Eugene Onegin is an opera by Pyotr Tchaikovsky that has 3 acts and 7 scenes. The opera is based on the novel by Aleksandr Pushkin. It was first performed in 1879 in Moscow. This opera is episodic, meaning there is no continuity in the story. There are only highlights of Onegin’s life. The opera’s premiere in Moscow took place on March 29, 1879 at the Maly Theatre and was presented by the Moscow Conservatory students. Another performance of the opera was done a couple years later on January 23, 1881 at the Bolshoy Theatre in Moscow (this was the first performance at the Bolshoy.) The first performance outside Russia took place in Prague on December 6, 1888 and was conducted by Tchaikovsky himself; it was sung in Czech. England’s first performance was on October 17, 1892 at London’s Olympic Theatre; the opera was sung in English. It was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on March 24, 1920 and was sung in Italian. It is performed regularly and has quite a few recordings.

The story takes place in the 1820s (over several years) in the country and St. Petersburg, Russia. The opera is about a self-centered hero that lives to lament his unconcerned rejection of a young woman’s love and his hasty provocation of a deadly duel with his best friend. Onegin is upset with his friend, Lensky, for making him go to a party. He decides to get his revenge by dancing and flirting with Lensky’s fiancé, Olga, and Lensky gets jealous. After seeing this, Lensky says Onegin is no longer his friend and challenges him to a duel, which Onegin is forced to accept. At the duel, Lensky sings of his unknown fate and his love of Olga. When Onegin arrives, they are both hesitant to carry on, but can’t do anything to stop it and Onegin shoots Lensky, who dies. Some years later, Onegin looks back on his life with remorse at how empty it is and how he no longer has Lensky in it. He is at a party at a nobleman’s house, when the nobleman, Prince Gremin, walks in with his wife, Tatyana (the young woman whose love Onegin refused), who is now an aristocratic beauty. Onegin, deeply impressed by her, is full of desperate longing and wants to regain her love. She receives a letter from Onegin. Onegin walks in and pleads for her love. She wonders if he loves her now because of her position or if it is true. He tells her it is true and absolute, but she tells him to leave, knowing how close they came to real happiness. She says she still loves him, but will not be unfaithful to her husband and leaves him wallowing in despair begging her to change her mind.