Eduard Nápravník, Russia's leading conductor, who handled the musical department at the Mariinsky Theater in St Petersburg, composed four of his own operas, some of them inspired by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky whom Nápravník admired very much. For "Dubrovsky" he asked Modest Tchaikovsky to write a libretto after Alexander Pushkin, as Modest had done for his brother Pyotr (the best-known example of this is "The Queen of Spades"). The opera was completed in 1894 and successfully staged on January 15 (OS January 3) 1895, at the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg, conducted by the composer.