Sorochintsy Fair

Unfinished opera by Mussorgsky (libretto by composer, based on Gogol's Evenings on a Farm near Dakanka). The composition was begun in 1875, revised by Liadov for concert performance in 1904, and performed in original form at the Comedia Theatre, St Petersburg, on 30 December 1911. In the story, Parasya meets her lover Gritzke at the fair, but her mother objects to their marriage.

Several versions of the opera have been produced by other composers, such as Sakhnovsky (1913), César Cui (with music of his own added, 1917), Nikolai Tcherepnin (in French, 1923), and Vissarion Shebalin (1931).