Mikhail Glinka composed his five-act opera Ruslan and Lyudmilla after Pushkin’s eponymous epic poem between 1837 and 1842. In a nutshell, the story is about Lyudmilla, daughter of the Great Prince of Kiev, who choses Ruslan from her three suitors. However, the princess is carried away at her wedding by the evil dwarf Chernomor. The Great Prince declares that he will marry his daughter to whoever brings her back, so all three suitors set out to find her. After a series of fantastic adventures Ruslan kills Chernomor and frees the princess, finally winning her hand in marriage. Incorporating themes from the opera, the overture has become its best-known partand a rewarding, virtuoso piece in the concert halls. The first 68 bars of the sonata-form overture are practically identical with the music of the rejoicing chorus in the finale of act five; the sweeping second theme played by the deep strings will return in the passionate, ‘amoroso’ melody of Ruslan’s aria in act two. Associated with the figure of the evil dwarf, the motif consisting of a whole-tone scale at the end of the overture and played by the trombones and bass, was considered to be a novel musical feature in 1842.