 Another death brought about a creative renewal.The passing of Tchaikovsky presented a twofold opportunity—to write for the Imperial Theaters and to compose an opera based on Nikolai Gogol's short story "Christmas Eve", a work on which Tchaikovsky had based his opera "Vakula the Smith".The success of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Christmas Eve" encouraged him to complete an opera approximately every 18 months between 1893 and 1908—a total of 11 during this period.