A Life for the Tsar
Stories and images of Ivan Susanin as an iconic Russian patriot inspired many artists, composers and writers, especially in the Russian Empire. Kondraty Ryleyev glorified Susanin's exploits in a poem, and Mikhail Glinka wrote one of the first Russian operas of international renown, "Ivan Susanin", or "A Life for the Tsar". The opera's original title was to be "Ivan Susanin", after the hero, but when Nicholas I attended a rehearsal, Glinka changed the title to "A Life for the Tsar" as an ingratiating gesture. That title was retained in the Russian Empire until the Russian Revolution, when it reverted to "Ivan Susanin". The opera's openly-monarchist libretto was edited to comply with Soviet ideology. The tsar's anthem melody on Tchaikovsky's 1812 "finale" was, in turn, replaced by the chorus "Glory, glory to you, holy Rus'!" ("Славься, славься, святая Русь!"), from Glinka's opera.