It has been a Pocket Opera favorite ever since it launched our first full scale season back in the summer of 78. A long time ago, but as someone once said, at the time it felt like the present. Part of it s success was no doubt due to the bold, fearless, and independent personality of the heroine, who has ventured onto foreign shores to rescue her captive lover - a nice reversal of the usual rescue theme. It s sparkling music continues to charm, stir and excite. Tchaikovsky s Eugene Onegin introduces us to an entirely different type of heroine - shy, dreamy, but burning with repressed passion, unfortunately directed at the cold, unresponsive young Eugene.
Desperation leads to recklessness.
She writes him a letter of passionate adoration, unburdening her heart entire, only to be rejected. The tables are eventually turned when Tatiana matures into the poised, gracious woman that Onegin finally falls in love with - too late. Life imitates art, sometimes quite badly. While he was still immersed in the opera, Tchaikovsky actually received such a letter from a young lady who was passionately smitten. The result was a total disaster.