''Aleko'' () is the first of three completed

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s by

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a compos ...

. The Russian

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

was written by

Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko (; – 25 April 1943) was a Soviet and Russian theatre director, writer, pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how t ...

and is an adaptation of the 1827 poem '' The Gypsies'' by

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

. Written in 1892 as a diploma work at the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory () is a higher musical educational institution located in Moscow, Russia. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in musical performance and musical research. Th ...

, it won the highest prizes from the conservatory judges that year and was premiered in Moscow on 9 May 1893.

Performance history

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

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

on 18/30 October 1893. (

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

had attended the Moscow premiere of ''Aleko'', and Rachmaninoff had intended to hear the premiere of Tchaikovsky's ''Pathétique'' Symphony on 16/28 October, but had to catch a train for Kiev to fulfill his ''Aleko'' conducting engagement.) A

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is conside ...

centenary celebration performance on 27 May 1899 at the

Tauride Palace Tauride Palace () is one of the largest and most historically important palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Construction and early use Prince Grigory Potemkin of Tauride commissioned his favourite architect, Ivan Starov, to design his city resi ...

in Saint Petersburg featured

Feodor Chaliapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; 12 April 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass voic ...

in the title role, and utilized the chorus and ballet of the

Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...

. The opera had its first performance in England on 15 July 1915 at the London Opera House under the direction of

Vladimir Rosing Vladimir Sergeyevich Rosing () (November 24, 1963), also known as Val Rosing, was a Russian-born operatic tenor and stage director who spent most of his professional career in the United Kingdom and the United States. In his formative years he ex ...

. The

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through its 2013 bankruptcy, and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, dubbed "the peopl ...

's 2016/17 season opened in

Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz at Lincoln Center is an organization based in New York City. Part of Lincoln Center, the organization was founded in 1987 and opened at Time Warner Center (now Deutsche Bank Center) in October 2004. The organization seeks to “represent th ...

's Rose Hall with a double bill of ''Aleko'' and ''

Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, 'Clowns') is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who mu ...

'', an opera that also premiered in May 1892. James Meena conducted and Stefan Szkafarowsky sang the title role. In 2024

Opera North Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays a ...

presented ''Aleko'' following ''

Cavalleria rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; ) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 Cavalleria rusticana (short story), short story of the same name and subsequent ...

'' in a double-bill with Robert Hayward singing both Alfio and Aleko.

Roles

Synopsis

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 forever.

Principal arias and numbers

*Aleko's Cavatina / Каватина Алеко (Kavatina Aleko) *The Young Gypsy's Romance / Романс Молодого Цыгана (Romans Molodogo Tsygana) *The Old Gypsy's Story / Рассказ Старика (Rasskaz Starika) *Men's Dance / Пляска мужчин (Plyaska muzhchin)

Critical reception

Like Rachmaninov's two other operas, ''Aleko'' shows Rachmaninov finding his own individual style, independent of the traditional

number opera A number opera (; ; ) is an opera consisting of individual pieces of music (' numbers') which can be easily extracted from the larger work."Number opera" in ''New Grove''. They may be numbered consecutively in the score, and may be interspersed wi ...

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's music-dramas. Michael Bukinik, a contemporary of Rachmaninov at the conservatory, recalled the rehearsals for the opera:

I was a pupil of the orchestra class, and during the rehearsals, we not only admired, but were made happy and proud by his daring harmonies, and were ready to see in him a reformer.

Geoffrey Norris Geoffrey Norris (born 19 September 1947) is an English musicologist and music critic. His scholarship focuses on Russian composers; in particular, Norris is a leading scholar on the life and music of Sergei Rachmaninoff, about whom he has writt ...

has noted criticism of the opera as lacking in dramatic momentum and the libretto as being a hastily crafted "hotchpotch". A contemporary critic in the '' Moskovskiye vedomosti'' wrote of the opera at the time of the premiere:

Of course there are faults, but they are far outweighed by merits, which lead one to expect much from this young composer in the future.

Recordings

*1951 Ivan Ivanovich Petrov, Nina Pokrovskaya, Anatoly Orfenov, Alexander Ognivtzev, Bronislava Zlatogorova; Bolshoi Theatre Chorus and Orchestra;

Nikolai Golovanov Nikolai Semyonovich Golovanov (August 28, 1953) PAU, was a Soviet conductor and composer, who was married to the soprano Antonina Nezhdanova. He conducted the premiere performances of a number of works, among them Nikolai Myaskovsky's Six ...

, Melodiya *1987 Evgeny Nesterenko, Svetlana Volkova, Vyacheslav Polozov, Vladimir Matorin, Raisa Kotova; USSR TV & Radio Large Chorus, Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra;

Dmitri Kitaenko Dmitri Georgievich Kitayenko (also spelled Dmitrij Kitajenko; ; born 18 August 1940) is a Soviet and Russian conductor. He was bestowed the title People's Artist of the USSR (1984). He was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union. He studied at Glinka ...

, Moscow Studio Archives / Alto *1990 Arthur Eisen, Lyudmila Sergienko, Gegham Grigoryan, Gleb Nikolsky, Anna Volkova, Vasily Lanovoy; USSR Academic Grand Chorus of Radio & TV, USSR Academic Symphony Orchestra;

Yevgeny Svetlanov Yevgeny Fyodorovich Svetlanov (; 6 September 1928 – 3 May 2002) was a Soviet and Russian conductor, composer, and pianist. Life and work Svetlanov was born in Moscow and studied conducting with Alexander Gauk at the Moscow Conservatory Th ...

, Melodiya *1993 Vladimir Matorin, Natalia Erassova, Viatcheslav Potchapski, Vitaly Tarastchenko, Galina Borissova; Russian State Choir, Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra; Andrei Chistiakov, Chant du Monde *1995 Samson Isoumov, Marina Lapina, Oleg Koulko, Leonid Tischenko; Aleko Choir, Donetsk Philharmonic Orchestra; Roman Kofman (Live Rotterdam), Verdi Records / Brilliant *1996 Nicola Ghiuselev, Blagovesta Karnabatlova, Pavel Kourchoumov, Dimiter Petkov, Tony Christova; Bulgarian Broadcasting Chorus, Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra; Rouslan Raichev, Capriccio *1997 Sergei Leiferkus,

Maria Guleghina Maria Agasovna Guleghina (née Meytardjan (); born 9 August 1959) is a Soviet-born operatic soprano singer, particularly associated with the Italian repertory. Biography Maria Guleghina was born in Odesa, Ukrainian SSR, to an Armenian father and ...

, Ilya Levinsky, Anatoli Kotscherga,

Anne Sofie von Otter Anne Sofie von Otter (born 9 May 1955) is a Swedish mezzo-soprano. Her repertoire encompasses lieder, operas, oratorios and also rock and pop songs. Early life Von Otter was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Her father was Göran von Otter, a Swedi ...

; Gothenburg Opera Chorus,

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (GSO; ) is a Swedish symphony orchestra based in Gothenburg. The GSO is resident at the Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen. The orchestra received the title of the National Orchestra of Sweden () in 1997. Ba ...

;

Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi (; born 7 June 1937) is an Estonian Americans, Estonian American conductor. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn. He initially studied music there, and later in Saint Petersburg, Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevge ...

, Deutsche Grammophon *2006 Egils Silins, Maria Gavrilova, Alexandra Dursuneva, Andrey Dunayev; Moscow Chamber Choir, RSO Moscow;

Vladimir Fedoseyev Vladimir Ivanovich Fedoseyev (; born 5 August 1932, in Leningrad, Soviet Union) is a Soviet and Russian conductor, accordionist, teacher. People's Artist of the USSR (1980). Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1989) and the Glinka State Prize of ...

, Relief *2007 Vassily Gerello, Olga Guryakova, Vsevolod Grivnov, Mikhail Kit; Yurlov Capella,

Moscow Chamber Orchestra The Moscow Chamber Orchestra (MCO) is a chamber orchestra run under the auspices of the Moscow Philharmonia, a state-run enterprise, formerly under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture (Soviet Union) and now, Ministry of Culture of Russian Fe ...

; Constantine Orbelian, Delos *2009 Sergey Murzaev, Svetla Vassileva, Evgeny Akimov, Gennady Bezzubenkov, Nadezhda Vasilieva; Coro del Teatro Regio di Torino,

BBC Philharmonic The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at Media ...

;

Gianandrea Noseda Gianandrea Noseda (born 23 April 1964) is an Italian conductor. He is currently the music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.; general music director (''Generalmusikdirektor)'' of Zurich Opera; principal guest condu ...

, Chandos ;Notable excerpts * 1929

: Aleko's Cavatina. Available on LP, CD, online. Electrical (microphone) recording. A 1924 acoustical (horn) recording also exists. ;Video * 1986 Evgeny Nesterenko (Aleko), Nelli Volshaninova/Svetlana Volkova (Zemfira), Sandor Semenov/Mikhail Muntyan (Young Gypsy), Vladimir Golovin/Vladimir Matorin (Old Gypsy), Maria Papazian/Raisa Kotova (Old Gypsy Woman); Gosteleradio Chorus, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra;

, VAI

References

{{Authority control Operas by Sergei Rachmaninoff 1893 operas Russian-language operas One-act operas Operas based on works by Aleksandr Pushkin Operas