Eugene Onegin is an opera in three acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, based on Alexander Pushkin's novel in verse. It was first performed in Moscow on 29 March 1879, by students of the Conservatoire. It tells the story of Tatyana, who declares her love to the aloof Onegin and is rejected; years later, the roles are reversed. The composer himself called it "lyrical scenes", and its most celebrated moment is Tatyana's letter scene.
Act I. On the Larin family's country estate, young Tatyana, a dreamer and a reader of novels, meets Eugene Onegin, a world-weary dandy from the city and a friend of the poet Lensky, who is engaged to her sister Olga. That night, Tatyana writes him a passionate letter declaring her love: the famous letter scene. The next day, Onegin rejects her with polite coldness: he is not made for marriage.
Act II. At the ball for Tatyana's name day, a bored Onegin flirts with Olga out of spite. Lensky, wounded, challenges him to a duel. At dawn, by the mill, Lensky bids farewell to his youth in the aria "Kuda, kuda". In the duel, Onegin shoots him dead.
Act III. Years later, after long travels, Onegin reappears at a ball in Saint Petersburg. There he finds Tatyana, now the wife of Prince Gremin, who sings his gratitude for that late-found love. Onegin, dazzled, realises he loves Tatyana and writes to her. In the final scene, she confesses that she loves him still, but remains faithful to her husband and leaves him for ever. Onegin is left alone, facing his fate.
Tchaikovsky composed the opera in 1877 and 1878, on a libretto of his own written with Konstantin Shilovsky, which keeps many of Pushkin's verses. Aware that his intimate drama did not fit the mould of grand spectacle, he avoided the imperial theatres for the premiere: the first performance took place on 29 March 1879 at the Maly Theatre in Moscow, given by students of the Conservatoire under Nikolai Rubinstein.
The work reached the Bolshoi Theatre in 1881 and gradually made its way onto the stages of Russia and Europe. Today it is the most frequently performed Russian opera in the world. The subtitle Tchaikovsky chose, "lyrical scenes", describes its nature well: a succession of tableaux centred on feeling rather than intrigue.
The letter scene, nearly a quarter of an hour of monologue for soprano, is the musical heart of the work: Tchaikovsky composed it first, moved by the character of Tatyana. Lensky's aria before the duel, "Kuda, kuda", is among the best loved in the tenor repertoire, and Prince Gremin's aria gives the bass a moment of serene nobility.
Tchaikovsky, a master of ballet music, punctuates the action with dances that are also social portraits: the waltz of the country ball, the brilliant polonaise of the Saint Petersburg palace. The orchestra weaves recurring motifs around Tatyana and gives the whole score a unity of tone, between elegance and melancholy.
Eugene Onegin speaks of missed chances and of the distance between what we feel and what we do, a subject that needs no translation. Its format of short scenes, its transparent orchestra and its believable characters make it one of the most approachable operas in the repertoire, including for anyone coming to Russian opera for the first time.
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