Historical themes in Elmira Galimova’s operas

The article systematizes the material on various principles of reflecting historical subjects in Tatar opera. It gives a detailed analysis of the art opera “The Wing of Syuyumbike” to a libretto by Fleura Yanysheva and the opera “Kul Sharif’ to a libretto by Farit Yakhin and the music by Elmira Galimova where the tragedy of the loss of statehood and the fall of the Kazan Khanate are revealed through the tragic fates of famous personalities (Kul Sharif, Tsarina Suyumbike). We prove that the opera “Kul Sharif’ is an interesting example of combining historical-descriptive and biographical approaches with “historical imagination”, while the symbols in the art opera “The Wing of Syuyumbike” are based on legendary and mythological material.