IMSLP Forums

Could someone please explain why the primary access to Glinka's A Life for the Tsar is under the title Ivan Susanin?

According to my understanding, Glinka had originally intended to use Ivan Susanin as the title, but switched it to A Life for the Tsar before the first performance when the tsar attended a rehearsal. That's the title it was known under in Imperial Russia, and how it is known now in post-Soviet Russia.

There does not appear to be a policy on IMSLP to use originally intended titles as the main entry (that would be chaos) -- then, why with this work?

Maybe it was because the initial upload was for the Soviet version, which had been retitled "Ivan Susanin" for 'idealogical reasons' But "A Life for the Tsar" is how this opera is usually known in all authoritative references sources, so it's now been moved accordingly.