July 12: The Miserly Knight by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Music and libretto by Sergei Rachmaninoff, after one of the "Little Tragedies" by Alexander Pushkin

London Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Vladimir Jurowski

Cast:

Albert -- Richard Berkeley-Steele
Servant -- Maxim Mikhailov
Moneylender -- Viacheslav Voynarovskiy
The Duke -- Albert Schagidullin
The Baron -- Sergei Leiferkus
Aerialist (silent role) -- Matilda Leyser

From The New Grove Dictionary of Opera:

The Miserly Knight [Skupoy rïtsar’]

Opera in one act, op.24, by Sergey Vasil’yevich Rakhmaninov to the slightly shortened text of the ‘little tragedy’ (1830) by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin; Moscow, Bol’shoy Theatre, 11/24 January 1906.

With this opera, the entire series of Pushkinian ‘little tragedies’ had been put to music after the fashion of Dargomïzhsky’s The Stone Guest, the first such setting, in which the unaltered original dramatic text was adopted in lieu of libretto (the others were Mozart and Salieri, set by Rimsky-Korsakov, and A Feast in Time of Plague, set by Cui). Rakhmaninov’s opera differs from the rest by virtue of its symphonic approach, which makes it one of the very few Russian operas in the tradition of Wagner’s Ring. Its high dramatic pressure, demanding a maximum of virtuosity from both singers and orchestra, achieves near-expressionistic intensity at climaxes, belying the composer’s reputation as a melancholic lyricist of limited expressive range.

The action revolves around the conflict between a miserly baron (baritone) and his spendthrift son Albert (tenor). The latter, having rejected the advice of a moneylender(tenor) that he poison his father to receive his inheritance, lodges a complaint with the local duke (baritone). The father, summoned by the duke to appear and answer the son’s charges of non-support, dies suddenly of apoplexy. The heart of play and opera alike is the second scene, a soliloquy for the baron in his subterranean vault, gloating over his fortune. As set to music (with Shalyapin in mind, though he did not sing in the original production, which was conducted by the composer in a double bill with his Francesca da Rimini) this 25-minute study in abnormal psychology is a tour de force for poet, composer and performer alike, unquestionably Rakhmaninov’s finest operatic achievement. It has been effectively performed alone, in concert (by Shalyapin and Siepi, among others).

Citation from Taruskin, Richard. "Miserly Knight, The." The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Ed. Stanley Sadie. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 15 Jul. 2008