Themes by Rimsky-Korsakov that are used include: "Song of India" from Sadko (sung by Charles Kullman); Flight of the Bumblebee from The Tale of Tsar Saltan; "Hymn to the Sun" from The Golden Cockerel; Capriccio Espagnol, and Scheherazade.
The motif of a woman's babies, born with wonderful attributes after she claimed she could bear such children, but stolen from her, is a common fairy tale motif; see The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, The Three Little Birds, The Wicked Sisters, Ancilotto, King of Provino and Princess Belle-Etoile.
Rimsky-Korsakov and Belsky first became interested in writing an opera on the Kitezh legend during the winter of 1898-1899, while they were working on the libretto to The Tale of Tsar Saltan.
More commonly, European tales feature the children being abandoned: The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, The Three Little Birds, The Wicked Sisters, Ancilotto, King of Provino and Princess Belle-Etoile
Tsar | A Tale of Two Cities | tsar | Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ | The Winter's Tale | A Tale of Two Cities (musical) | A Knight's Tale | The Handmaid's Tale | The Tale of Tsar Saltan | A Life for the Tsar | The Tsar's Bride | The Tell-Tale Heart | Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love | A Twist in the Tale (TV series) | A Tale of Two Sisters | A Knight's Tale (film) | Tsar Bomba | The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby | The Tale of Genji | The Bard's Tale (1985 video game) | William Shatner's A Twist in the Tale | Wilfred Owen: A Remembrance Tale | Tsar Kaloyan, Razgrad Province | The World Cup: A Captain's Tale | The Tale of Ruby Rose | The Necromancer; or, The Tale of the Black Forest | The Love for Three Oranges (fairy tale) | The Handmaid's Tale (opera) | The Franklin's Tale | The Franklin's Prologue and Tale |
On this stage, she performed the leading opera parts composed for high soprano (lyrical coloratura soprano), such as Antonida (A Life for the Tsar), The Snow Maiden (Snegurochka), The Swan-Princess (The Tale of Tsar Saltan), Marfa (The Tsar's Bride), the Queen of Shemakha/Shemakhan Tsaritsa (The Golden Cockerel), Violetta (Verdi's La traviata) and Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia).