Habit Instead of Happiness
It was my great pleasure to attend The Metropolitan Opera’s fathom events broadcast of Eugene Onegin on October 5. I have been a fan of Italian opera for years, and had not yet been introduced to Russian opera. I was extremely moved by the beautiful music, impeccable vocal performances, and the treatment within the play of the Romantic versus the Realistic outlook.
The event was broadcast in the middle of the day on October 5th. I attended the broadcast at the Edwards Stadium 21 theatre on Overland Road. The story originated as a narrative poem by Alexander Pushkin. It was published serially 1825-1832, and a full publication was issued the following year. This novel in verse was adapted into an opera by Pyotr Tchaikovsky in 1879. The focus of the story is on the young woman Tatyana. Tatyana lives on a large estate in the countryside with her sister Olga, her mother Larina, and her nanny Filippyevna. When Olga’s fiancé, Lensky, introduces Tatyana to his friend Eugene Onegin, Tatyana becomes infatuated with him. She writes him a letter to confess her love to him and boldly declare that she is his, if he will have her. Being much older than Tatanya, and well aware of his superfluity, Eugene casually rejects Tatyana’a advances and warns her against writing such things in the future, because other men are not as honorable as he and would take advantage of her. Later, at a ball in celebration of Tatanya’s birthday, Eugene flirts openly and dances with Olga, because he is bored. This angers both Lensky and Tatanya, and leads to a duel between Eugene and Lensky, in which Lensky is killed. After long years of self-imposed exile, Onegin returns to society in St Petersburg to discover that Tatanya has married a great general, and has matured into a beautiful woman. Now it is Eugene who is infatuated with Tatyana. He persuades her to meet him in the garden of her estate, and he confesses his love to her. She admits that she still loves him, but that she cannot neglect her duties as a wife.
The performances were all fantastic. Anna Netrebko’s soprano is famous, and executed brilliantly in her role as Tatyana. Mariusz Kwiecien’s realization of both Eugene’s detached boredom and passionate excess is excellent. My favorite performance by far, however, was Piotr Beczala as Lensky. His rich baritone and energetically expressive face attract the eye and ear, even when other events on stage are more essential to the plot. The character Lensky enjoys the opera’s most well-known aria: “Kuda, kuda vi udalilis” (Act II, Scene I) . Beczala’s emotional performance of Lensky’s final words and lament over the possible death of his body, and certain death of his engagement to Olga and friendship to Eugene, made me weep.
The theme that I focused on in the opera was the contrast of Romanticism and Realism in the production. The conflict between romantic passion and imagination with realistic habit and reason, motivates each character. The conclusion of the play leaves a sense of ambiguity about whether Pushkin is advocating either romanticism or realism. In the opening scene, as Larina and Filippyevna are reminiscing about Larina’s younger days in which she was courted, emphasis is placed on the novels to which Larina was exposed. Larina states that she loved the novels of Richardson and Grandison in which, “you saw a youth and met the gaze of his sunken eyes” (Act I, Scene I) . The heroes in these novels are, “fine dandies, gamblers, and ensigns in the Guards!” (Act I, Scene I) . Such romantic novels and men are made to contrast with Larina’s life after marriage in which she says, “I busied myself with the household,/became resigned and settled down” (Act I, Scene I) . This portrait of marriage as a boring state of settlement as opposed to the fulfilling and passionate lives described by the Romantics, leads one to believe that what will follow is a romantic revelry. As the opening duet continues, however, the two women seem to no longer be lamenting Larina’s loss of youth and passion, but a rhapsody in praise of order and comfort over romantic turbulence. The most prominent refrain from this duet is the phrase, sung in counterpoint by the two women, “Heaven sends us habit instead of happiness,” to which Filippyevna responds, “Thank God!” (Act I, Scene I) .
That heaven sends us habit instead of happiness becomes the thesis statement of the production. The argument is made by contrasting the two main characters, Tatyana and Eugene, with their foils Olga and Lensky respectively. Tatyana states that she is the servant to “mad, fiery passion,” and that, “it’s not in my power to master my own soul” (Act 1, Scene 3) . Where love is concerned she likes to “summon unreachable bliss,” and to, “chase after dreams” (Act I, Scene 3) . Olga, on the other hand, is more realistic about love, admitting that, “In real life there are no heroes./I am contented” (Act I, Scene 2) . Thus Tatyana represents the Romantic attitude and Olga represents the Realistic attitude. This contrast is no less pronounced in the Eugene/Lensky foil. Lensky states that he loves Olga, “as only a poet’s soul can love,” and states that in, “the maddening emptiness of thoughts and words, she shines like a star in the dark night” (Act II, Scene I) . Eugene, though later in the play he epitomizes the romantic outlook, is just as much of a realist as Olga. This contrast makes it difficult to identify Pushkin’s philosophical preference for either Romanticism or Realism.
Works Cited
Eugene Onegin. By Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Alexander Puskin. Dir. Deborah Warner. Perf. Anna Netrebko, Mariusz Kwiecien and Piotr Beczala. Metropolitan opera House, New York. 5 October 2013. Film.
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