Born in a noble family of the Russian countryside who cultivated a developed taste for musical culture, Rimski-Korsakov never ceased to study music, even during his military career. Later he created with a few others, the famous group of the Five. His music reveals an incredible inventiveness and an astonishing diversity of inspirational sources. The Tsar’s Bride, which he created in 1899 at the private opera of Mamontov in Moscow, stars Ivan the Terrible, one of his favourite characters. A young lady is the target of the evil tsar’s lust as well as the object of one of his lieutenant’s love. When to this already heartrending intrigue is added rejected love, a love potion and a jealous woman, everything is set for an outrageously tragic ending.