In 1942, Dmitri Shostakovich began composing his second opera based upon Nikolai Gogol's comedy The Gamblers. After he had set approximately one third of it, he broke off work on the project during the same year. The existence of the unfinished score was completely unknown for years. Only on September 18, 1978 - after the composer's death - did Gennady Rozhdestvensky perform this opera fragment which he had found and edited. However, the work was not as yet presented on the stage. Krzysztof Meyer completed the opera, which was premiered on June 12, 1983. The vocal score includes an introduction in German and English, and the text of the oprea is in Russian and German.