Which composer wrote the opera The Nose, based on Nikolai Gogol’s satirical story?

Dmitri Shostakovich wrote the opera The Nose, based on Nikolai Gogol’s satirical story.

The Nose was Shostakovich’s first opera. He composed it between 1927 and 1928, with a Russian libretto created by Shostakovich, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Georgy Ionin, and Alexander Preis. The deliberately fragmented text reflects Gogol’s absurd tale about a government official whose nose disappears and develops an independent public identity.

The opera premiered at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in Leningrad on 18 January 1930. Its score uses a sharply varied modernist language, including unusual instrumental combinations, percussive effects, and rapid changes of style that match the work’s grotesque humor.

The Nose was controversial in the Soviet cultural climate and disappeared from the repertory after its early performances. It was revived decades later and is now regarded as an important example of Shostakovich’s experimental early period.

The opera should not be confused with Shostakovich’s later operatic work Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, which also attracted severe official criticism.