EUGEN ONEGIN

In the organizer's words:

Conventions, everyday life, habit - these are the ingredients of an uneventful life that the people in Tchaikovsky's EUGEN ONEGIN have in common. Far away from the city, enclosed in a rural setting, the characters in the opera, which premiered in Moscow in 1879, circle hopelessly around their everyday lives, relating to each other - with the title character forming the core of the interwoven relationships.

Eugene Onegin, a young, aristocratic dandy, travels to the countryside with his friend Lensky to visit his fiancée Olga. While Olga is enjoying life and her widowed mother Larina looks wistfully at times gone by, Tatyana, Olga's sister, takes refuge in reading her books. In Onegin, Tatyana sees the realization of her romantic dreams and falls instantly in love with him - but her feelings remain unrequited. Provoked by Onegin and his exuberant dance with Olga, Lenski challenges his friend to a duel, in which he meets his death. Many years later, Onegin, still searching for himself, meets Tatyana again in good company, who is now married to Prince Gremin. Tatyana and Onegin confess their love for each other, but Tatyana remains faithful to her husband. Onegin is left alone.

With these lyrical scenes in three acts, Tchaikovsky dispenses with heroic material and opulent images. It is the small - and large - tragedies behind the bourgeois façade, embedded in everyday life, with which the composer created one of the most important works in Russian music history.