A Life for the Tsar An Opera in tour Acts Music by Mikhail Glinka from the Bolshoi theatre Moscow Text by baron G. F. Rosen In a version by Evgeny Levashov Producer Nicolai Kuznetsov Designer Valery Levental Ivan Susanin, a peasant Evgeny Nesterenko Antonida, Susanin's daughter Marina Mescheriakova history http://kostromka.ru/susanin/en/glinka.php Historians rarely mention that Glinka's masterpiece was inspired by a previous opera, Ivan Susanin, by the Russianized Italian composer Catterino Cavos, staged in St. Petersburg on October 31, 1815. Cavos had a happy ending in which Susanin is saved at the last moment. Glinka let Susanin die, but he kept the outline of the Cavos libretto and the same cast of characters, although he changed their names. The subject was suggested to Glinka by the court poet Zhukovsky, who was to write the libretto but had to abandon the project owing to lack of time. The task was then handed to Baron Rosen, a Baltic German, whose knowledge of Russian, though very thorough, did not include a real understanding of the poetic resources of the language. In the meantime, Glinka went ahead with the composition, and Rosen had to adjust his verses to many melodies already written. In view of these difficulties, he did well. At the very least, he succeeded in writing some memorable lines which have become classics of Russian operatic literature. история http://susanin.kostromka.ru/112.php Зимой 1613 года уже наречённый Земским собором царь Михаил Романов и его мать, инокиня Марфа, жили в костромской вотчине, в селе Домнино. Зная об этом, польско-литовский отряд ищет дорогу к селу, чтобы захватить юного Романова. Недалеко от Домнина они встретили вотчинного старосту Ивана Сусанина и приказали показать дорогу. Сусанин согласился, но повел недругов в болото, к селу Исупову, а в Домнино послал своего зятя Богдана Сабинина с известием о грозящей опасности. За отказ указать верный путь Сусанин оказался подвергнут смертельным пыткам, но места убежища царя не выдал.