The tragedy of the missed moment
Eugene Onegin
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
With stunning natural imagery and attention to every detail, Barrie Kosky presents Tchaikovsky’s soulful drama about the hopes, longings, and failures of four young people who come to realize in the end that happiness was almost within reach.
When the poet Lensky visits his fiancée Olga and brings along his mysterious friend Eugene Onegin, Olga’s introverted sister Tatyana is immediately hooked. But Onegin rejects her supplication. Years later, he meets her again, but now it is she who doesn’t want to hear his sudden pleas for love ...
It was with Eugene Onegin that Tchaikovsky achieved his breakthrough as an opera composer, making an unparalleled contribution to modern music theatre. With its opulent stage design, Barrie Kosky’s production captures the poetry of the characters and their tragedy, set in the vastness of a natural space. Supported by Tchaikovsky’s unforgettable music, Eugene Onegin is a ‘delicate psychogram of young people who are just learning for the first time what irreversible decisions truly mean’ [BR KLASSIK].
Act 1
An idyllic summer’s day in the depths of the Russian countryside; people are doing the kind of things people do on such days. Among country folk on an outing, the estate owner Larina is chatting with her long-serving domestic Filipyevna, the nurse of her daughters Olga and Tatyana. The two elderly women are making jam and reminiscing about past hopes of love and getting used to disappointment. Larina’s daughters sing a song full of yearning.
An idyllic summer’s day in the depths of the Russian countryside; people are doing the kind of things people do on such days. Among country folk on an outing, the estate owner Larina is chatting with her long-serving domestic Filipyevna, the nurse of her daughters Olga and Tatyana. The two elderly women are making jam and reminiscing about past hopes of love and getting used to disappointment. Larina’s daughters sing a song full of yearning.
The fun-loving Olga dances, while her introverted sister Tatyana prefers to bury herself in novels. Olga’s fiancé, the young poet Lensky, arrives and effusively professes his love for her. Lensky has brought a man he introduces as his friend and neighbour: Eugene Onegin.
Come evening, Tatyana is head over heels. She confesses to her nurse Filipyevna she is in love and writes a fervent love letter that night to Onegin. Next day, Onegin coolly rejects the feelings Tatyana revealed to him.
Act 2
The Larin family hosts a party on Tatyana’s name day; the guests drink and dance and the Frenchman Triquet recites a couplet for Tatyana to everyone’s delight. Onegin alone is not the least amused and flirts with Olga to Lensky’s great annoyance. The two men argue, scandalizing the guests, and Lensky challenges Onegin to a duel. This ends in catastrophe: Onegin kills his friend.
Act 3
After years of aimless travelling, Eugene Onegin arrives in Saint Petersburg and attends a ball in the house of Prince Gremin. The latter has recently got married to Tatyana. Alone and confused, Onegin is smitten with Tatyana and begs her to run off with him. Both tearfully remember that summer in the country. Tatyana, herself once rejected, turns Onegin down: it’s too late and can’t be altered. She is married now and her fate is no longer bound up with Onegin’s …
Lyrical scenes in three acts [1879]
Libretto by Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky and Konstantin S. Shilovsky based on the verse novel of the same name by Alexander S. Pushkin
Libretto by Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky and Konstantin S. Shilovsky based on the verse novel of the same name by Alexander S. Pushkin
In the repertoire since January 31, 2016
A co-production with the Zurich Opera House
Further Productions