Zaporozhets za Dunayem

Zaporozhets za Dunayem
comic opera by Semen Hulak-Artemovsky
The composer and librettist
Native title	(Ukrainian: Запорожець за Дунаєм
Translation	Cossack Beyond the Danube
Librettist	Hulak-Artemovsky
Language	Ukrainian / Russian
Premiere	26 April 1863 (1863-04-26) St Petersburg

Zaporozhets za Dunayem (Ukrainian: Запорожець за Дунаєм, translated as A Zaporozhian (Cossack) Beyond the Danube, also referred to as Cossacks in Exile) is a Ukrainian comic opera with spoken dialogue in three acts with music and libretto by the composer Semen Hulak-Artemovsky (1813–1873). The orchestration has subsequently been rewritten by composers such as Reinhold Glière and Heorhiy Maiboroda. This is one of the best-known Ukrainian comic operas depicting national themes.

It was premiered with a Russian libretto on 26 April [O.S. 14 April] 1863, in St Petersburg (at the time the capital of the Russian Empire). However, it is now normally performed in a Ukrainian translation.

According to contemporary accounts, Hulak-Artemovsky based the libretto on a story by the historian Mykola Kostomarov. The composer wrote nearly all of libretto, although some poetic phrasings are attributed to his good friend, the journalist V. Sykevych.

The story depicts the events following the destruction of the island fortress of Zaporizhian Sich, the historic stronghold of the Ukrainian Cossacks on the Dnieper River. Although historically this destruction was ordered by the Russian Empress Catherine II in 1775, for unknown reasons the composer chose to set the action in 1772. To tell the story of the freedom-loving Zaporozhian Cossacks of Ukraine, who had fought against the Russian Empire, Hulak-Artemovsky deliberately set the story in Turkish lands with the Cossacks fighting for the Sultan. This change of locale helped the work get past the Tsar's censors, who normally banned stories about Ukrainian Cossacks.