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Home , Igor Stravinsky, Orpheus (ballet), Otakar Kraus, Robert Rounseville

21M.273 Emily Wang

Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress : An in three acts

Chronology :

1732-2 creates a series of paintings titled "The Rake's Progress." 1947 Stravinsky views Hogarth's paintings at the Chicago Art Institute; they provide inspiration for the opera he had wished to write since arriving in the US. Following 's suggestion, he employs W. H. Auden as librettist. 1948 Stravinsky receives the finished libretto, written by Auden and his friend . 1951 Stravinsky finishes composing the for the opera, and it premieres in Venice, at the Teatro , with conductor Ferdinand Leitner, as Anne Trulove, as Tom Rakewell, and as Nick Shadow. 1953 The first commercial recording, made with harpsichord accompaniment (previously, piano accompaniment was substituted) and with Stravinsky conducting, is made after a production at the Metropolitan.

Plot Summary:

Tom Rakewell and Anne Trulove are a young couple in love, but Anne's father is leery of the match, fearing that Rakewell is a lazy, poor man, unsuitable for his daughter. Fortunately for Rakewell, a mysterious man named Nick Shadow suddenly appears with the news that he has inherited a fortune from a previously unknown uncle. Rakewell is called away to to sign papers, and he bids Anne goodbye, promising to send for her and her father soon. Once in London, however, he is caught up in the mayhem of Mother Goose's brothel and in Nick Shadow's machinations. A year passes, in which Rakewell marries a bearded lady and then goes broke while attempting to market a phony bread-making machine, all at Shadow's urging. Shadow then reveals himself to be the Devil, and demands Rakewell's soul as payment for his services. Rakewell retains his soul by winning a card-guessing game against Shadow and Shadow descends into the earth in a fury, taking Rakewell's sanity with him. Rakewell is left thinking he is Adonis, and when Anne visits him in the asylum, he calls her Venus and begs her forgiveness. Anne comforts him with a and then leaves when he falls asleep. The final scene, the Epilogue, is a moralizing scene where the whole cast pronounces that lazy hands will be put to ill use by the Devil.

Excerpts to show :

1. The appearance of Nick Shadow in Act 1, Scene 1: Throughout the opera, Tom Rakewell makes three wishes, each of which is granted by Shadow and each of which moves the plot along. Here, Rakewell's makes his first wish: he wishes for money, and Shadow appears instantly with the announcement that Rakewell's deceased uncle has left him a fortune. Although Rakewell has received a windfall and there is rejoicing, the scene ends ominously, with Anne's tears, Trulove's cautioning words, and Shadow's foreboding pronouncement, which reveals that Shadow is not the servant he pretends to be, but is rather the master over Rakewell (reference to the myth, which becomes more apparent in later scenes).

2. Act 3, Scene 3, in Bedlam, where an insane Tom Rakewell is visited by Anne: At the end of Act 2, Rakewell wins against Shadow in the battle for his soul, but pays with his mind-- that is, his sanity. Rakewell is left believing that he is Adonis, and he rejoices in his marriage with Venus while the other Bedlam inmates mock him. Anne comes to Bedlam to visit him, and Rakewell takes her to be Venus and begs forgiveness. Anne sings a sweet lullaby, accompanied by two flutes, soothing the inmates and lulling Rakewell to sleep. We see explicit references to the Venus and Adonis myth, and implicit references to the myth and the power of music.

3. Epilogue: Rakewell, Shadow, Anne, Trulove, and Baba (bearded woman who marries Rakewell in Act 2) enter and sing a vaudeville consisting of limerick-like stanzas that conclude with the opera's moral: "For idle hands/And hearts and minds/The Devil finds/A work to do." We see a reference to the final scene of Don Giovanni , where a chorus of voices moralizes after the downfall of the main character.

Quotations :

On the mix of influences evident in the opera: "There is no work by Stravinsky...that embodies more conspicuously than The Rake's Progress the artistic self-consciousness... On its every level--plot, scenario, text, music--the opera can seem to throw up such a din of supererogatory allusion as to imperil its own dramatic integrity. The plot...makes explicit or implicit reference...to the myths of Venus and Adonis as well as Orpheus...to the Faust legend and to the tradition, while at the same time embodying the distinctive structure of a fairy-tale." ~Taruskin, NGDO III

"The Rake's Progress is a virtuoso exercise in twentieth-century ... In particular, Don Giovanni is rather boldly evoked--comedy and tragedy, rakishness and retribution...the graveyard and the moralizing vaudeville at the end. Through a veil, Stravinsky in his music seems sometimes to evoke Monteverdi, Pergolesi, Donizetti, Tchaikovsky, and others." -Kerman, Opera as

Tom Rakewell's redemption through the love of Anne: "The best performances of The Rake are those that...seriously address its moralizing purpose...in the traditional if not 'classical' operatic theme of redemption through love. Tom's final madness, though it complicates this interpretation...does not preclude it." ~Taruskin, NGDO III

"The libretto begins ... the lovers are preparing to re-enact the story of Venus and Adonis in a new interpretation. ...[Tom] is half-redeemed by Anne's love: not with a clear temporal division, as in the myth, but with a simultaneous one; he is both on earth and in hell at the same time--that is, insane." ~Kerman, Opera as Drama

Our DVD : R.M. Arts, "From the Salzburg Festival" Conductor: Sylvain Cambreling Producer: Peter Mussbach

Tom Rakewell (): Anne Trulove (soprano): Trulove (): Jonathan Best Nick Shadow (): Monte Pederson

Comments on the production : The costumes and sets are meant to shock the senses with their bright colors and blunt imagery: the obscene drawings on Mother Goose's costume, skull-and- crossbones on Anne's dress, the bright pink of the boys' and the whores' costumes. The Rake is hardly the well-dressed gentleman of Hogarth's paintings, but a roughly dressed painter who belts out his lines. I found the effect somewhat too jarring on a whole--for an opera that is meant to be a tribute to the past, the production seems to stray too far from the inspirations Stravinsky drew upon. (But perhaps I'm biased towards more "classical" styles. For instance, I enjoyed the singing of soprano Dawn Upshaw the most--her tone is quite pure, and she sings lyrically and sweetly, evoking the innocent, forgiving nature of Anne Trulove.)

Another DVD (found on amazon.com): Arthaus Musik, Glyndebourne Opera Stage director: John Cox Music director: Bernard Haitink

Tom Rakewell (tenor): Leo Goeke Anne Trulove (soprano): Felicity Lott Trulove (bass): Richard van Allen Nick Shadow (baritone):