Onegin visits a friend, his fiancee and her sister Tatiana, who believes Onegin is her fated love. She writes a note telling him so, but he rejects her. Years later he returns, finding her married, but now he's smitten with her.
Director: Petr Weigl
Conductor: Georg Solti
Film version, not a stage performance. The cast lists 2 performers for each character: a singer and an actor.
First performance at Moscow, March 29, 1879
Time: early 19th century
Place: Russia
NB: The film begins after the first part of scene 1, omitting the duet of the sisters, then the quartet of the sisters, mother and nurse. It begins with the peasants singing for the family. The audio of the omitted 8 min section is on the disc as Prologue, available on the menu. It then automatically transitions to the beginning of the film. No subtitles are included with the Prologue.
Per Simon's 100 Great Operas, Tchaikovsky imitated Pushkin's story when a woman sent him a letter similar to Tatiana's. Although homosexual, he married the woman, and they later divorced. The relationship began and ended during his time composing the opera. This is the only Tchaikovsky opera in the book, although it mentions Queen of Spades as the other of his 10 operas to be staged worldwide.
I like staged operas; it's interesting to see audience reaction. But I prefer filmed opera, and like this film a lot. It's true to Simon's synopsis (with the exception detailed above), well lit and costumed, with beautiful settings indoors and out. I have no quibbles with any performance, and like the music & singing. I found it easy to distinguish the characters, even the sisters; they have very different personalities.
I'm grateful for Simon's note about Tchaikovsky's personal life, because I really would have wondered why Olga wasn't the focus of the story. She begins as a carefree happy young woman, then decides to snub her fiance Lenski at Tatiana's b'day ball and dances with other men, particularly attentive to Onegin. Lenski dies in a duel as a result of his over-reaction to this flirtation, and we never see Olga's reaction to that (although she seems quite distressed/miserable at the party when the duel is arranged, as is everyone.) Nor do we see Olga at Tatiana's party years later, when Onegin falls for the now-confident, married Tatiana. I really wanted to see Olga again.
I liked very much how the opera ended; very untraditional, sort of a non-ending.
The vocals sounded recorded on a stage, and I didn't see any lip sync problems, but I don't speak Russian or French, the languages used here. (Whoever submitted the cast missed Monsieur Triquet altogether, and Madame Larina's singing voice looked like someone had been there but was not now; I offered those corrections and the plot synopsis. Unfortunately, no choreographer was listed on the end credits; there are no opening credits, not even a title.)
Cast:
MADAME LARINA Mezzo-soprano : Anna Reynolds (voice)
her daughters:
. TATIANA Soprano : Teresa Kubiak (voice)
. OLGA Mezzo-soprano : Julia Hamari (voice)
FILIPIEVNA, Tatiana’s nurse Mezzo-soprano : Enid Hartle (voice)
VLADIMIR LENSKI, Olga’s fiancé, a poet Tenor : Stuart Burrows (voice)
EUGEN ONEGIN, his friend Baritone : Bernd Weikl (voice)
MONSIEUR TRIQUET, a French tutor Tenor : Michel Sénéchal (voice)
ZARETSKI, a friend of Lenski’s Bass : Richard Van Allan (voice)
PRINCE GREMIN, a retired general Bass : Nicolai Ghiaurov (voice)
distr. Decca, cond. Solti; 8+
