Ruslan and Lyudmila (Russian: Руслан и Людмила, romanized: Ruslán i Lyudmíla listenⓘ) is an opera in five acts (eight tableaux) composed by Mikhail Glinka between 1837 and 1842.

The libretto was written in Russian by Valerian Shirkov, with minor contributions by Mykola Markevych, Nestor Kukolnik, and the composer based on the 1820 narrative poem of the same name by Alexander Pushkin.

[3] The opera was first performed in the UK on 4 June 1931 at the Lyceum Theatre in London and in the US as a concert version in New York on 26 December 1942.

The guests listen to Bayan sing a song foretelling misfortune for the bride and groom, followed by happiness from true love.

Lyudmila, saddened by the prospect of leaving her father, offers words of comfort to her unsuccessful suitors, Farlaf and Ratmir, and then pledges herself to Ruslan.

Then he resolved to study magic to win her; many years went by, and through sorcery he finally summoned an old, grey-haired, humpbacked woman – it was Naina, who now was mad with passion for him.

Assuring him that Lyudmila will not be harmed, Finn instructs Ruslan to head north, and the two of them exit in opposite directions.

Tableau 2 In a deserted place, the cowardly Farlaf wonders whether he should continue searching for Lyudmila, when the decrepit Naina approaches him.

Tableau 3 Ruslan, having come upon a foggy desert strewn with weapons and bones from a past battle, wonders at the cause of this scene and whether he, too, may end up the same way.

He chooses a new shield and spear from the ground to replace his broken weaponry, but cannot find a sword heavy enough to complete his new set of armor.

When the fog lifts, a giant Head is revealed and blows through its lips to bring up a storm so as to drive Ruslan away.

As with A Life for the Tsar, Ruslan employs some aspects of Russian folk music; it is also noted for imaginative use of dissonance, chromaticism, and Eastern elements.

Glinka's debt to Western operatic models is abundantly apparent in Farlaf's Rondo, a Russian emulation of Figaro's "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's The Barber of Seville.

Glinka's variation treatment of folk melody crystallized in Ruslan into what has been called his influential "changing background technique", used, for example, in Finn's ballad and the Head's narrative, but seen to best advantage in the Persian Chorus that opens act 3, where the tune remains intact through five statements while the orchestral background is changed completely on each repetition.