About the work
Cherevichki is a comic-fantastic opera in four acts by Pyotr Tchaikovsky after Nikolai Gogol's story “Christmas Eve,” with a libretto by Yakov Polonsky. It was written in 1885 as a revision of the composer's earlier opera “Vakula the Smith” (1874) and premiered on 31 January 1887 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow under the composer's own direction.
Plot
On a Ukrainian Christmas Eve, the witch Solokha helps the Devil steal the moon from the sky, annoyed that her son Vakula had earlier mocked him with a painted icon. The beautiful Oxana promises to marry Vakula only if he brings her the Tsaritsa's own boots; with the outwitted Devil's help, he travels to St Petersburg and returns just in time for the holiday.
Cultural significance
The new title was suggested by the composer's brother Modest: “Cherevichki” actually means pointed, high-heeled boots, softened in the German title to “Pantöffelchen” (little slippers). Because of its Christmas Eve setting, German houses still occasionally stage the work as a seasonal fairy-tale opera around Advent.