 The libretto, by the composer and Mira Mendelson, is based on the novel of the same name by Boris Polevoy; this in turn was based on the story of pilot Alexey Maresyev.The opera received its premiere on 3 December 1948 at the Kirov Theatre, Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg).The audience was made up of Soviet cultural officials who gave the work a poor reception.