[3] Lysenko was reputedly a descendant of the 17th century Cossack leader Vovgura Lys, so Taras Bulba may have had a special significance for him.

He particularly liked the passages in which national, Ukrainian, touches were most vivid... Tchaikovsky embraced Lysenko and congratulated him on his talented composition.

The prelude to the fourth act was first given at a concert in Kyiv in 1914, when the performance was conducted by the Russian composer Reinhold Glière.

It was not until after World War II that Rylsky, Revutsky, and Lyatoshynsky reworked the opera once more, producing the version of the work that is nowadays performed, and which was premiered in Kiev in 1955.

Its folklore and nationalistic elements, which are more closely integrated in a continuous musical framework, show that Lysenko was influenced by Tchaikovsky.

[citation needed] Problems relating to the opera include the episodic nature of the libretto, the dances, patriotic marches and choruses, which are detached from the plot, and a long scene in the third act, when Kudryiaha is chosen to lead the Cossacks, but then does not reappear.

[citation needed] Amongst those who have sung the title role, Taras, is the Ukrainian singer Borys Hmyria, who also featured in a recording of the opera.

The opera opens in Kyiv, which is occupied by the Polish szlachta, whose servants disperse a crowd listening to the song of a kobzar, or Ukrainian bard.

Ostap encourages the kobzar to sing a patriotic song; this angers the Poles, and in a scuffle the bard is killed.

Drumbeats summon a council (rada) of the Cossacks; with Taras's support, they elect a new, more pugnacious hetman, Kyrdiaha, to lead them.

In a purely orchestral scene Taras and Ostap lead the Cossacks to victory against the Poles and take over the town of Dubno.

This ending significantly differs from Gogol's original in which first Ostap and then Taras are captured by the Poles and given cruel public executions.