What Men Live By (Czech: Čím lidé žijí) is an opera in one act by Bohuslav Martinů to an English[1] libretto by the composer, based on Where Love Is, There God Is Also (1885) by Leo Tolstoy, though he chose to use the more universal title of a different Tolstoy story What Men Live By (1886).
[1] The first staged performance took place on 1 August 1954 in Interlochen, Michigan, by the National Music Camp company.
[2] After the student staging with piano in 1954, the first performance with orchestra took place in New York the following year, and professional productions were mounted in Plzeň and Brno using Czech translation.
[4] The opera was nominated in the 'Rediscovered Work' Award in the International Opera Awards in 2015, through three Prague concert performances at the Rudolfinum in 2014 at the Martinů Music Days, with Jiří Bělohlávek conducting the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
[5] The orchestral score requires 1 flute, 2 oboes, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone, timpani, percussion (various instruments), piano and strings (6 violins I, 6 violins II, 4 violas, 3 violoncellos, 2 double basses).