Opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Libretto by Ilya Tyumenev based on the drama of the same name by Lev Mey. World premiere on November 3, 1899 in Moscow Private Opera of S. I. Mamontov. Premiere at the Estonian National Opera on January 25, 2019.

The opera shares some common features with the Italian romantic opera and Shakespearean drama. The music of the opera, its vocal side in particular, puts the opera above the conventional situational drama, accentuating its tragic nature which ensures the huge popularity of the opera. All Rimski-Korsakov’s operas belong to the repertoires of Russian opera theatres, but “The Tsar’s Bride” is one of the few operas that has gained a high position among Western European opera theatres as well.