What is "dimitrij"

Dimitrij is an opera by Antonín Dvořák in 4 acts, set to a libretto by Marie Červinková-Riegrová. More specifically, it belongs to the genre of Grand opera.

Dvořák began composition during May 1881, with an interruption in October 1881 to write a string quartet for the Hellmesberger Quartet. After an initial failed attempt, the quartet was completed in November 1881, allowing work on the opera to resume. The work was first performed in Prague, at the Nové České Divadlo (New Czech Theatre) on October 8, 1882. The work was first performed in the United States on March 24, 1984 in a concert format presented at Carnegie Hall in New York City by conductor Robert Bass and the Collegiate Chorale with Martina Arroyo as Marina.

The libretto was originally written for Karel Šebor to set, but he proved highly unwilling to do so, so Červinková-Riegrová offered her work to Dvořák, who proved much more enthusiastic, but requested plenty of modifications to the libretto as it stood, including the introduction of more opportunities for ensembles. The form of the opera was largely in imitation of Eugène Scribe, and the plot was derived from Ferdinand Mikovec’s Dimitr Ivanovič, itself based upon Friedrich Schiller's incomplete Demetrius.

With Dimitrij, Dvořák scored a great popular success, though he later persuaded his librettist to rework Act 4, and this revised version was given in 1885. Later still, he heavily reworked the opera along Wagnerian lines, and this radical version was performed during 1892.