Golden Cockerel, The, is an opera in three acts by the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (see Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai). Its name in Russian is Zolotoy pyetushok, but it is often known by its French title Le Coq d'or. The libretto (text) was written by Vladimir Bielsky. It was based on an 1834 poem by the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, which was itself a reworking of an old folk tale that had already been used in a story by the American writer Washington Irving. It was Rimsky-Korsakov's 14th and final opera. He completed it in 1907, and the opera was first performed on Oct. 7, 1909, about 16 months after the composer's death. Russian censors refused to approve the performance of the work during Rimsky-Korsakov's lifetime because of what they considered criticisms of Czar Nicholas II.