Christmas Eve (Russian: Ночь перед ождеством, Noch' pered Rozhdestvom), is an opera in four acts with music and libretto by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Composed between 1894 and 1895, Rimsky-Korsakov based his opera on a short story, "Christmas Eve", from Nikolay Gogol's Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka. The story had been used as the basis for an opera at least three times previously, including for Tchaikovsky's Vakula the Smith (1874). Oliver Knussen writes that "Rimsky is only interested in recreating the atmosphere of the folk-tale, fleshing it out for his stage pageant in a comparable way to Humperdinck in Hansel.

Librettist Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (based on a short story, "Christmas Eve", from Nikolay Gogol's "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka")
Date of composition 1895 (1894-1895)
Premiered 1895, December 10th (Mariinsky Theatre) in Saint Petersburg, Russia
First published 1895 in Leipzig, Germany
Type Opera
Spoken language Russian
Instruments Orchestra
Voice (Mezzo-Soprano) - Tsaritsa
Voice (Baritone) - Village-head
Voice (Bass) - Chub, an elderly Cossack
Voice (Soprano) - Oksana, Chub's daughter
Voice (Contralto) - Solokha, a widow, and by rumor, a witch
Voice (Tenor) - Vakula the smith, Solkha's son
Voice (Bass) - Panas, a crony of Chub
Voice (Tenor) - Deacon Osip Nikiforovich
Voice (Bass) - Patsyuk, an old Zaporozhets, a sorcerer
Voice (Tenor) - Devil
Chorus/Choir - Lasses, lads, Cossacks of Dikanka. Witches, wizards, evil and good spirits. The figures of Kolyada and Ovsen. The morning star (Venus) and other stars. Court gentlemen and ladies. Lackeys
Arrangements Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Christmas Eve Suite
Autotranslations beta Nikolaï Rimski-Korsakov: Christmas Eve
Nikolaj Andreevič Rimskij-Korsakov: Christmas Eve
Nikolai Andrejewitsch Rimski-Korsakow: Christmas Eve