Eugene Onegin (opera)

Main article: History of music in Russia

1877

Singer Lavrovskaya invites Tchaikovsky to write an opera on the plot of "Eugene Onegin"

Some music critics explain the incredible success of "Eugene Onegin" by the inner state of the composer in which he was, composing an immortal opera saturated with great creative power, love for life, but at the same time associated with the moods of disappointment and confusion that Tchaikovsky himself experienced.

For his new opera, Tchaikovsky chose the plot for a long time. He wrote to the composer Taneev (with letters from P. I. Tchaikovsky and S. I. Taneev can be found on the portal of the Presidential Library): "I am looking for an intimate but strong drama based on a conflict of positions I have tested or seen that can hurt me for living."

In the spring of 1877, singer Elizaveta Lavrovskaya, "smiling good-natured," invited the composer to write an opera on the plot of "Eugene Onegin." 'This thought seemed wild to me and I didn't answer anything. Then, dining alone in the tavern, I remembered "Onegin," thought, then began to find Lavrovskaya's thought possible, then became interested and decided by the end of dinner. Immediately ran to find Pushkin. I hardly found it, went home, admired it and spent a completely sleepless night, the result of which was a script for a lovely opera with Pushkin's text, "the composer shared with his brother Modest (Letters to relatives. T. 1. 1850–1879).

From Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" Tchaikovsky took for the opera only what is connected with personal destinies, the mental experiences of the heroes, with their emotional inner world. "What an abyss of poetry in" Onegin, "I'm not mistaken. I know that there will be few stage effects and movement in this opera. But the general poetics, humanity, simplicity of the plot in conjunction with the ingenious text more than replaces these shortcomings, "he writes to his brother Anatoly (Letters to his relatives. T. 1. 1850–1879).

Tchaikovsky's marriage to Antonina Milyukova, who was unloved by him

By this time, Tchaikovsky himself finds himself in a situation similar to Pushkin's plot. When all his thoughts were occupied only by "Evgeny Onegin," especially the scene of Tatiana's letter, he receives love messages from Antonina Milyukova, whom he had known by that time for about five years. At first, Tchaikovsky did the same as Onegin: his answer is a cold refusal. He was completely "buried in his composition" and so comprehended the character of Tatiana and fell in love with this image that she and all the heroes of the poem began to seem real to him. Tchaikovsky admitted that as much as he loved Tatyana, he was so terribly angry with Onegin, whom he saw simply as a "cold, heartless veil." When Peter Ilyich received another letter from Antonina, he realized how callous he was to the girl who loved him: "I myself acted incomparably worse than Onegin."

Maybe, trying to avoid repeating the mistake of the hero of Pushkin, Tchaikovsky makes a rash act. "I was kind of delirious," the composer later admitted. "Thus, I was presented with a difficult alternative: either to preserve my freedom at the cost of the death of this girl (death is not an empty word here: she really loves me limitlessly) or to marry. I could not help but elect the latter, "we read in Tchaikovsky's correspondence with N.F. von Meck. Peter Ilyich proposed to Antonina Milyukova, but frankly said that he did not like her, although he would be a devoted and grateful friend. "If you enjoy quiet, calm love, rather the love of your brother, then I propose to you," Milyukova recalled this day.

Tchaikovsky married in the summer of 1877, but soon his relationship with his wife reached a dead end. He is very worried about the current situation, even thoughts of suicide appear.

Rift with his wife and a trip to Switzerland

At the end of the year, Tchaikovsky leaves for Switzerland. During this period, only creativity becomes its main need and salvation. "I have an abyss of work. By the way, I have to finish the opera scenes, which will go to a conservative performance... I sat down for work and did at 6 days as much as I could not expect. This work absorbed me, "he writes from Venice to his younger sister Alexandra Ilyinichna Davydova (Letters to relatives. T. 1. 1850–1879).

But the lines from another letter addressed to her: "I must overcome my modesty and tell you the following: except that I am Antonina Ivanovna's husband, who mercilessly acted with her... there is another circumstance. I am an artist who can and should bring honor to his homeland. I feel a lot of artistic power in myself. I haven't done a tenth of what I can do yet. And I want to do all this with all my soul. "

1878: Work on Opera

"If music was ever written with genuine passion, with love for the plot and for the actors of it, then this is music for" Onegin. " I melted and fluttered with unspeakable pleasure when I wrote it. And if the listener will speak at least the slightest share of what I experienced when composing this opera, then I will be very pleased and I do not need more, "Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky admitted.

The composer worked on the opera Eugene Onegin in Russia, Switzerland, Italy and France. The work won national fame immediately, despite the composer's doubts.

"This opera, it seems to me, will rather be successful in houses and, perhaps, on concert stages than on the big stage... I.e. not the theater will make it known to the public, but, on the contrary, the audience, having met her little by little, can love her, and then the theater will stage the opera... But for such a production, it is necessary that routine, stilt, state techniques disappear and that I have the opportunity to demand everything that I consider necessary, so that the opera is properly furnished. That is why I will never take the first step towards staging an opera at a state theater and will wait to be humiliated about it. As for the production at the conservatory, it will be for "Onegin 'great happiness. Chicks will sing there, but there will be no routine, "the composer shared his plans at the end of December 1878 with music publisher Peter Jurgenson, correspondence with which is available on the portal of the Presidential Library.

"Being convinced in advance that his new brainchild was not suitable for the real opera stage, Tchaikovsky<…> secured the promise of N. G. Rubinstein to stage his" Onegin "in a conservative performance, to which he, of course, willingly agreed; having secured the opportunity to hear his work at least once, Peter Ilyich zealously set to work, "writes Nikolai Kashkin in his Memoirs of P. I. Tchaikovsky. According to him, the composer said: "For" Onegin ', I need this: 1) singers of the middle hand, but well-dressed and hard; 2) singers who, at the same time, will play simply but well; 3) the production is not luxurious, but corresponding to the time is very strict: the costumes must certainly be the time at which the opera takes place; 4) choirs should not be a herd of sheep, but people who take part in the action of the opera; 5) the bandmaster should not be a machine, but a real leader of the orchestra. " All these requirements, according to the author of the opera, conservative students "could satisfy."

1879: Premiere at the Maly Theater by students of the Moscow Conservatory

Tchaikovsky's wishes came true: the clavier of the opera was published before its production, and the premiere itself took place on the stage of the Maly Theater by students of the Moscow Conservatory. Conducted by Nikolai Grigorievich Rubinstein. A few years later, the opera bypassed all the largest Russian scenes and, during the composer's lifetime, was staged in Prague and Hamburg.

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev, who attended the rehearsal of the opera in February 1879, wrote to Claude Viardo, daughter of the famous singer: "The music seemed charming to me: hot, passionate, young, picturesque, poetic...." Turgenev "was outraged by some particular operas, but at the same time he was delighted with the music and, by the way, said:" For me, for example, Lensky seemed to grow up with Tchaikovsky, became something more than Pushkin's'. "

The composer himself also attended rehearsals. In a letter dated March 11, 1879 to Nadezhda von Meck, a philanthropist and admirer of his talent (correspondence with N.F. von Meck is also available on the portal of the Presidential Library), Tchaikovsky writes: "At first I doubted whether I would go to Moscow on this occasion, but now I wanted to see the stage embodiment of my dream<…> that my trip to Moscow does not represent any doubt."

A week later, he writes: "I... foresaw the extent to which the performance itself would be poisoned for me by the presence of the public. I arrived in Moscow just before the start of the rehearsal. It took place with costumes and full stage lighting, but the hall was not lit. This gave me the opportunity to sit in a dark corner and listen to my opera without any document. I felt a lot of pleasure. The performance was generally very satisfactory. The choir and orchestra did their job perfectly<…>. During the intermission, I saw all my former comrades. I was very pleased to notice that all of them, without exception, unusually fell in love with the music of "Onegin." Nikolai Grigorievich, who is very fond of praise, told me that he is in love with this music. Taneev after the first act wanted to express his sympathy to me, but instead burst into tears. I can't tell you what moved me. In general, without exception, everyone expressed to me their love for "Onegin" with such strength and sincerity that I was happily surprised by this. "

And then finally came March 29, 1879, the day of the premiere of "Eugene Onegin." "The hall of the Maly Theater was filled as it hardly ever happened; in some lodges they did not sit, but stood a solid wall of men for fifteen, as it is difficult to imagine.<…> Tchaikovsky always felt a very good measure of success, even in the later days, when any appearance of him caused a standing ovation, the more correctly he could appreciate this success in 1879, when his wide fame had just begun, but he was very pleased mainly because he felt inner satisfaction with his composition, "wrote Nikolai Kashkin.

1913: Antonina Milyukova: In opera, Tchaikovsky is Onegin, and Tatiana is me

After the death of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Antonina Milyukova wrote memoirs that were published on the pages of the Russian Musical Newspaper in October 1913, in an issue dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the composer's death. They have the following words: "" Eugene Onegin 'is the best of all his operas. It is good because it is written under the influence of love. It is directly written about us. Onegin is himself, and Tatiana is me. Before and after the written operas, not warmed by love, are cold and jerky. There is no integrity in them. This one is good from start to finish. "

Additional information

More facts about the opera "Eugene Onegin" and other works of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, as well as the life path of one of the greatest composers in the history of music can be found in the electronic collection of the Presidential Library "P.I. Tchaikovsky. 1840-1893," which included correspondence, books and articles about his work, digital copies of the composer's autographs, notes and photographs with his gift inscriptions.