Only after Stalin's death did the opera begin to make a comeback in its uncensored form and was not performed in its original version in Russia until 2000. Composed in 1932, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was intended as the first part of a trilogy sketching the oppression and emancipation of women before, during and after the Revolution. With hindsight, it comes across as bitterly ironic that this opera was singled out to kick off the Soviet artistic purge. Where Leskov has depicted a cold and appalling woman, Shostakovich considered Katerina as the вЂtragic portrayal of the destiny of a talented, smart and outstanding woman, dying in the nightmarish atmosphere of pre-Revolutionary RussiaвЂ™, expressing sympathy with her. The libretto of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk is based on Nikolai Leskov's 1865 novella, although Shostakovich significantly changed its balance of sympathies. He was compelled to withdraw his opera until he revised it into a more acceptable if bowdlerised version, Katerina Izmajlova named after its protagonist. Shostakovich, then only 29, fell from being the pet of the Soviet avant-garde to struggling to preserve his artistic integrity. This attack heralded a merciless, widespread and long-lasting ideological clampdown on the Soviet musical world. In any case, the opera's success track was stopped by a denunciatory editorial entitled вЂMuddle instead of musicвЂ™ in the official Communist Party newspaper Pravda. Whether he took issue with its provocative plot or its progressive score is not documented. Two years after its hugely successful premiere in January 1934, Stalin attended a performance of the opera. If its sexually explicit, brutal and squalid subject matter is partially responsible for such infamy, the final blow to its reputation has been delivered by its scandal-ridden performance history. ShostakovichвЂ™s controversial second opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk has long been associated with controversy. This opera is not for the faint of heart. They both drown while the parade of prisoners continues. When she finds out how she has been tricked, she pushes Sonyetka into the river and jumps after her. As a gift for Sonyetka, he manages to get Katerina to take off a pair of stockings with an excuse. Sergey no longer cares for Katerina and tries to seduce Sonyetka, a younger prisoner. The lovers are put on a transport to Siberia with other forced labourers. Katerina confesses and both are arrested. The police arrive when she and Sergey are about to flee. At the end of the party, Katerina discovers that the cellar door has been broken open. The chief of police is happy with the news because he feels insulted as Katerina did not invite him to the wedding. He breaks open the door, finds Zinovi's body and warns the police. While Katerina and Sergey have their marriage blessed, one of the workers goes to the cellar, looking for liquor. When he hits her with Sergey's belt, she calls her lover and together they strangle Zinovi. Zinovi returns he has already heard everything and interrogates Katerina. As Katerina and Sergey share the conjugal bed, Boris's ghost appears in the bedroom every night. Katerina takes his keys and frees Sergey.

Then he orders Katerina to prepare something to eat for him. He gives him a beating and has him locked up. Unable to sleep, Boris sees Sergey leaving Katerina's room through the window.

Under the pretext of wanting to borrow a book, Sergey knocks at Katerina's door at night and seduces her. Just when he has forced her to the ground, Boris catches them and chases the two apart. Katerina reprimands the men, and Sergey challenges her to a wrestling match. Sergey, a handsome young worker, besieges the girl Aksinja with a number of colleagues. When Zinovi has to travel for a few days, Boris forces Katerina to swear allegiance to her husband. Her father-in-law Boris Izmajlov criticises her every move. Katerina is unhappily married to the merchant Zinovi Izmajlov and terribly bored.

Lady macbeth