Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (opera)

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Opera by Dmitri Shostakovich
Production of the Helikon Opera Moscow at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna in December 2014, with Svetlana Sozdateleva in the title role, staged by Dmitry Bertman
Native title
Russian: Леди Макбет Мценского уезда, romanized: Ledi Makbet Mtsenskogo uyezda
Librettist
LanguageRussian
Based onLady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
by Nikolai Leskov
Premiere
22 January 1934 (1934-01-22)

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Op. 29 (Russian: Леди Макбет Мценского уезда, romanized: Ledi Makbet Mtsenskogo uyezda, lit.'Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District') is an opera in four acts and nine scenes by Dmitri Shostakovich. The libretto, jointly written by Alexander Preys and the composer, is based on the novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov.

Dedicated by Shostakovich to his first wife, physicist Nina Varzar, the roughly 160-minute opera was first performed on 22 January 1934 at the Leningrad Maly Operny, and two days later in Moscow. It incorporates elements of expressionism and verismo, telling the story of a lonely woman in 19th-century Russia who falls in love with one of her husband's workers and is driven to murder.