29 (Russian: Леди Макбет Мценского уезда, romanized: Ledi Makbet Mtsenskogo uyezda, lit.

The libretto, jointly written by Alexander Preys and the composer, is based on the novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov.

Dedicated by Shostakovich to his first wife, physicist Nina Varzar, the roughly 160-minute opera was first performed on 22 January 1934 at the Leningrad Maly Operny, and two days later in Moscow.

It incorporates elements of expressionism and verismo, telling the story of a lonely woman in 19th-century Russia who falls in love with one of her husband's workers and is driven to murder.

Despite early success on popular and official levels, Lady Macbeth became the vehicle for a general denunciation of Shostakovich's music by the CPSU in early 1936: after being condemned in an anonymous article (sometimes attributed to Joseph Stalin but actually authored by David Zaslavsky[1]) in Pravda, titled "Muddle Instead of Music", it was banned in the Soviet Union for almost thirty years, until 1961.

[2] The composer in 1962 revised Lady Macbeth, renaming it Katerina Izmailova (Russian: Катерина Измайлова) and assigning it his Opus 114.

[3] Although the opera shares the basic characters and outline of the book, it has a number of differences from the original story in terms of plot and emphasis.

Her father-in-law, Boris, angered at her response to his saying that mushrooms are his favourite dish, says that her loneliness is her fault due to her not producing an heir.

She replies that Zinovy cannot give her a child – which Boris disdains; he then threatens her if she decides to accept some youthful lover.

Zinovy is called away on business, and Boris – against his son's inclinations – makes Katerina swear before an icon to be faithful.

He, remembering his days as a young rake and knowing Zinovy's low libido, is considering seducing Katerina himself to fulfill his son's marital duties.

A temporary convict camp near a bridge On the way to katorga in Siberia, Katerina bribes a guard to allow her to meet Sergei.

A 1935 review in the New York Sun called it "pornophony", referring to the lurid descriptive music in the sex scenes.

[4] The thrust of the Pravda criticism was in terms of morality; it condemned the opera's sympathetic portrayal of the eponymous character, an adulteress and murderess.

At the time, the composer justified the sympathetic portrayal of Katerina in Soviet terms, saying she was a victim of the circumstances of oppressive, pre-revolutionary Russia.

Daniel Zhitomirsky accused the work of "primitive satire" in its treatment of the priest and police, but acknowledges the "incredible force" of the last scene.