Stravinsky, Igor: The Rake's Progress (1948-51) 150'
Opera in three acts
Music Text
Libretto by W H Auden and Chester Kallman (E,Cz,F,G,I)
Scoring
Major roles: lyrS,dramM,hT,Bar; minor roles: A,T,2B; chorus 2(II=picc).2(II=corA).2.2-2.2.0.0-timp.perc:offstage bell/cuckoo-hpd(or pft)-strings
For full details on this stagework, including synopsis and roles, please visit our Opera section.
World Premiere
9/11/1951
Teatro la Fenice, Venice
Carl Ebert, dir / Nicola Benois, prod / Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Milan / Igor Stravinsky
Repertoire Note
One inspiration for this "moral fable" in "Italian-Mozartian" style ("I will lace each aria into a tight corset") was Hogarth's series tracking the downfall of Tom Rakewell, who squanders his inheritance on women, gambling, and drink and dies in a madhouse. In Auden's much admired libretto, Tom is equipped with a sporadic moral conscience, as well as a satanic alter ego: Nick Shadow. As in Oedipus Rex, man is here a victim of implacable forces that control and crush him. But Anne Trulove, steadfast in devotion, rescues Tom's soul. The pervasive detachment of Stravinsky's score doubles the pathos of Anne's final lullaby.
Reproduction Rights
This programme note can be reproduced free of charge in concert programmes with a credit to Boosey & Hawkes/Joseph Horowitz.
Recommended Recording
Jerry Hadley, Dawn Upshaw, Samuel Ramey, Grace Bumbry, Steven Cole, Anne Collins, Robert Lloyd, Roderick Earle, Lyon Opera Chorus, Lyon Opera Orchestra, Kent Nagano
Erato 0630127152
Opera in three acts
Music Text
Libretto by W H Auden and Chester Kallman (E,Cz,F,G,I)
Scoring
Major roles: lyrS,dramM,hT,Bar; minor roles: A,T,2B; chorus 2(II=picc).2(II=corA).2.2-2.2.0.0-timp.perc:offstage bell/cuckoo-hpd(or pft)-strings
For full details on this stagework, including synopsis and roles, please visit our Opera section.
World Premiere
9/11/1951
Teatro la Fenice, Venice
Carl Ebert, dir / Nicola Benois, prod / Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Milan / Igor Stravinsky
Repertoire Note
One inspiration for this "moral fable" in "Italian-Mozartian" style ("I will lace each aria into a tight corset") was Hogarth's series tracking the downfall of Tom Rakewell, who squanders his inheritance on women, gambling, and drink and dies in a madhouse. In Auden's much admired libretto, Tom is equipped with a sporadic moral conscience, as well as a satanic alter ego: Nick Shadow. As in Oedipus Rex, man is here a victim of implacable forces that control and crush him. But Anne Trulove, steadfast in devotion, rescues Tom's soul. The pervasive detachment of Stravinsky's score doubles the pathos of Anne's final lullaby.
Reproduction Rights
This programme note can be reproduced free of charge in concert programmes with a credit to Boosey & Hawkes/Joseph Horowitz.
Recommended Recording
Jerry Hadley, Dawn Upshaw, Samuel Ramey, Grace Bumbry, Steven Cole, Anne Collins, Robert Lloyd, Roderick Earle, Lyon Opera Chorus, Lyon Opera Orchestra, Kent Nagano
Erato 0630127152
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Ian Bostridge, Deborah York, Bryn Terfel, Anne Sofie von Otter, Peter Bronder, Anne Howells, Martin Robson, Julian Clarkson, Monteverdi Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, John Eliot Gardiner
Deutsche Grammophon 4596482
Click here to purchase this CD set from Amazon
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