Premiere of A Life for the Tsar
The opera behind the Susanin story we know
Glinka's opera, staged in St Petersburg in 1836, turned the Kostroma peasant Ivan Susanin into a national hero. The tale of him leading Poles into the wilderness took shape in 19th-century literature; a 1619 charter says only that enemies tortured him to death.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 19th century
Did you know
Ivan Susanin's deed is known from one royal charter of 1619, which says nothing about swamps or leading enemies astray — only that 'Polish and Lithuanian people' tortured him. The rest came from 19th-century writers and Glinka. Share →
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