Transcription for chamber ensemble: People’s Artist of Belarus, laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Belarus Sergey Kortes
Libretto: Vladimir Khalip based on the eponymous play by Anton Chekhov
Director and designer: recipient of the Francysk Skaryna Medal Galina Galkovskaya
Lighting designer: Lyudmila Kunash
Assistant director: Elena Medyakova

Running time: 55 minutes
Sung in Russian
Premiere: 8 November 2011

Popova, a young widow, is inconsolable: just seven months ago she lost her husband. Her loyal footman Luka tries in vain to cheer the widow up, who ‘was buried alive together with her husband.’ At this inopportune moment, a retired artillery lieutenant Smirnov, the landowner, arrives at the estate. He demands that Popova should pay off all the debts of her late husband. The debt is quite considerable and must be repaid at once!