The libretto was written by Yakov Polonsky, and is based on the story "Christmas Eve", part of the 1832 collection Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, by Nikolai Gogol.

Both Vakula the Smith and Cherevichki were set to Polonsky's libretto, which was originally intended for Alexander Serov, but had remained unused on account of his death.

The lyric sphere of the opera was deepened by the introduction of a new aria inserted for Vakula: Slyshit li devitsa serdtse tvoe... (Who knows, my girl, if your heart can feel my pain...).

But the addition of the song of the School Teacher and the verses of His Highness enrich the genre part of the opera.

It received its Polish premiere in the Baltic Opera House in Gdańsk on 28 June 1952.

Time: The end of the 18th century Place: In the village of Dikanka, Ukraine; St. Petersburg The widow Solokha agrees to help the Devil steal the Moon.

While the storm rages, Solokha rides up to the sky and steals the Moon, while Oxana's father Chub and the Deacon are unable to find their way.

He runs threatening suicide, leaving two bags which turn out to have the Deacon and Chub.

A forest sprite warns water nymphs that Vakula is coming and that he wants to commit suicide.

Vakula requests the tsaritsa's boots in a minuet, and it is granted because it is an unusual and amusing thing to ask.

Lysenko's and Rimsky-Korsakov's Christmas Eve operas and Tchaikovsky's Vakula the Smith/Cherevichki are all based on the same story by Gogol.