Aleko (opera)

"Aleko" ( _ru. Алеко) is the first of three completed operas by Sergei Rachmaninoff. The Russian libretto was written by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko and is an adaptation of the poem "The Gypsies" by Alexander Pushkin. The opera was written in 1892 as a graduation work at the Moscow Conservatory, and it won the highest prizes from the conservatory judges that year. It was first performed in Moscow in 1893.

Performance history

The Moscow premiere took place on 9 May (O.S. 27 April), 1893 at the Bolshoy Theatre in Moscow.

Other notable performances were given in Kiev on 18 October 1893, conducted by Rakhmaninov, while a 27 May 1899 performance in Saint Petersburg at the Tauride Palace utilized the chorus and ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre

Roles

ynopsis

"Time":

"Place":

Weary of his boring upper-class life, Aleko runs off with a band of Gypsies. He moves in with Zemfira, a young gypsy, and she bears him a child. The Old Gypsy, Zemfira's father, warns Aleko not to become too possessive of Zemfira. However, Aleko kills both Zemfira and the man he thinks is her lover. The Gypsies cast him out and disown him.

Principal arias and numbers

*Men's Dance
*The Young Gypsy's Romance
*Aleko's Cavatina

Critical reception

Like Rachmaninov's two other operas, "Aleko" shows Rachmaninov finding his own individual style, independent of the traditional number opera or Wagner's music-dramas. Michael Bukinik, a contemporary of Rachmaninov at the conservatory, recalled the rehearsals for the opera:

"I was a pupil of the orchestra class, and during the rehearsals, we not only admired, but were made happy and proud by his daring harmonies, and were ready to see in him a reformer." [Yasser, Joseph, "Progressive Tendencies in Rachmaninoff's Music" (Winter, 1951-1952). "Tempo" (New Ser.), 22: pp. 11-25.]

Geoffrey Norris has noted criticism of the opera as lacking in dramatic momentum and the libretto as being a hastily crafted "hotchpotch". A contemporary critic in the "Moskovskiye vedomosti" wrote of the opera at the time of the premiere:

"Of course there are faults, but they are far outweighed by merits, which lead one to expect much from this young composer in the future." [cite journal |last=Norris |first=Geoffrey |year=1973 |month=July |title=Rakhmaninov's Student Opera |journal=The Musical Quarterly |volume=59 |issue=3 |pages=441–448 |doi=10.1093/mq/LIX.3.441]

elected recordings

* Melodiya: I. Petrov, N. Pokrovskaya, A. Orfenov, A. Ognivtzev, V. Zlatogorova; Bolshoi Theatre Chorus and Orchestra; Nikolai Golovanov, conductor
* Saison Russe: Vladimir Matorine, Natalia Erassova, Viatchslav Potchapski, Vitaly Tarastchenko, Galina Borissova; Russian State Choir; Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra; Andrei Chistiakov, conductor [cite journal | url=http://oq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/citation/13/4/201 |last=Quraishi |first=Ibrahim | title='Aleko'. Sergei Rachmaninov | journal=The Opera Quarterly | volume=13 | issue=4 | pages=201–204 | date=1997 | accessdate=2007-07-22 | doi=10.1093/oq/13.4.201]

References