The Idiot (reduced version)

Libretto by Alexander Medvedev; German version by Brigitta Schrade (R,G)

3S.M.A.3T.2Bar.2B.3mute roles;
2(II=Picc).2(II=corA).2(II=Ebcl).bcl.2(II=dbn)–4.2.3.0–timp.perc(2-3)-harp-cel(ad lib.)-pft(on stage)-strings

The young prince Myshkin, who suffers from epilepsy, returns to St. Petersburg completely destitute after a sojourn of several years in a Swiss sanatorium. In St. Petersburg he immediately finds himself entangled in a web of intrigues around the dark-eyed beauty Nastasya. His love for her forces the upright Myshkin into a macabre relationship with his compulsive rival Parfion Rogoshin, the son of a rich merchant. Nastasya is fascinated by the profound folly of the prince, who meanwhile has become a millionaire as the result of an unexpected inheritance. Rogoshin’s attempt to murder his rival fails, because Myshkin suffers an epileptic seizure during the assault.
Mysckin’s reaction to the deep affection of the proud and pure-minded Aglaya, the youngest daughter of the Yepanchins, with whom he is distantly related, reveals his tragic inaptitude for real commitment. In Pavlovsk, Nastasya gives the anxious prince her seemingly irrevocable word of consent, but flees a few minutes before the wedding to St. Petersburg with Rogoshin.
In a fit of furious jealousy, Rogoshin stabs Nastasya to death and spends hours of prayer next to the body. After a frantic search, Myshkin finds the site of the terrible deed. Oblivious to the world, he caresses the head of Rogoshin, who has sunk into painful torpor.

Dramatic, Tragic