A Life for the Tsar

A Life for the Tsar (Russian: Жизнь за царя, romanized: Zhizn za tsarya ) is a "patriotic-heroic tragic" opera in four acts with an epilogue by Mikhail Glinka. During the Soviet era the opera was known under the name Ivan Susanin (Russian: Иван Сусанин ), due to the anti-monarchist censorship. The original Russian libretto, based on historical events, was written by Nestor Kukolnik, Egor Fyodorovich (von) Rozen, Vladimir Sollogub and Vasily Zhukovsky. It premiered on 27 November 1836 OS (9 December NS) at the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in Saint Petersburg.