Pyotr Tchaikovsky was born just three years after Pushkin’s death
in a duel and plunged himself into the magic world of Pushkin’s tales and
poems at an early age. He always carried a book of Pushkin’s verse everywhere
he went. All the more surprising that only a tiny fraction of the nearly
a hundred songs Tchaikovsky penned were written to Pushkin’s verse. All
because the composer thought he would never be able to find the right musical
intonation to suit the great poet’s signature writing manner.
The opera “Yevgeny Onegin” was the first major piece Tchaikovky wrote to
Pushkin’s verse, his novel in verse of the same name to be exact. It really
took a lot of effort for someone to venture putting to music what was widely
touted as an “encyclopedia of Russian life”…
 Daring as he
was, however, Tchaikovsky never really tried to go at it all the way. Cutting
off the novel’s many storylines, he brought it all down to just the love
stories of two young couples calling the resultant work Lyrical Scenes,
not an opera.
Tchaikovsky was very partial towards the young Tatiana Larina and even
wanted to give her name to his new opera. The episode where Tatiana
is writing a love letter to Onegin was especially dear to Tchaikovsky’s
heart…
Tchaikovsky was almost equally in love with the other romantic character
of Pushkin’s novel, Vladimir Lensky, a poet. Lensky with his exalted speech,
naivet? and his ultimate death at the hands of a cold-blooded duelist invites
clear comparisons with Alexander Pushkin himself… Tchaikovsky awarded Lensky
with two hauntingly beautiful tenor arias…
The 1879 premiere of “Yevgeny Onegin” by the members of the Moscow Conservatory’s
opera studio was a deafening success. A decade later the opera was already
played everywhere, including in the venerable Mariinsky Theater in St.
Petersburg and in the Bolshoi in Moscow. These days it is one of
the most frequently performed Russian operas around.
Another popular Tchaikovsky’s opera written to Pushkin’s verse is “Mazeppa”
inspired by Pushkin’s poem “Poltava” set in the 18th century Ukraine. Ukrainian
leader Mazeppa who is appointed by Russian Czar Peter the Great is secretly
harboring plans to wrest his country out of Russia’s control and become
its undivided ruler. To make this dream come true, Mazeppa seeks help from
the Swedes.
Just like it happens in any mutiny, blood is flowing freely here, including
that of the young Maria whose infatuation with the aging Mazeppa sets off
a string of horrible tragedies that plunge the peaceful backwater region
into the maelstrom of a fratricidal war…
In Pushkin’s poem “Poltava” and then in Tchaikovsly’s opera “Mazeppa” we
see a magnificent picture of Russians fighting the Swedes who eventually
get crushed and beat a hasty retreat. This is probably the best battle
scene you can find in world poetry and music…
Mazeppa’s much-acclaimed premiere at the Bolshoi in 1884 perfectly married
the production’s grand style with the luscious magnificence of Tchaikovsky’s
music...
“The Queen of Spades” is another great opera inspired by Alexander Pushkin.
Tchaikovsky wrote it at the height of his musical career, in 1890, taking
a mere 44 days to complete the best opera he had ever written…
The libretto was by Tchaikovsky’s brother, Modest, who took the liberty
of straying away from the original. All the storylines are different here
and the characters altered. All that remains of Pushkin’s story is just
the fateful encounter between a money-strapped officer, Gherman, and the
old Countess who knows the secret of the three winning cards.
In Pushkin’s story, Gherman is courting Lisa, the young prot?g? of the
old Countess, in his effort to be allowed into the closely guarded household.
In Tchaikovsky’s opera, Gherman is madly in love with Lisa who appears
to be the old woman’s granddaughter and the heiress to her immense fortune.
That love affair eventually kills Lisa and her cards-obsessed lover…
When writing “The Queen of Spades”, Tchaikovsky so deeply identified himself
with his characters that, completing the episode where Gherman kills himself,
he burst out crying uncontrollably…
Widely touted as one of the greatest masterpieces of operatic art, “The
Queen of Spades” is regularly played all around the world invariably inspiring
admiration and compassion in everyone in the audience…
07/19/05 |
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