Granted, Stravinsky did, too, but his was simply a series of paintings, which apparently acted as a storyboard for his work. Auden on The Rake’s Progress . The Rake's Progress is an English-language opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky.The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress (1733–1735) of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on 2 May 1947, in a Chicago exhibition. Fri 14 Jan 2000 17.35 GMT Huxley. I had heard The Rite of Spring, but this was a … The music is composed as a melodic flirt with the composer’s classical predecessors, but with Stravinsky’s added twist. The canvases were produced in 1732–1734, then engraved in 1734 and published in print form in 1735. W. H. Auden (1907 – 1973) had become a U.S. citizen in 1946.

The Rake's Progress. Now you finally have the chance to see The Rake’s Progress at The Göteborg Opera. Different people may offer different answers to those questions, and how this fascinating story is interpreted may well say something about the viewer, but all of that literary analysis and pondering aside, after the very moving “Mourn for Adonis” scene, the characters break the fourth wall with a timely warning for the viewers, as if all of this was indeed merely just a lesson rather a true unfolding story, and it is the quote that opens this article with which this opera ends: And it is with that that our opera series ends, a full (more than a) month of big, challenging works that I had to work really hard to try to say something about, but in the end, as usual, I enjoyed it. Watching this opera, it’s amazing to think what Stravinsky drew from. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. A moral fable with comical elements and musical nods to the great composers of the time.

In short. Auden and Chester Kallman Sung in English with English surtitles With its beautiful arias contrasted with episodes of high drama and low comedy, The Rake’s Progress reveals Stravinsky’s very personal take on the neo-classical style during a turning point in the composer’s career.

Auden on The Rake’s Progress . Today’s piece, however, comes from paintings. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. In much of the music we’ve discussed throughout the past few weeks, the modernness of the music has exhibited itself in things like the setting of the text to music, avoidance of typical opera structure and form (arias, duets, etc. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Igor Stravinsky’s demonic/comic opera The Rake’s Progress is a 19th century masterpiece. Discovery of this evolution in his approach to setting text also entails a reassessment of the composer's aesthetic concerns. Also, it’s been a long, long time since we’ve seen Stravinsky. . © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress (1733–1735) of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on 2 May 1947, in a Chicago exhibition. First published on Fri 14 Jan 2000 17.35 GMT. Rakewell is in London, face-to-face with an entirely new world of decadence and temptation, and quickly becomes a man that his Anne would hardly recognize, although she does, and it’s awkward. The Progress of a Motive in Stravinsky's. For idle hearts and hands and minds the Devil finds work to do. ( Log Out /  Act III is the longest of the three, nearly half the performance time of the opera, and it is where Rakewell reaps what he sowed. ( Log Out /  Chandler Carter; The Rake's Progress and Stravinsky's Return: The Composer's Evolving Approach to Setting Text. 8 in Cm, op. Act II is when things become real, and is the shortest of the three in the opera. Quotes from different acts like the following: Well, I guess I don’t want to spoil too much of it, but it does get one to thinking, “When was the point when Rakewell actually changed?” Or did he ever? Examples include The Soldier’s Tale (1918). All rights reserved. 14 no. The enormously complicated rhythm with its constant change of metre has sometimes been described as drawing a circle with a straight ruler. Auden were inspired by 18th century artist William Hogart’s picture series The Rake’s Progress. 5 in A, K. 219, ‘Turkish’, “I knew that surely my wish would come true.” (Rakewell), “The progress of a rake begins.” (Nick Shadow), “You may repent at leisure.” (Nick Shadow), “Can love not keep a maytime vow in cities?” (Anne Trulove), “Is it for this I left the country?” (Rakewell), “I wish I were happy.” (Rakewell, after which Nick Shadow instantly appears), “For he alone is free who choses what to will.” (Nick Shadow), “My tale shall be told by both young and old.” (Rakewell), “… a game of chance to finally decide your fate…” (Shadow, who has revealed himself as the devil).

It doesn't feel like a transitional work, but it is the effortless appropriation of the stylisation of 18th-century opera, complete with a reliance upon set-piece arias and recitatives, and the use of a classically proportioned orchestra, gives no hint of the plunge into serialism that Stravinsky would make in the following years. 73, View fugueforthought’s profile on Facebook, View fugueforthought’s profile on Twitter, Lisa Casal-Galietta: A (Red) Door to Classical Music, Follow Fugue for Thought on WordPress.com, Beethoven Piano Sonata no. You do not currently have access to this content. The series of paintings by William Hogarth titled A Rake’s Progress dates from 1733. Even by the end of Act I, Anne laments that she hasn’t heard from her would-be husband. At the start of World War I Stravinsky permanently left Russia and later became resident of France, where he also received citizenship. However, close analysis of the opera The Rake's Progress (1948–51) shows that Stravinsky actually takes care to set the text intelligibly, and at certain moments, even expressively. Change ), Shostakovich String Quartet No. In the curve of Stravinsky's development, The Rake's Progress is a crucial work, effectively signalling the end of his neoclassical period. There’s foreshadowing, irony, a character’s tragic flaw and ultimate downfall, a very real conflict between good and evil, and all of this forces us to ask ourselves questions and ponder the decisions and their outcomes that we vicariously experience. All have a quicksilver precision about the orchestral playing, but Chailly's is let down by Cathryn Pope's pallid Anne Truelove, and Gardiner's is spoilt, amazingly enough, by Bryn Terfel's Nick Shadow, which is blustering and declamatory where it should be insidiously persuasive, to that extent that not even Ian Bostridge's rapturous Tom Rakewell can compensate. But there is no ambiguity about The Rake's Progress, composed in the years after the second world war, and first performed in Venice in 1951 , a work in three full acts, with a libretto by WH Auden and ChesterKallman, based on Hogarth's series of engravings of the same name. The majority of the operas we’ve discussed are based on works of others, like those from Berg and Shostakovich, Debussy, Bartók, either stage works or even timeless fairy tales, like that of Bluebeard.