Boris Godunov (opera) on the subject of Pushkin's "dramatic chronicle" "Boris Godunov". "Boris" the play, modelled on Shakespeare's histories, was written in 1825 and published in 1831, but was not approved for performance by the state censors until 1866, almost 30 years after the author's death. Production was permitted on condition that certain scenes were cut. Although enthusiasm for the work was high, Mussorgsky faced a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to his plans in that an Imperial ukaz of 1837 forbade the portrayal in opera of Russian Tsars (amended in 1872 to include only Romanov Tsars). Original Version When Lyudmila Shestakova, the sister of
Boris Godunov (opera) – First performance of the Shostakovich orchestration The premiere of the Shostakovich orchestration of 1940 of Pavel Lamm's vocal score took place on 4 November 1959 at the Kirov Theatre. Sergey Yeltsin conducted. The cast included Boris Shtokolov (Boris). "Note: Musicologists are often not in agreement on the terms used to refer to the two authorial versions of "Boris Godunov". Editors Pavel Lamm and Boris Asafyev used "preliminary redaction" and "principal redaction" for the 1st and 2nd versions, respectively, and David Lloyd-Jones designated them "initial" and "definitive." This article, aiming for utmost objectivity, uses "original" and "revised."" The differences in