. I. Glinka “exalt folk song to tragedy. |
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Tasks - stages - solutions | 1. Conduct a review of literature and websites on the Internet about the life and work of M. I. Glinka, about the history of the creation of the opera "Ivan Susanin", about the premiere of the opera in St. Petersburg. 2. Listen to the main musical fragments of the opera performed by various singers and staged by the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters opera and ballet. 3. Explore the musical language, intonation features of choral and solo numbers. 4. Select the musical fragments of the opera available for performance and learn them. 5. To get acquainted with the drama of K. Ryleev "Ivan Susanin" and prepare a staging of Susanin's scene with the Poles. 6. Show the result of your research and creative work on music competition"Golden Age of Russian Music" within the framework of the general school game"Civilization". |
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Form of organization of children | Group work. |
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Leading activity | search engine; research, creative |
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Scope of results | All-school game "Civilization", competition of musical numbers (December, 2012) Parent meeting (January 2013) |
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Technologies used | Information; multimedia; study. |
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Form of products of project activities | Poster presentation; multimedia presentation; personal report; literary and musical composition. |
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How to combine results in a presentation | Conference; report; event. |
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Presentation types | Internet representative; computer demonstrating; scientific report; message. |
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Class or age of children | 3 b class (9-10 years old) |
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Number of participants | 4 people |
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Subject area | Music, history of Russian musical culture, history, world art culture, art. |
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List of participants | Schoolwide. |
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Nature of coordination | Open |
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Themes of the educational and thematic plan of the subject (s) | Glinka's innovation. Opera "Ivan Susanin" |
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Working hours | Medium term. |
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The goals of training, development, education | Project goals: educational: to explore the basic principles of the musical construction of the theme in the opera by M. I. Glinka, to prove which means of expression give music a unique quality folk style, compare musical interpretations created by leading theaters in different years; Developing: to show the importance of the opera "Ivan Susanin" for the formation of Russian musical culture in 1836 and draw a parallel with the relevance of the opera in our time. Educational: teach to work in a group. |
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Starting level of education and formation of ZUN and specific skills | Provided by the curriculum in grade 3 |
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Increments in ZUN and specific skills | Deepen knowledge of the history of Russian music, the significance of the work of the composer M. I. Glinka for the development of Russian opera, provide an opportunity for development creativity, the formation of a singing culture, consolidate skills and abilities when presenting material in the process of an open event, teach them to independently choose literary and musical works, as well as works of art corresponding to a specific theme. |
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Mode of operation (organizational form) | Extracurricular. |
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Technical equipment | Computer, DV D-discs with recordings of the opera staged by different theatres, CD-discs “Excerpts from the opera Ivan Susanin”. |
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Educational and methodological support | 1. V. N. Belyakov. Ivan Susanin. Legends and Traditions of Russian History. M., 1998 2. Ryleev "On the feat of the Kostroma peasant" 3. Ryleev. Drama "Ivan Susanin" 4. 100 operas (encyclopedia of Russian music) |
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Information equipment | Internet resources |
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Personnel equipment | ||
Project classification | Research; informational; practice oriented. |
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Comment |
VISIT CARD OF THE PROJECT
Project leader - music teacher Solomina I.I.
Worked on the projectgroup of students of grade 3b -
Sennov Ilya, Polyakova Alina, Yakovenko Roman
MOU Gymnasium №24
Moscow region, Lyubertsy
What is the theme of your educational project?
The first Russian opera and its significance for the musical culture of Russia
What kind didactic goals pursues your project?
- practical implementation of the knowledge and skills of schoolchildren in music
- formation of aesthetic culture, active citizenship
- disclosure of the value of Russian musical culture and its significance for the development of the culture of other countries
- formation of communication skills
- implementation of individual interests of students
What competencies does your project form?
- In the field of independent activity
- In the field of spiritual and moral education
- In the field of practical activity
What methodological tasks do you set in your project?
- to acquaint students with the history of their people, its heroes and their exploits
- reveal the significance of the work of the Russian composer M. I. Glinka and his opera "Life for the Tsar" for Russian culture of the 19th century
- compare performances of the opera Ivan Susanin as interpreted by leading theaters
- learn to work in groups and combine their skills into a single whole, without losing the function of each student
What are the fundamental and problematic issues learning topic Do you put in front of students?
Fundamental question: what place does M. I. Glinka's opera "Ivan Susanin" occupy in Russian music
Problematic issues of the educational topic:
What events of Russian history gave rise to the writing of the opera by M. I. Glinka?
What literary source was the impetus for the creation of the opera?
How is the image of the Russian people conveyed in the opera?
Who were the first performers of the opera and how was the premiere?
What scenes and musical fragments from the opera can you perform yourself?
What could be the creative name of your educational project?
First in Russian
What independent research of students is possible in your educational project?
When and why did M.I. Glinka get the idea to write an opera about a simple Russian peasant?
What was the name of the opera before the premiere?
What singers were the performers of Susanin's part?
How did K. Ryleyev's thought "Ivan Susanin" influence the creation of the opera?
Which points of the thematic curriculum school subject corresponds to the project?
“Music”, grade 3, section “Russia is my Motherland”, topic “Defenders of the Russian land”, section “In musical theater» theme «M. I. Glinka’s opera «Ivan Susanin».
Subject areas
Music, world art culture, history, literature, fine arts (painting, graphics, sculpture).
Age: elementary school
Registration of project results
Student Group Projects - Booklet or Bulletin
The final implementation of the project is a performance at a school-wide event - the game “Civilization. The Golden Age of Russian Culture"
Project summary
UMP was developed in accordance with the program for general education schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, and is intended for conducting classes in the study of the sections "Russia - My Motherland", "In the Musical Theater" in the course "Music". When passing through these sections and individual topics, students receive primary knowledge about opera in general and the opera "Ivan Susanin" in particular. However, in school textbooks, and teaching aids There is little material on these topics. It should be taken into account that the subject of music is given 1 hour per week according to the program. Therefore, it became interesting for students to learn more about the history of the creation of the opera "Ivan Susanin", the place of the composer M.I. Glinka in Russian music, about the feat of the Kostroma peasant, about literary works that describe this feat. In addition to theoretical material, much attention is paid to creative and practical experiments: the creation of a staging based on the drama by K. Ryleev, the choice and learning of solo and choral numbers from their opera by M. I. Glinka, the creation of scenery and costumes for performance. Being interdisciplinary in content, the project requires the involvement of knowledge from history, music, fine arts
The purpose of UMP is to develop a project and create a musical action "We put Susanin" within the framework of the school-wide game "Civilization". At the same time, each student, having received a certain task in this project, worked on it, got used to the role, created a costume corresponding to the era. All students of grade 3b, without exception, take part in the project, presenting the choir “Glory”, arias “Our native land is great and holy” and “You will ascend. My dawn." While working on a project, students actively involve their parents in creating costumes and scenery.
The developed project, the students present on the Web site, which contains materials about the goals of the project, its participants, creative work, entertaining facts, crossword puzzles, examples of literary and artistic statements, the results of students' research.
Time to complete the project
"Documentary" part of the project - 6 academic hours, practical part - 8 academic hours
How will student performance be assessed?
Intermediate diagnostics - developed projects presented by schoolchildren, presentation, final assessment - developed and implemented group project.
Keywords
Dramatic action, opera, soloist, choral scene, scene from the opera, scenery, climax, orchestra, bass, mezzo-soprano.
Speech at the conference "Step into Science"
The great Russian composer Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka is the founder of Russian classical music.
Opera by M. I. Glinka "Ivan Susanin" had great value for the development of musical culture. It was the first opera in Russian. Prior to this, operas were performed in Italian, and the audience could only enjoy the beautiful voices of the singers, sometimes not knowing the content.
M. I. Glinka was inspired by the feat of the Kostroma peasant Ivan Susanin. It is in Italy that the composer decides to write a Russian patriotic opera.
During rehearsals, the opera was called "Ivan Susanin". However, a week before the premiere, it was renamed.
November 27, 1836 The premiere of the opera with the new title A Life for the Tsar took place in St. Petersburg. In the opera, Glinka brought to the fore the majestic images of Russia, its heroic spirit and the stamina of the common people. The aristocracy received the opera coldly. Elite believed that the stage of the theater is not a place where artists walk around in bast shoes and sing folk songs.
The part of Susanin in the opera is performed by bass - the lowest male voice. The first performer was Osip Afanasyevich Petrov. Over the years of staging the opera best performer consider the singer Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin.
Opera "Life for the Tsar" in 4 acts with an epilogue.
According to the program in music lessons, we studied the opera "Ivan Susanin". The feat of Susanin left no one indifferent. The guys began to bring information about the life of Susanin, about the history of the creation of the opera, about its significance. So a lot of information has come together. The idea arose to stage some excerpts from the opera ourselves.
We studied the content of the opera in detail, got acquainted with the performances in various theaters in Russia. We have outlined passages that you can learn and put on your own. We chose the musical numbers “Our native land is great and holy” from act 1, the recitative and aria “You will rise my dawn” from act 4 and the final chorus “Glory”. Before the revolution of 1917, this choir was the anthem of the Great Russian Empire.
We also worked on sketches of costumes. There were no problems in this area, since the main thing in opera is actor- Russian people. In the image of the Poles, they also used appropriate costumes.
We staged our own version of excerpts from the opera as part of the Civilization school game. The project was massive. Grade 3b performed a scene from the prologue and the aria "Great and holy is our native land." 3rd grade - Susanin's scene with the Poles and the aria "You will rise, my dawn." Grade 3a prepared the final scene on Red Square and the Slavsya choir.
Glinka determined new ways of development of the opera genre in Russia. The opera "Ivan Susanin" marked the beginning of the development of Russian opera classics, where history and epic were brilliantly combined. It was the national consciousness of the opera "Ivan Susanin" that became the defining moment in further development Russian opera.
The opera A Life for the Tsar indicated a completely new path for the development of operatic art. Later his next generations of Russian musicians. As a result, a special specific genre of Russian opera appeared.
The operas A Life for the Tsar (Ivan Susanin), like all the works of M. I. Glinka, continue to interest all figures of Russian musical culture to this day.
The founder of Russian music"; 4th lesson - "Russian national hero Ivan Susanin»; Lesson 5 - "What is patriotism?". The purpose of the section: ... Russian - - the processes of memorization and reproduction by the feat of a folk hero Ivana Susanina; music. 3) Start speech and motor material. - ...
The result of which was the Feat Monument to the paralysis of power. Ivana D. Pozharsky and K. Minin Susanina The causes of the Troubles do not include a) ruin ... Mikhail Fedorovich Alexei Mikhailovich Fedor Alekseevich Sofya Alekseevna Protopop Avvakum Ivan Susanin B. Godunov V. Shuisky False Dmitry I S. Razin...
Plot for the construction of a sports and recreation complex at the address: st. Ivana Susanina, ow. 10. LOCATION sports complex... CONCLUSION The opening of the Sports and fitness complex at: st. Ivana Susanina: ow. 10 will create favorable conditions: for the familiarization of children ...
The senators. 1824 or 1825 Ivan Susanin The thought shows the fearlessness of the people and the dying confession Susanina, an open challenge to the enemy, a proud testament ... Fedorovich Ryleev. For example, Susanin possesses such a quality as love for the motherland. Duma " Ivan Susanin one of the most amazing creatures...
Golden Ring - Education Kostroma...
... ”was called a holiday in these places, reminiscent of Shrovetide. Monument Ivan Susanin. Ivan Osipovich Susanin, a peasant of the Kostroma district, became famous for the fact that in the winter of 1613 ... the church. In the monastery are buried its founder Chet and Ivan Susanin who gave his life for the king. Suzdal appeared on the pages...
With great stubbornness he prevented the acceptance of the new opera for staging. However " Ivan Susanin"was accepted. The premiere of the opera "Life for the Tsar" (in the next ... performances, soon the opera was completely removed from the stage; rarely staged and " Ivan Susanin". The composer is going through this hard. Bilibin's scenery for the opera "Ruslan and ...
Golden Ring Project - Education K...
Ostrovsky, B.M. Kustodiev, St. Macarius of Unzhesky and a patriot Ivana Susanina. A feature of the project proposal for this route is its variability. Opportunity ... Bui Susanino p. Susanino, where he accomplished his feat Ivan Susanin, who saved at the beginning. 17th century from the death of a young heir ...
Domnina of some 2 versts, a Domninsky peasant he met Ivan Susanin, who was a confidant of the Romanovs, sensing danger, led them to the opposite ... forests the whole night and morning of the next day, despite torture, Susanin did not reveal to the villains the place of residence of Mikhail Fedorovich and was them
Not a single royal dynasty came to the throne so unusually as the house of the Romanovs. This comment belongs famous writer Ivan Gogol, who, not without reason, believed that the feat of Ivan Susanin inextricably linked the tsar with his subjects. What is known about this landmark event in the history of Russia?
Volkov Adrian – picture Death of Ivan Susanin
Due to the limited source base, the biography of Ivan Susanin is the subject of historical disputes. The only documentary source about his life is Mikhail Fedorovich's charter of 1619. It speaks of granting Susanin's son-in-law half of the village with deliverance from all taxes and duties, while folk hero mentioned quite briefly. The rest of the data about the life of this man are legendary.
It is generally accepted that Ivan Susanin was born in the village of Domnino, which is 70 miles from Kostroma. According to one version, he was a serf of the Shestov nobles, according to another, he served as a patrimonial headman. It is known that he had a daughter, Antonida, and a son-in-law, Bogdan Sabinin.
The above royal charter says that in the winter of 1613 the newly elected Tsar Mikhail Romanov lived with his mother Marfa in the village of Domnino. At that time the Troubles civil war turned into a struggle against the interventionists from Poland. The gentry decided to capture the newly elected king, for this purpose a small Polish-Lithuanian detachment went to Domnino.
On the way, the invaders met the peasant Susanin, who was ordered to show the way to the village. But he led the detachment in the opposite direction, and sent his son-in-law Bogdan to Domnino to warn the tsar and his mother of the impending danger. Susanin led the Poles deep into the forest, and then to the Isupovsky swamp, for which he was tortured and killed. It is assumed that at that time this man was already in old age. In the impassable terrain, the enemy detachment also died. At this time, Mikhail Romanov took refuge in the Ipatiev Monastery.
After 6 years, the king thanked the relatives of the peasant who saved him by granting them land and exemption from taxes. The death of Ivan Susanin was not forgotten even later. The descendants of the national hero repeatedly received letters of commendation and preferential decrees until 1837.
The cult of Ivan Susanin during the Russian Empire
AT tsarist Russia the image of Ivan Susanin was the subject of a cult. Paintings, sculptures, musical and literary works. It was his name that was actively used by official propaganda during the suppression of Polish uprisings and the War of 1812.
In 1838, the central square of the city of Kostroma began to be officially called Susaninskaya. In addition, the hero was depicted among other prominent historical figures on the monument "Millennium of Russia" (1862). Propaganda took its toll, two centuries later, what Susanin did was repeated to some extent by Osip Komissarov, who saved Emperor Alexander II from death. Interestingly, Komissarov was born not far from native village Susanin.
However, it was in pre-revolutionary Russia that the first criticism official version feat. So, the historian N. Kostomarov believed that the only reliable fact in the entire history of Susanin was his death from one of the robber detachments in Time of Troubles. S. Solovyov was also known for critical reviews of this story, who believed that the peasant was tortured by the Cossacks.
presumed place of death
During the Soviet era, the initial attitude towards Susanin was negative. So, in 1918, the monument to Ivan Susanin was thrown off the pedestal. The folk hero began to be called the royal servant, and the feat for which he became famous was a fairy tale.
Attitudes changed dramatically in the late 1930s. He again entered the list of folk heroes. The district center, near which Susanin once lived, was renamed in his honor. At the same time, a version spread that he was a "patriot of the Russian Land", who fought against foreign invaders, and did not save the tsar. In the 60s of the last century, a monument to Susanin was even erected in Kostroma.
In post-Soviet Russia, the personality of Susanin is interpreted in two ways. Most historians continue to call him a folk hero, while recognizing that vassal devotion rather than patriotism prompted him to the feat. There are also several versions of how the events took place. For example, A. Shirokopad believes that Susanin suffered from the piratical raid of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks.
- In some publications, Susanin is credited with the patronymic Osipovich. However, there is no mention of this in the sources, in addition, in the 17th century, it was not customary for peasants to be called by their patronymic.
- AT Soviet time No less than Susanin was the famous peasant Matvey Kuzmin. In 1942, at the cost of his own life, he led a German detachment under machine-gun fire from Soviet soldiers. The enemy detachment was destroyed, but the German commander managed to kill Kuzmin. After the end of World War II, a book appeared describing the exploits of 58 "followers" of Susanin.
In 2003, in the necropolis of the village of Isupovo, remains were discovered that may belong to Susanin. However, professional archaeologists and historians dispute their authenticity.
January 29, 2018
Personality
A folk hero, a peasant in the village of Domnino, 70 versts north of Kostroma (now the Susaninsky district of the Kostroma region). There is practically no reliable biographical data about Susanin. The main source of information is the Royal Charter of November 30, 1619. A serf of the Shestov nobles. According to some reports, he served as a patrimonial headman. According to the official version, in the winter of 1613 Ivan Susanin accomplished a feat. The royal charter dated November 30, 1619 testified that in the winter of 1613, Tsar Mikhail Romanov and his mother, nun Marfa, lived in the village of Domnino, where a Polish-Lithuanian detachment of about 60 people went to capture the young king. On the way, the Poles met I. Susanin, who was ordered to show the way. Susanin led the detachment in the opposite direction to the village of Isupov, and sent his son-in-law Bogdan Sablin to Domnino to warn of danger. Susanin led a detachment to the Isupovsky (Clean) swamp, for which he was tortured and killed. Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov and his mother took refuge in the Kostroma Ipatiev Monastery. In 1619, as a reward for the feat and salvation of the tsar, Susanin's son-in-law was granted half of the village with exemption from taxes. Daughter - Antonida. The descendants of Susanin repeatedly received new letters of commendation, confirmation letters and preferential decrees (1633, 1644, 1691, 1723, 1724, 1731, 1741, 1767) confirming their property rights.
Heroization
Susanin's feat became a cult object in pre-revolutionary Russia. Paintings, drawings, sculptures, literary and musical works are dedicated to him. The history of the feat of a patriotic peasant who gave his life for the tsar became especially in demand by official propaganda and public opinion during the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1830-1831. Since 1838, the central square of Kostroma was named Susaninskaya. The well-known historian, Professor N.I. Kostomarov, who considered the only reliable fact in the whole history of the death of Susanin from one of the robber detachments in the Time of Troubles. Critically spoke about the history of Susanin S.M. Solovyov. Susanin, among other historical figures, is depicted on the monument to M.O. Mikeshin "The Millennium of Russia" (1862) in Novgorod the Great.
Attitude in the Soviet and post-Soviet period
In Soviet times, a monument to Susanin was destroyed in Kostroma (thrown off the pedestal in 1918, finally destroyed in 1934), and the hero himself was considered one of the royal servants, whose feat is mythologized. However, since the late 1930s the attitude towards Susanin changed - he became one of the national heroes, along with Minin and Pozharsky, Alexander Nevsky and Dmitry Donskoy. In 1939 on stage " Bolshoi Theater” the production of the opera by M.I. Glinka "Life for the Tsar", which was now called "Ivan Susanin". In the same year, the area where Susanin lived and the regional center were renamed in his honor. In Soviet times, the version that Susanin was just a patriotic hero, and his feat had nothing to do with saving the tsar, also spread. In 1967, a new monument Susanin with the inscription: "To Ivan Susanin - patriot of the Russian Land." In 1988 on the spot former village Anferovo was installed a memorial sign - a boulder with the inscription: "Ivan Susanin 1613". In 1992, the name Susaninskaya was returned to the central square of Kostroma. Interestingly, not far from the native village of Susanin, 12 versts, in the village of Molvitino, Osip Komissarov, the man who saved Emperor Alexander II from death, was born. At least 58 people repeated the feat of Susanin. The most famous Hero of the Soviet Union Matvey Kuzmin.
Ivan Susanin is a folk hero, a symbol of "peasant" devotion to the tsar. For four centuries, his name and the legend of the miraculous rescue of the first sovereign of the Romanov family have become part of folklore.
How did you know?
The story of the feat of Ivan Susanin before early XIX passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. The general public learned about it only in 1812, thanks to the publication of the story of the writer Sergei Nikolaevich Glinka in the Russky Vestnik magazine.
Later, it was on this publication that the play "Ivan Susanin" and the famous opera by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka "A Life for the Tsar" were based. Glinka told the story about Ivan Susanin like this.
In 1613, the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow, their gangs looted in the interior regions of Russia. In February of the same year, the Zemsky Sobor in Moscow proclaimed Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov tsar, and, moreover, in absentia.
But Mikhail Fedorovich himself at that time was in his estate in the Kostroma region, and one of the Polish gangs decided to destroy him. But where to look for him, the Poles did not know.
Arriving in the village of Domnino, they met the peasant Ivan Susanin and decided to ask him where the newly elected tsar was. But Susanin, realizing that the Poles want to destroy the young sovereign, not only did not tell the truth, but also led them in the opposite direction. On the way, he went into his hut and quietly sent his little son to the king to warn him of the danger. Leading the Poles into an impenetrable thicket, Ivan Susanin said:
"Villains! Here is my head; do with me what you will; whom you are looking for, you will not get it!
After that, the Poles hacked the hero to death with sabers, but they themselves could not get out of the thicket and the king was saved.
son-in-law
The story of Ivan Susanin after 200 years has acquired new details of a literary nature. Naturally, Ivan Susanin's dying words were invented by Glinka himself. He also added many details to the story about Susanin "for the sake of words." But what exactly were the details? What do we really know about Ivan Susanin?
Something can be assumed. For example, that Susanin was a widower and he had a daughter who succeeded him.
In the royal charter given on November 30, 1619 (a unique and earliest source about the existence of a Kostroma peasant), Ivan Susanin's son-in-law Bogdan Sabinin is granted half of the village with "whitewashing" from all taxes and duties "for service to us and for blood, and for patience ... ".
There is no doubt that such a document could only be a recognition of the great merits of the family to the king.
Susanin's relatives
Some assumptions that Susanin's mother's name was Susanna, and he himself was a village headman, are more likely speculation. But Susanin's patronymic - Osipovich, was invented by historians already in the 19th century and is not confirmed by any documents.
However, the very fact that the tsar descended to the level of a simple peasant and twice more from Moscow confirmed the privileges that exempted him from taxes, in 1633 and 1691 deserves attention.
In Glinka's story, in comparison with the text of the diploma, there are two main fictional plots. The first is the son of Susanin. As we know, Antonida's daughter succeeded him (including royal privileges), which was possible only in the absence of male offspring. But after all, the son could have died earlier? Studies show (Velizhev, Lavrinovich) that this is not the case.
Back in 1731, the descendants of Susanin made an attempt to introduce another relative into the story about the salvation of the king - the future husband of Antonida. He was allegedly sent by Susanin to warn the king of the danger.
However, this fiction was not believed and the petition (which was aimed at obtaining wider benefits) was not approved. Thus, both the son and son-in-law of Susanin did not exist and were added to the legend about the salvation of the king later. The same can be said about the fact that Susanin led the Poles into the thickets (or swamps). In the documents of the 17th century, it is only known that Susanin did not give out the location of the king, and a romantic episode with remote places was added later.
Ivan Susanin and DNA
In the early 2000s, several reports appeared in the press about the discovery of the grave of Ivan Susanin. Archaeologists based their hypothesis on the fact that on several skeletons found in the results of excavations near the village of Domnino, traces of cold weapons, possibly sabers, were found.
However, they proceeded from the hypothesis that Susanin was buried, which also still needed to be proven.
Forensic doctors who studied the found remains, although they noted many similarities in the anthropometric structure of the found skeletons and Susanin's descendants in 8-15 generations, evaded the unambiguous identification of the most probable skeleton.
The fate was to be decided by DNA analysis of the bones, but the study did not give any reliable positive results.
Ivan Susanin of the 20th century
Nevertheless, one can hardly doubt now that the feat of Ivan Susanin was invented. Documented examples of such acts are well known in Russian history.
The most famous is the feat of the peasant Matvey Kuzmin in the winter of 1942. In the area of his village in the Pskov region, a battalion of the German 1st mountain rifle division wanted to make a round of the positions of the Soviet troops. The Germans chose 83-year-old Matvey Kuzmin as their guide. However, he, having volunteered to lead the detachment, quietly sent his 11-year-old grandson Sergei (this was no longer an invention of later narrators) to the location of the Soviet troops and transmitted through him the time and place of the ambush.
At the agreed time, Matvey Kuzmin led the Germans to the positions of Soviet machine gunners. This story was transmitted by the Soviet Information Bureau, and Matvey Kuzmin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
At the same time, Matvey Kuzmin himself hardly knew about Ivan Susanin - the Pskov hunter was probably illiterate. Well, if you knew, then this is also not surprising. In Russia, as well as later in the USSR, the feat of Ivan Susanin was widely used in mass propaganda. Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar changed its name to Ivan Susanin; writers, artists, and poets addressed the patriotic image of the Kostroma peasant throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. We know very little about the real Ivan Susanin, but more than about any other peasant of that time. His existence is documented, he even accomplished a feat with his silence and did not betray the young Mikhail Romanov, who was hunted by the Poles.