"Letter Scene" from Tchaikovsky’s "Eugene Onegin" (Audio + Vocal Score)

pf: Georg Solti cond/ Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Teresa Kubiak (Tatyana) Year of composition: 1877-78, revised 1880, 1885, 1891 Eugene Onegin (Russian: Евгений Онегин, Yevgény Onégin), Op. 24, is an opera (“lyrical scenes“) in 3 acts (7 scenes), composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto, organised by the composer himself, very closely follows certain passages in Alexander Pushkin’s novel in verse, retaining much of his poetry. Eugene Onegin is a well-known example of lyric opera, to which Tchaikovsky added music of a dramatic nature. The story concerns a selfish hero who lives to regret his blasé rejection of a young woman’s love and his careless incitement of a fatal duel with his best friend. This scene, where Tatyana expresses her love for Eugene Onegin by writing a letter to him, comes in the first act of the opera. It contains some sublime music, as well as an ingenious usage of musical “on