Pat Reviews Opera

Mariinsky-2, June 2015, costume designer: Irina Cherednikova

What I love about this recording, in addition to the fantastic voices, is the stage design. It’s tastefully sparse, with a dramatic dark backdrop, which sets the characters into focus. Since the first time I watched it, I was impressed by the costumes, so I though to write a little something about them.

Disclaimer: I know nothing about costuming! In fact, literally everything I know about clothes and fashion comes from Karolina Żebrowska’s videos. In all fairness though, what matters is what I feel when I see the costumes, and ether way, a regular opera-goer doesn’t have a historical database to reference in order to understand the “accurate” story told by the costume designer. Therefore, this will be an entirely personal observation, told with love for the opera and absolutely no research. The pictures in this post are screencaps from the recording, and they don’t necessarily show the costumes that well - but instead of apologizing for the low quality, I’ll urge you to go watch the entire thing :)

And so, without further ado, a little and non-comprehensive ramble about the costumes in this Onegin:

Act 1

The design tells us what the text doesn’t. What we need to know about the Larin family is that they’re living in the countryside: it’s an idyllic, simple and domestic life, far from the glamour and excitement of the big city. They’re in harmony. The peasants we see in the background are dressed in a mix of styles heavily inspired by Russian folk clothing. 

Here’s a shot of the Larin girls’ dresses - simple, for the country life. In the background, you can see their neighbor Lensky’s sharp riding costume.

Here’s a better look. Note the stripes, they show that Lensky is in love. Look out for when you see a striped scarf again…

[The apples! They are telling us a story! But we’re not talking about the apples now…]

At first glance we see Onegin is a dandy from St Petersburg. Sharply dressed, hat and gloves, buttoned up - unlike his friend Lensky, who’s already opened his heart to the Larins and has his coat unbuttoned. Under this first visit, Onegin doesn’t unbutton his coat, and he carries his riding rod with him - closed off, in control. Meanwhile, Tatiana is shaken…

During the letter scene, Tatiana wears her white nightdress, which we’re used to see in almost all productions. I have nothing new to say about this scene’s costume, but the rejection scene….!

Look at Tatiana! She’s dressed up - her dress is much more fancy, and although you can’t see it here, she’s also changed into nicer shoes than the boots she wore until now.

And. Look. At. The. Scarf! She’s wearing it, but when Onegin starts speaking, she takes it off and fiddles with it. It’s her heart she wears on her sleeves, and holds in her hands - but Onegin doesn’t reciprocate.

Onegin wasn’t rattled at all by this all. He’s wearing the same outfit as before, but he did unbutton his coat. He opened up by his own confession, yet he remained sharp and collected.

Act 2

I love the design for Tatiana’s party! The Larin home looks so, well, homely, and I love the rural feel of the partygoers’ dresses - they’ve dressed up their best, but haven’t upgraded the clothes according to the latest fashions. The nuggets of fashion history I know give me the feeling that Tatiana and Olga have new dresses for the party - they seem the most modern - while everyone else have a mix of older fashions. The servants were dressed in simple but nice clothes, and my favourite detail was the sofa where everyone’s coats are piled up - they don’t have any proper wardrobe, it all goes on the Chair!

I love how Triquet looks like he’s been tucked away in an attic somewhere since the 1700s, only being taken out for parties once a year. 

The most important - and my favourite - clothing choice of this party is how Onegin’s dressed:

Here he is greeting Larina - dressed in a black tail coat. You immediately notice he’s overdressed for the party - certainly very suitable for a ball in St Petersburg, but no-one else has a black tail coat in the village! I adore how it immediately marks him as the outsider. Everyone in chorus noticed him too, and started gossiping about this dandy.

Painnnn….. Another important detail: Lensky is wearing the same clothes he wore the night before - he’s been up all night, sleepless. Meanwhile, Onegin has been at home, getting a change of clothes, presumably a little sleep as well.

Act 3

After his years of travel, Onegin is back in St Petersburg. He’s yet again in a tail coat, but I notice it’s a slightly different cut: he’s upgraded to the latest fashions. This ball he’s ended up on is completely different from Tatiana’s party: here, it’s high society. There are many officers in uniform, and those uniforms are so decorated, his black-and-white formal wear seems almost underdressed. The ladies don’t have uniforms, but they are uniform: the dresses are of a similar cut, and it appears blue is the colour currently en vogue. The servants, of course, are wearing fine livery.

Here’s a snap of the ball, and in the background - could that be… Tatiana? That same girl Onegin met in the village, so regal, so beautiful?

Tatiana’s dress is a nice black velvet piece (and, notably, she’s wearing a малиновый берет, a crimson beret, which is always sung in the text but rarely seen on stage). It’s starkly different from all the other dresses. That simple yet very fine design sets her apart from the crowd, what prince Gremin appreciates in his aria about her. She’s a part of this high society, and yet a bit of an outsider. Her scarf is white: she has the utmost respect for her husband, even if it’s not romantic love.

After seeing Onegin again, Tatiana is shaken. And when we see her again, she is dressed in white. Just like in act 1, back in the village - she’s turned into the girl she was!

And. Look. At. The. Scarf!!!!!!! IT’S THE SAME ONE AS BEFORE - but now she’s wearing it inside out, the bright part outside, the dark part inside - their situation has inverted! Now it’s Onegin asking for her love, and Tatiana is doing the rejecting!

by St Petersburg Eifman Ballet

This post will reveal that I do not know how to talk about dance*. I will attempt to do it anyway, because I really, really want to tell you all about Onegin.

(*as if I know how to talk about opera)

The Eifman Ballet company is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Forget classical ballet - this blows everything out of the water. The dancers do incredible things with their bodies and they make it look easy. The dance is insanely expressive, dramatic, sensual - I’m watching the recording again and I am losing my mind. I don’t know how to explain it: you’re on the edge of your seat the entire show, and when it’s over, you realise that you’ve forgotten to breathe - that’s how intense it is!

My favourite of their shows is, of course, Onegin. They’ve transposed the story to be set in 1990s Russia, at the fall of the Soviet Union. I’ve often complained about productions failing to transpose Eugene Onegin into modern times, however, Eifman & Co knew exactly what they were doing. In this evil little essay, I will attempt to explain why they succeeded.

First of all: any costumer that dresses Onegin in red knows what’s up.

Second, I’m obsessed by the meta of Tatiana reading the Eugene Onegin novel:

But most importantly, what I love the most in this adaptation, is that they’ve successfully portrayed the relationship between Onegin and Lensky. They understood the essence of what those two were about - and so the duel, which firmly sets the novel in its time, did not end up being a problem when transposing the story into modern times. In fact, they understood Onegin and Lensky so well that they could get away with cutting the entire duel.

Instead, they had all the other ingredients in the conflict. First, we’ve got their friendship: Onegin and Lensky are close friends. Then, we’ve got the Larin sisters: Olga is Lensky’s girlfriend, and although Onegin spends some time flirting with Tatiana, he isn’t interested in her. Instead, he gets into a fight with Lensky (their relationship is riddled with conflict), and so, when Onegin arrives at the Larin party, he is determined: he’s going to flirt with Olga, to rile Lensky up.

And he succeeds. 

Only after Lensky’s death does Onegin realise what he’s done. That’s the key in their conflict: Onegin very determinedly pushes Lensky, and he doesn’t stop until it is too late. That’s what Onegin is about! He doesn’t anticipate the consequences of his actions until they bite him in the face!! And then he suffers for it!! He’s haunted by Lensky’s death!

This is the reason I love the Eugene Onegin novel. All problems Eugene faces were created by himself - all his pain and suffering were the consequences of his actions. He kills his best friend and for the rest of his life, he’s haunted by it, knowing full well he could - should! - not have done this.

I have barely mentioned Tatiana here - but I think I’ll have to save her for another post, this is already going long enough. Her journey through the story is completely different to the one Onegin is making, even if he’s the catalyst of her arc. The novel’s (or any adaptation’s) title can easily be changed into Tatiana Larina - the contents are still the same, but it reads differently with Tatiana as the title character.

From February 2007 - broadcast 30th November 2020

I have so many thoughts, but I know I won’t get them all satisfyingly down on so we’ll start with this. Surprisingly, despite being obsessed with Onegin for over a decade this was my first time seeing the Carsen Onegin with its most famous cast. The staging emphasises just how *alone* all of the characters are. The parties and dances might be tightly packed, but inside you’re lost in the crowd and outside you’re lost in the void. It is a perfect backdrop for everyone to make poor decisions and speed closer and closer towards tragedy. 

Hvorostovsky is Onegin. He makes it so clear that Pushkin’s antihero wants to be above love and human connection but is deeply in denial about the reality - that he’s looking for this meaning despite himself. He puts so much meaning and cross-meaning into each word, and by the time we get to the end he has nothing left but complete sincerity - and he’s using his self-deception to convince himself it isn’t too late. Fleming’s Tatyana lives in her dreams but (perhaps due to her star power) brings a more grounded, personable approach to her name day and Act III entrance. It’s another natural performance that plays right into the singer’s strengths.