"Why is it we are always compelled to chase the ones that run away while those that love us we betray?"
These lines, taken from Pierre Choderlos de Lacos' classic French novel of intrigue and deception "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," pose a question which Alexander Pushkin's hero Eugene Onegin should have stopped to ponder before the tragic results of his romantic exploits became evident.
"Eugene Onegin," Tchaikovsky's dramatic operatic adaptation of Pushkin's poetic novel of the same name, is showing at St Petersburg's Mussorgsky Theater on Friday, April 21.
This is a lavish production in terms of both acting and singing as well as costumes, sets and lighting, and will prove an entertaining evening out.
"Eugene Onegin" is acknowledged as Pushkin's masterpiece. This novel in verse took him eight years to complete, from 1823-30, with a few minor additions in 1831.
It tells the story of two men -- Onegin and Lensky -- who destroy their friendship through a cruel love game in which Onegin flirts with his younger friend's love. Not only does he lose his friend, he also loses the love of the only woman he has ever truly loved, ending up alone.
The Mussorgsky's production offers the audience a wonderful rendition of this masterpiece. The standard of acting is impeccable, particularly from the hero Onegin and his co-stars Tatiana, Olga, and Lensky.
The opening scene takes us to a noble country estate outside St Petersburg during the Empire period after the Napoleonic Wars. A garden full of birch trees is cleverly created using transparent silk drapes transposed one behind the other. Here, young Tatiana meets the dashing but aloof Onegin and falls in love. During a perhaps too drawn-out scene, she confesses her love in a letter, only to be turned away by Onegin.
The ball scene on Lensky's estate is a marvelous recreation of aristocratic life at the time, and provides the perfect backdrop for Onegin's dangerous romantic games while noble ladies gossip in corners.
In many ways the opera's hero, Onegin, is the archetypal Byronesque cad. A jaded St Petersburg drawing room dandy, he has never seen women as anything other than playthings. He views them in terms of his own sexual prowess, romantic conquests, emotional games and ego.
Yet at the same time he is handsome, debonair and elegant, a child of his century -- but tainted by fits of depression and an overriding lack of sensitivity for other people's feelings. The consequences of the latter fill him with guilt, regret and self-recrimination.
Pushkin's origin'al idea came from Byron's immensely popular "Beppo" and "Don Juan" (1819-24), and it was from the latter that Pushkin derived the notion of the long narrative poem which became Eugene Onegin.
The tragic results of Onegin's flirtations with his best friend's love end in a duel. Lensky's solo lament before the duel, as he awaits his one-time best friend, is considered one of the opera's highlights, and the Mussorgsky's production captures the poignancy of the scene.
The second ball is simply glorious and gives the impression of a reception at the Winter Palace. Here bejewelled court ladies dance in shimmering white dresses against a backdrop of white marble columns and crystal chandeliers.
It is here, three years after the duel, that Onegin meets Tatiana, who is calm, quiet, graceful and composed. She has married an older general and, although not blissfully in love with him, will not be unfaithful.
At this point, the rake and cynic comes to know the meaning of tragedy, realizing what he has thrown away. Tatiana shows her ultimate moral stature by rejecting his childish and desperate pleas for love.
She remains the virtuous wife, despite the realization of her love for him and gives way to the ultimate Romantic irony "If I laugh at any mortal thing 'tis that I may not weep."
Superficially, we are left feeling sympathy for Tatiana and pity for Onegin, but they are both the losers. Virtue becomes more important than forgiveness for Tatiana, who ultimately has the final say over Onegin's happiness.
Perhaps the only real criticism is that most of the cast, including the lead characters, need to lose about 10 years in age. It is quite clear that Eugene Onegin, for example, has been playing this role for donkey's years and as a 40-something actor playing a 30-year-old hero only just gets away with it.
The Mussorgsky took a relaxed attitude to this observation. One of the opera's artistic directors, Stanislav Gaudasinsky, said, "Most of our singers come to the opera when they are 27-28, when they graduate from a conservatory. Normally the ages of our singers are less than 35 and we tend to replace them with younger ones.
"But sometimes when the younger ones are ill or are off for some reason we get the older singers in. For example, Inessa Prosalovskaya, who is up for retirement soon, has asked if she can play Tatiana for the last time on April 21 -- how can we refuse? Rarely, however, do we have anyone over 40 sing for a young role," he said.
Once you get to know the characters, however, it is not difficult to ignore the middle-age heroines and enjoy the performance. The actors performs with a welcome freshness, even though they have done the roles time and time again. Rather than wearing them out, the actors have taken the roles as their own.
