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- Herausgeber: Icon Books
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Serie: Great Operas
- Sprache: Englisch
The great Russian poet Pushkin's novel in verse tells the story of Tatyana, a love-struck country girl who unwisely wrote to the arrogant city-slicker Yevgeny Onegin professing her love. The tale resonated with Tchaikovsky when he found himself callously dismissing the suit of a student who similarly approached him out of the blue: within weeks, Tchaikovsky then married her! It was a disastrous decision; except that it inspired him to write his great opera. Onegin's future was different. Having shot his best friend, he returns to find that the naïve girl he rejected is now a great lady, married to a distinguished general. He is passionately in love, but it is too late. The opera includes Tatyana's emotional letter scene, as well the reckless and tragic duel, and the country house dance and the great ball in St Petersburg give Tchaikovsky the opportunity to provide us with some truly memorable dances such as the waltz, mazurka, and polonaise. Written by Michael Steen, author of the acclaimed The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, 'Short Guides to Great Operas' are concise, entertaining and easy to read books about opera. Each is an opera guide packed with useful information and informed opinion, helping to make you a truly knowledgeable opera-goer, and so maximising your enjoyment of a great musical experience.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012
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Published in the UK in 2012 by Icon Books Ltd,
Omnibus Business Centre, 29–41 North Road, London N7 9DP
email: [email protected]
www.iconbooks.co.uk
ISBN: 978-1-84831-467-2 (ePub format)
ISBN: 978-1-84831-475-7 (Adobe ebook format)
Text copyright © 2012 Michael Steen
The author has asserted his moral rights.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Typesetting by Marie Doherty
CONTENTS
Title page
Copyright
PREFACE
USING THIS EBOOK
A NOTE ON NAMES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TCHAIKOVSKY’S EUGENE ONEGIN
THE OPERA AND ITS COMPOSER
WHO’S WHO AND WHAT’S WHAT
THE INTERVAL: TALKING POINTS
Pushkin’s story
Duels
Boredom in Russia: the ‘superfluous man’ above
The serfs below
ACT BY ACT
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sources of quotes
Other sources
NOTES
Short Guides to Great Operas
PREFACE
This guide is aimed at the ordinary opera-goer and opera-lover, usually a busy person who wants to know the essentials of the opera but has little time to grasp them.
It provides key background information to Eugene Onegin, told engagingly by someone who knows the opera intimately.
It is light, easy to read, and entertaining. Relevant information has been carefully selected to enhance your appreciation of Tchaikovsky’s work.
It is authoritative, but not dense or academic. It is unburdened with the clutter that can easily be obtained elsewhere. It concentrates on information that it will help you to know in advance.
Read quickly before going to the opera or listening to it at home, you will get the very best out of the performance and have a truly enjoyable experience.
Opera can be a great social occasion. Being knowledgeable and well-informed, you’ll appreciate this magical art-form much more if you read this first.
I hope you enjoy the opera!
Michael Steen
USING THIS EBOOK
A very quick grasp of the opera can be gained by reading the opening section on ‘The opera and its composer’ and the ensuing ‘Who’s who and what’s what’. Further elaboration may be found in the sections entitled ‘The interval: talking points’ and ‘Act by act’.
The footnotes and boxes are an integral part of the information. The reader is encouraged to go to these by clicking on the links.
A NOTE ON NAMES
At the risk of irritating those who prefer consistency of language, the author has deliberately used forms of Russian names which would be used in conversation, or might be expected to appear in print.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Steen OBE studied at the Royal College of Music, was organ scholar at Oriel College, Oxford, and has been chairman of both the RCM Society and the Friends of the V&A Museum. He is a trustee of the Gerald Coke Handel Foundation and Anvil Arts, and Treasurer of The Open University.
TCHAIKOVSKY’SEUGENE ONEGIN
A SHORT GUIDE TO A GREAT OPERA
The opera and its composer
Who’s who and what’s what
The interval: talking points
Act by act
THE OPERA AND ITS COMPOSER
Tchaikovsky brooded over Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin1, a ‘novel in verse’, as a subject for an opera. He originally thought that the suggestion, which came from a star mezzo-soprano, was crazy, and possibly even foolhardy: Pushkin and Eugene Onegin are as familiar and sacred to Russians as Shakespeare, Hamlet and King Lear are to people from the West; so you tamper with them at your peril.
Tchaikovsky thought he might compose an Othello, or an opera based on a historical novel about a favourite of King Louis XIII of France. In the event, he composed Eugene Onegin between May 1877 and February 1878.
This was a momentous period in his personal life, which should have entered a reasonably stable and secure phase: he was now being helped with finance from the widow of a railway tycoon. But he had been unsettled when his friend and pupil Vladimir Shilovsky, 2 who he was particularly fond of, went off to get married.
Tchaikovsky started working with Vladimir’s brother, Konstantin Shilovsky (1849–1893), on a libretto for Eugene Onegin
