CCCVIII. STRAVINSKY, Igor: The Rake's Progress

CCCVIII. STRAVINSKY, Igor (1882-1971)

The Rake's Progress (1951)
Jerry Hadley (Tom Rakewell)
Dawn Upshaw (Ann)
Samuel Ramey (Nick Shadow)
Victoria Vergara (Baba the Turk)
John Macurd (Trulove)
Joan Khara (Mother Goose)
Steven Cole (Selem)
Orchestra de l'Opéra de Lyon
Kent Nagano, cond.
(2:27:51)

On a chance visit to the Chicago Art Institute, Stravinsky saw the eight paintings which comprise William Hogarth's brilliant series "Rake's Progress," from 1732-34.

I. The Heir

II. The Levée

III. The Orgy

IV. The Arrest

V. The Marriage

VI. The Gaming House

VII. The Prison

VIII. The Madhouse

Stravinsky:

"These paintings immediately suggested a series of operatic scenes ... I had wanted to compose an English-language opera since my arrival in the United States. I chose W. H. Auden on the recommendation of my good friend and neighbour Aldous Huxley ..."

He was also pretty modest:

"It is easy to find fault in the Rake, to be sure, but no fault, I fear, will be great enough to qualify it (on that score) for admission to the company of the really great operas ... I am now able to see that Anne bears a perilous resemblance to Micaela, that Shadow is a preacher as well as a Devil; that the Epilogue is a little too "nifty" (as Americans say), that the ostinato accompaniment style could do with the contrast of an occasional piece of polyphony, the dramatic opportunity for which might have been found in an extra ensemble or two -- in which, also, the minor characters might have been given more development and connection. But though such things matter, I do not think them likely to be fatal. And, in any case, I am not concerned with the future of my opera. I ask for it only a measure of present justice."

**

ACT 1

Tom Rakewell is in love with Anne. Anne's father -- Trulove -- offers him a job, which Tom rejects, saying he has better prospects.

Nick Shadow appears to tell Tom of a fortune he has inherited from a long-lost uncle. Tom and Nick are off to London to make good, and the two lovers are saying goodbye:

ACT 2

Nick (the Devil) has somehow tricked Tom into believing he's just invented a device to eliminate world hunger:

ACT 3

"The Epilogue is a little too 'nifty' (as Americans say)"

Not sure if nifty had a different meaning in 1951, but Google defines it as "particularly good, skillful or effective." We'll go with that ...

Stravinsky wraps it all up with a Mozartian coda, if Mozart had been fond of Major 2nds and Minor 7ths ...

This is neoclassism defined: