The article reveals the features of the libretto of Alexander Vasilyevich Mosolov’s opera «Plotina» (“The Dam”), created in collaboration with librettist Yakov Leontievich Zadykhin. «Plotina» is not only the composer’s largest work, summarizing the creative period of the 1920s, but also an important experimental experience within the framework of the GATOB’s project to create the genre of Soviet opera. Details of the process of approval by the Commission for the Creation of Soviet Opera,
organized in the theater, of the personality of the librettist Ya.L. Zadykhin are covered, and some details of his creative biography are revealed. The libretto of the opera is considered as an experience of cooperation of the collective of authors: composer, librettist and theatrical managers of the project, B.V. Asafiev and S.E. Radlov. The features of the plot based on real events on an industrial theme are revealed, the specifics of the libretto’s literary language and the linguistic means used to characterize the characters are revealed, examples of the libretto’s influence on the musical embodiment of the characters’ characteristics are identified. The materials of the collections of the Russian National Library (RNB), the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI), the Central State Archive of Literature and Art of St. Petersburg (TsGALI) were used.
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