This opera forms a sequel of sorts to Alexey Verstovsky's highly successful singspiel, "Askold's Grave", which premiered in 1835, just the year before Glinka's "A Life for the Tsar" reached the stage. No less a patriotic opera than those two, "Rogneda" in its plot combines elements of the life of the title character with the Christianization of Russia, dated in 988 with the conversion of Vladimir I of Kiev. With its huge cast and sprawling plot, the opera demands spectacle of a Meyerbeerian order.