To Tchaikovsky, Ukraine (or 'Little Russia' as ... the only thing that stirred him was the idea of an opera about Ivan Mazeppa, the Cossack hero who tried in vain to release Ukraine from the ...

Tchaikovsky's other 'repertoire' operas - Mazeppa and The Queen of Spades - are also based on Pushkin. His influence continues: Peter Shaffer's play and film, Amadeus, was based on Pushkin's ...