Natalka Poltavka

[3] The play served as the basis for the operetta Natalka Poltavka by Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko, and it has also been made into a number of films in Ukraine and abroad.

This latter element accounts for its great popularity in Ukraine both at the time of its writing and in the present day, and also its influence on the development of Ukrainian dramatic literature in the 19th century.

With no news from Petro for five years, Natalka succumbs to her mother's wishes and finally accepts her next offer of marriage, which happens to come from an old, but relatively wealthy government official.

Simultaneously the play starring M. Shchepkin as Vyborny was premiered in Moscow in the 1830s with music arranged by the head violinist and later conductor A. Gurianov.

The songs were transformed into arias, an overture and musical entracts were added which stayed true to the spirit of Kotliarevsky's play.