A Hundred Devils and One Girl

Still very inexperienced, budding journalist Varya plans to expose the machinations of sectarians. And here she is— in the lair of the dark-minded rogue Agafon. Varya is frightened by the threat, but she is saved by a village beauty Stepanida, who once got tangled in the sectarians’ nets.

The operetta music "One Hundred Devils and One Girl" combines primitive, big-hearted daydreaming with sharp characterization, grotesqueness, and elements of parody of old operatic forms. For instance, in this operetta there is a comic duet in which the savings bank and the savings passbook are “praised.” It is amusing and also not without a satirical sting: with operatic seriousness and significance, ordinary people and vulgar riffraff dutifully sing out their entire musical theme. The operetta at the time sparked a flood of discussions. Is it permissible to do such a thing in an operetta—where the sticking point is the clash of religion and false religion, a confrontation with sectarianism intensified by religious fanaticism, speculation built on naive hope, religious swindling?!