It was staged on December 26, 1779 at the Knipper Theatre in St Petersburg and was repeated 16 times. Later the music was rewritten by a composer Vasily Pashkevich in 1882 and 1792. In a new version the opera was also staged at the Court Theatre.
His creative output also included comedies, opera librettos, and even music set to them. His operas Regeneration (Перерождение, 1777), and Saint-Petersburg's Trade Stalls (Санкт Петербургский Гостный Двор) had considerable success. The second one, a scathing satire to the government officials and their thievish behaviour, is one of the first examples of Russian comic opera.