Loyalty (Russian: Верность, tr. Vyernost'; also translated as Faith, Truth, Correctness, Faithfulness, or Fidelity), Op. 136 is a cycle of eight ballads for men's chorus a capella composed by Dmitri Shostakovich based upon texts by Yevgeny Dolmatovsky. It was composed in commemoration of the centennial of Vladimir Lenin's birth in 1970. Sources conflict as to when and where Loyalty was completed. It was premiered in Tallinn, Estonian SSR on December 5, 1970, with Ernesaks conducting. The work was received warmly in the Soviet Union, but has been mostly ignored and derided elsewhere.