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The Decembrists (Russian: Декабристы, Dekabristi) is an historical opera by Yuri Shaporin with libretto by Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky, Aleksey Tolstoy and others. It was premiered in 1953 after a long and difficult period of composition lasting some 30 years. In a style highly reminiscent of the great 19th-century Russian composers, especially Borodin, Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky,[1][2] it gives a rather fictionalized account of the 1825 Decembrist revolt of Russian army officers against the Tsarist government. Frequently performed in the Soviet Union, where it was seen as the culmination of Shaporin's career,[3] it has never been well known in the West except through its most popular number, the Soldiers' Chorus.
- ^ McAllister & Rayskin 2001, p. 216.
- ^ Abraham 1943, p. 98.
- ^ Johnson 1992, p. 1102.