 Cavos is celebrated in Russian musical history as the man who composed the opera "Ivan Susanin" in 1815, 20 years before Mikhail Glinka's opera of the same name.The plot, based on an episode from Russian history, tells the story of the Russian peasant and patriotic hero Ivan Susanin who sacrifices his life for the Tsar by leading astray a group of marauding Poles who were hunting him.Cavos was born in Venice, Italy, on October 30, 1775.