Fomka the Fool

Fomka the Fool (Fomka-durachok: Russian: Фомка-дурачок) is a one-act opera by Anton Rubinstein to a libretto by M. L. Mikhaylov.

It was commissioned, together with two other one-act operas, The Siberian Hunters and Vengeance, by the Grand Duchess Yelena Pavlovna.

The title role was sung by Lev Leonov, the son of the pianist John Field.

[2] The failure was an incentive for Rubinstein to quit Russia to seek a career in Western Europe.

Although Rubinstein offered the opera to Franz Liszt to be performed in Weimar in 1854,[3] the score now appears to be lost.