Boris Godunov (opera) the repertory due to difficulty in appreciating his raw and uncompromising idiom. Therefore, Rimsky-Korsakov was justified in making improvements to keep the work alive and increase the public's awareness of Mussorgsky's melodic and dramatic genius. The Rimsky-Korsakov version remained the one usually performed in Russia, even after Mussorgsky's earthier original (1872) gained a place in Western opera houses. The Bolshoy Theatre has only recently embraced the composer's own version. Dmitriy Shostakovich worked on "Boris Godunov" in 1939–1940 on a commission from the Bolshoy Theatre for a new production of the opera. A conflation of the 1869 and 1872 versions had
Boris Godunov and any offspring thereof, Dmitri (and his mother's family) had no claim to the throne. Still, taking no chances, shortly after Ivan's death the Council had both Dmitri and his mother Maria Nagaya moved to Uglich, some 120 miles north of Moscow. Dmitri died there in 1591 at the age of ten in suspicious circumstances . As Dmitri's death was announced by the church bell, the people of Uglich rose up in protest against what they suspected was an assassination commissioned by Boris Godunov. Troops were sent and the rebellion was swiftly quelled. Then Boris Godunov ordered the Uglich bell