Schedule for Aleko (opera in concert) 2022

Composer: Sergey Rachmaninov
Principal Chorus Master: Andrei Petrenko
Musical Preparation: Marina Mishuk

Orchestra: Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra

opera in concert in 1 acts

Performed in Russian

Aleko, composed in 1892, was Rachmaninoff's graduation work for the Moscow Conservatoire. The complex conditions for writing the opera (the pre-prepared libretto was by Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko after Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin's poem The Gypsy; nothing could be altered and there was a time limit – just one month could be spent on the score) did not prevent the young composer from becoming truly engaged in the subject. As Rachmaninoff later recalled, his opera drew Tchaikovsky's attention and Tchaikovsky's influence in Russia's music circles was so great that at his advice the young composer´s opera was accepted for production by the Bolshoi Theatre. The premiere took place on 27 April 1893. After the stunning success of the opera, Tchaikovsky asked Rachmaninoff if he would agree to a combined production of Iolanta and Aleko at the Bolshoi Theatre in autumn the same year. Tchaikovsky's unexpected death prevented this plan from coming to fruition…

Aleko 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 19 May 1892.

The Bolshoi Theatre's premiere took place on 9 May (O.S. 27 April) 1893 in Moscow.

The composer conducted another performance in Kiev on 18/30 October 1893. (Tchaikovsky had attended the Moscow premiere of Aleko, and Rachmaninoff had intended to hear the premiere of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony on 16/28 October, but had to catch a train for Kiev to fulfill his Aleko conducting engagement.) A Pushkin centenary celebration performance on 27 May 1899 at the Tauride Palace in Saint Petersburg featured Feodor Chaliapin in the title role, and utilized the chorus and ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre.

It is a romantic love story of a gypsy Zemfira Aleko. In order to be with his lover, Aleko renounced his former life. But his happiness was short-lived. Upon learning of the infidelity of his young wife, Aleko kills her in a fit of jealousy. Roma expelled the murderer of the camp. From now on he is doomed to loneliness.

A band of gypsies has pitched its tents for the night on the bank of a river. Beneath a pale moon, they light campfires, prepare a meal and sing of the freedom of their nomadic existence. An old gypsy tells a story. Long ago, he loved Mariula who deserted him for another man, leaving behind Zemfira, their daughter. Zemfira is now grown up, has her own child, and lives with Aleko, a Russian who has abandoned civilisation for the gypsy life. Hearing this story, Aleko is outraged that Zemfira’s father took no revenge on Mariula. But Zemfira disagrees. For her, as for her mother, love is free, and she herself has already tired of Aleko’s possessiveness and now loves a younger gypsy, one of her own people. After dances for the women and the men, the gypsies settle down to sleep. Zemfira appears with her young lover, whom she kisses passionately before disappearing into her own tent to look after her child. Aleko enters and Zemfira taunts him, singing about her wild lover. Alone, Aleko broods on the catastrophe of his relationship with Zemfira and the failure of his attempt to flee the ordinary world. As dawn comes, he surprises Zemfira and her lover together. In a torment of jealousy he kills them both. All the gypsies gather, disturbed by the noise. Led by Zemfira’s father, they spare Aleko’s life but cast him out from them for ever.