About the work
Opéra-comique, originally in four and later three acts, by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry to a libretto by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, drawing on Voltaire's histories of Peter the Great and Charles XII of Sweden. It premiered on 13 January 1790 at the Comédie-Italienne (Salle Favart) in Paris.
Plot
The young Tsar Peter I works incognito as a carpenter in a Russian shipyard and falls in love with the peasant girl Catherine, the future Empress Catherine I. Only once his true identity is revealed can the match become public.
Cultural significance
Bouilly wrote the libretto as the French Revolution was breaking out, presenting the Russian ruling couple as a model of a ruler close to the people — a veiled admonition to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The work reached 52 performances by 1793 before disappearing from the stage; it was rediscovered at Moscow's Helikon Opera in 2002.