Eugene Onegin (Original edition)

Libretto by the composer after Alexander Pushkin; original German version by A. Bernhard, revised by Max Kalbeck; new German version by Karlheinz Gutheim; new German version by Felix Wolfes (R,G)

S,2M,A,2T,Bar,3B,mime; chorus;
2(II=picc).2.2.2-4.2.3.0-timp-harp-strings

Cyrillic vocal material with German phonetic notation available upon request

1820s, at a country estate and in St Petersburg

On the Larin family's country estate, people are merrily dancing and celebrating the harvest. Their fun is disturbed only by their concern for the daughter Tatyana who, unlike her rather foolhardy sister Olga, has a tendency towards melancholy. She becomes even more upset when she discovers that she has feelings for Onegin, who accompanies Lensky, Olga's fiancé, on a visit to the Larin estate. Onegin, however, has no intention whatsoever of embarking upon a liaison with a woman. He does not even seem to enjoy dancing with Tatyana when he returns to the estate on the occasion of her name-day. Instead, he decides to play a trick on his old friend Lensky by flirting with Olga. As a matter of course, this results in a duel between the two friends, during which Onegin strikes his friend a mortal blow. – Years later, Tatyana, who is now happily married to Prince Gremin, and Onegin meet again at a ball in the Prince's palace. Their feelings for each other are awakened…

Poetic, Tragic