EUGENE ONEGIN

Opera (lyrical scenes) in three acts (seven scenes) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Libretto by P. I. Tchaikovsky and K. Shilovsky
Based on the novel in verse of the same title by A. S. Pushkin

First performance: March 29, 1879, Moscow, Maly Theatre First performance in Bulgaria: December 8, 1919, Sofia Opera and Ballet, conductor – Todor Hadzhiev, director – Hristo Popov

First performance in Ruse: February 5, 1956, conductor – Romeo Raychev, director – Iliya Ivanov, set design – Tsanko Voynov, costumes – Ani Hadzhimisheva, choreography – Asen Manolov Scenography – Tsanko Voinov, Costumes – Ani Hadzhimisheva, Choreography – Asen Manolov

Main characters:

Larina, landowner – mezzo-soprano
Tatyana, her daughter – soprano
Olga, Larina’s daughter – mezzo-soprano
Filippyevna, nurse to Olga and Tatyana – mezzo-soprano
Eugene Onegin – baritone
Vladimir Lensky – tenor
Prince Gremin, distinguished general – bass
Company commander – bass
Zaretsky, landowner – bass
Triquet, French tutor – tenor
Guillot, Onegin’s valet
Peasants, peasant women, ball guests, landowners, officers.

The action takes place in the countryside, on Larina’s estate, and in St. Petersburg in the 1820s.

First picture

A quiet summer evening. The home of the landowner Larina stands amid a large, shady garden. Larina and the nurse Filippovna are making jam. Through the open windows of the manor house, the song of young girls can be heard. It is Larina’s daughters who are singing—the dreamy Tatyana and the lively Olga. Their song awakens in Larina memories of long-past days, of the passions of her youth, which she had to replace with the petty concerns of everyday married and family life.

A clear, ringing song is heard from afar, drawing closer. It is the song of Larina’s serfs returning from the harvest. They sing and dance before their mistress. The dreamy Tatyana, a book in her hand, absentmindedly watches the dancers. The cheerful and playful Olga delights in the peasants’ songs and games, giving free rein to her merry spirit.

Larina’s neighbor, Vladimir Lensky, arrives—a young poet, passionately in love with Olga. With him comes Eugene Onegin, a cool, bored city gentleman, ill at ease in the rural setting. Tatyana sees in Onegin the ideal image of a man, shaped in her imagination by the novels she has read, and falls in love with him. While Lensky and Olga freely and naturally reveal their feelings for one another, the cold and haughty Onegin speaks with boredom about his uncle’s illness and about his own ennui.

Second picture

Tatyana’s bedroom. The young girl is agitated by her meeting with Onegin and cannot fall asleep. She asks her nurse to tell her about her own youth. Filippovna begins her story, but Tatyana does not listen. Her thoughts, her entire being, are drawn toward Onegin. When the nurse leaves, Tatyana decides to write a letter to Onegin, in which, with sincere and simple words, she pours out her pure maiden feelings.

The sleepless night passes. A shepherd’s horn announces the coming of morning. The nurse comes to wake Tatyana. Tatyana asks her to deliver the letter to Onegin.

Third scene 

A secluded corner of the Larins’ garden. The restless Tatyana waits with trembling excitement for Onegin and for his reply to her innocent confession. Onegin arrives. His confession sounds cool and rational. He thanks her for her sincere declaration, but states that he cannot return her love, as he is not made for family happiness. In a patronizing manner, he advises her to learn to control herself.

Fourth scene

A hall in the Larins’ house. A small ball in honor of Tatyana’s name day. Among the guests are Lensky and Onegin. Eugene is angry with his friend for having brought him to this foolish ball, where he has nothing to do but be bored and listen to the gossip of provincial busybodies. To take revenge, Onegin begins to court Olga. Olga’s coquetry offends Lensky, and Onegin’s behavior outrages him. Deeply hurt by Olga’s refusal to dance the cotillion with him and by her preference for Onegin, Lensky is seized by jealousy and mad fury. He challenges Onegin to a duel.

Fifth scene

A frosty winter morning. By the frozen bridge near a village mill, Lensky and his second, Zaretsky, wait for the late-arriving Onegin. Lensky gives himself over to reflection—he recalls the happiness that has flown by so quickly. And what awaits him now? What will the coming day bring him?…

Onegin arrives with his valet, the Frenchman Guillot. Onegin and Lensky recall their former friendship, realize the senselessness of the duel, and hesitate, wondering whether it might be better to reconcile and part as friends. But it is already too late. Their pride, the presence of the notorious intriguer Zaretsky, and the corrupt conventions of the time—all this prevents them from extending a hand to one another. Zaretsky measures the distance. A shot. Lensky falls dead. Onegin is shattered.

Sixth scene

Years have passed. Returning from travels abroad, Onegin finds himself at a grand St. Petersburg ball. Here the distinguished nobleman Prince Gremin, a friend and relative of Onegin, introduces him to his wife. In the brilliant society beauty, Onegin recognizes the modest country girl whose love he once rejected so arrogantly. He sees in her his last joy and is ready to perish if his dream does not come true.

Seventh picture

Once again, like a merciless specter, Onegin stands in Tatyana’s path, relentlessly pursuing her everywhere. And now, too, he finds her in her room, reading his letter. Tatyana is distressed, moved to tears. To Onegin, these tears are more precious than any treasure. They tell him that Tatyana is not indifferent to him, and the hope of reciprocity shines upon him. Deeply agitated and passionate, Onegin lays his heart bare before her:

"No, to see you every moment,

everywhere to be with you and follow you,

to catch your smile, your glance

with loving eyes,

and long, so long to listen to you…

And, having understood the perfection

of your sincere soul,

to fade before you in sorrow...-

that I find to be bliss…"

To Onegin’s ardent confession, Tatyana responds with an equally sincere avowal. She does not conceal or dissemble. She still loves Onegin. With sorrow and sadness, Tatyana recalls their meeting in the rural solitude, the days of bliss when happiness had been so close, so attainable. But her fate is now decided. She is bound to another and will remain faithful to him for the rest of her life.

                                                                                                                                             I. Ivanov, 1956, Ruse

“I wrote this opera because one fine day I felt an inexpressible desire to set to music everything in ‘Onegin’ that calls out to be put into music. I did this as well as I could. I worked with indescribable passion and pleasure, without particularly caring whether there was action, effects, and so on. And what, after all, are effects?… I need people, not puppets — I would gladly undertake any opera in which, even without strong or unexpected effects, beings like myself experience feelings that I myself have lived through and understood.”

These words of Tchaikovsky testify to a new and deeply intimate approach by the composer in the creative process. The aspiration to reject excessive outward theatricality and the focus on revealing the inner spiritual world of the characters were innovative artistic methods in opera at the time. For this reason, “Eugene Onegin” became a lofty achievement of Russian psychological opera.

On February 5, 1956, the reconstructed building of the Church Hall—transformed into an opera theater and then the new home of the Ruse National Opera—was inaugurated with a ceremonial performance of “Eugene Onegin.” The event was of exceptional significance for Ruse and its cultural community. The production was remarkably beautiful and was staged in the period of the work’s creation, owing to the masterful work of the costume designer Ani Hadzhimisheva and the stage designer Tsanko Voynov. This is evidenced by the numerous preserved photographs and costume design sketches kept in the Art Archive of the Ruse State Opera and in the collections of the Ruse State Archives, which have captured moments from the opera’s premiere performance of Tchaikovsky’s work.