As the Royal Opera prepare for the opening of their new production of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden
Cockerel, Paul Allen examines the political background to its first performance and explores different readings of Pushkin's original story. Plus a letter from Weimar as the city prepares to take up the mantle of European City of Culture in 1999 - the smallest city yet to receive the honour. Producer Doug Traill-Stevenson