Eugene Onegin
Any good work of art is susceptible to more than one interpretation.
The program notes to Eugene Onegin were replete with references to
Tolstoy and Dostoyevski, who thought that the theme of Eugene Onegin
revolves around Tatyana displaying the essential strength and endurance
of the ideal Russian woman. Personally, I thought the theme was:
dang teenagers.
Opera opens with teenaged sisters Tatyana and Olga sitting around the
estate. Olga's boyfriend Lensky, who lives on a neighboring estate,
shows up with his friend Onegin (I don't believe the "Eugene" is ever
used in the libretto). Tatyana goes off the deep end and falls in love
with Onegin at first sight. That night, she pours out her heart in
a letter to Onegin, declaring her eternal love and, essentially, proposing
marriage. She sends the letter off with one of the estate's errand
runners.
Onegin shows up and returns her letter, with the usual lines about "I'm
not ready to settle down", and "You really wouldn't be happy with me, or
me with you", and, as an additional fillip, "You should be a little more
careful who you send these things to - you could be emotionally hurt."
The next day is Tatyana's birthday. Lensky shows up with Onegin in tow.
Onegin is not happy. The women lining the walls are gossiping about his
bad habits and reputation, and Tatyana has a tendency to burst into tears
when she sees him. In a foul mood, he decides to respond foully. He
starts flirting with Olga. Both Tatyana and Lensky take exception.
He continues to flirt. Lensky's objections eventually escalate to the
level of a challenge to a duel.
Next day at dawn. Both protagonists, in asides to the audience, admit
that they have behaved badly, and that the duel is a really stupid idea,
but cannot bring themselves to apologize. Duel proceeds. Lensky is
shot dead.
There appear to be no serious legal repercussions to a fair but fatal
duel amongst the gentry, so it is more to flee internal demons than
external ones that Onegin decides to take an extended sabbatical in
Western Europe. I keep wondering what happened to Olga, but Tchaikowski
doesn't say (maybe I should look up the Pushkin from which the libretto
was taken).
He returns to Peterbourg years later, and encounters Tatyana at a fancy
ball. She is now married, to a general named Gremin (a basso with the
best voice in the production). Her manner is modest but firm, and she
obviously has the respect of those around her. Gremin goes on at length
to his friend Onegin about how happy he is to be married to Tatyana, and
how she comforts and supports him. In other words, she is an adult.
Not so Onegin. He finds her aplomb and maturity desperately attractive.
Despite his friendship with Gremin, he shows up at their place after the
ball, and urges Tatyana to leave it all and run away with him. Her first
response is along the line of "Why should I take you seriously - you seem
to be the same jerk you always were." But he works away at the theme,
and eventually brings her to tearfully admit that yes, she still does
feel that pang of youthful love she once bore him, but no, she has a man
who loves her deeply, and responsibilities to him, and will not betray
him. She walks away and leaves him, the jiltee, perhaps for the first time
in his life.
Translators have a hard job. Even with my very limited Russian I caught
a couple of nuances that don't quite translate. In the quarrel leading
up to to duel, in the English libretto, Lensky refers to "Mr. Onegin",
which while literal, does not catch the deep contempt conveyed by the
use of "Gospodin Onegin" about one who had been a friend. And, at Tatyana's
birthday party, the French master sings her a song in French, in which the
rhythm of the song compels him to sing "Tat-y-ana", which sounds as
reasonable in English as in French, but which must sound very droll to
Russian ears, for whom the 'tya' of Tatyana is an indesoluable atom.
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