Onegin, unlike don Giovanni, is not a colourful character. He is a rather dull, bored brat, for whom even hitting on a woman is too much trouble. Through an inheritance he has become a rich man and as such has access to the”high society”, but everything bores him and in fact he does not know himself what it is he really wants.

He dresses according to the latest fashion, the only question is whether he does it because he likes nice clothes, or because that’s the way things are supposed to be. Because he does know how things should be done.

He also shows hardly any character development  over the whole course of the opera. He kills his best friend after flirting with his lover – not because he really wants to, but to teach him (and the, in his eyes horrid, countrybumpkins) a lesson – and even that leaves him unmoved. Only at the end does he “wake up” and something of a feeling enters his mind. But is it real?

Not really someone you can dedicate an entire opera to, which is why for many people the real protagonist is not Onjegin but Tatyana. If Tchaikovsky had really wanted it that way he might have named the opera “Tatyana”, but that she is a much more captivating character than the man of her dreams, is beyond any doubt.

One says Tatyana, one thinks Galina Vishnevskaya. The Russian soprano has created a benchmark for the role that few singers can yet match. In 1955, she recorded the role, along with all the Bolshoi greats of the time.

Her “letter scene” is perhaps the most beautiful ever, but the recording has even more to offer: how about Sergei Lemeshev as Lensky? Fingerlicking good!

Sergey Lemeshev as Lensky (his great aria & duel scene)

Valentina Petrova is a peerless Larina, unfortunately the title hero himself (Evgeny Belov) is a bit colourless. (Melodiya 1170902)

Wiecej TUTAJ