Eugene Onegin

I've been working through a translation of Eugene Onegin after seeing the Metropolitan Opera production of the Tchaikovsky opera from last fall live on demand. I was leery of reading a novel-in-verse, and I actually did cheat and read a prose translation by Roger Clarke before I attempted to get through a Russian-to-English translation of his verses.

I'm now very jealous of my Russian-literate friends, because I'm sure that as gorgeous as the language is translated into English, it's even more stunning in original Russian. It's very likely that being familiar with both the opera plot and having worked through a prose translation helped a great deal, but I found it much easier than I would have expected to read a novel-in-verse and still get the benefits of reading a novel narrative. That said, you still get Tatiana's gushy, passionate letter in verse form.

I write this to you - what more can be said? 


What more can I add to that one fact? 


For now I know it is in your power 


To punish me contemptuously for this act.


But you, keeping for my unhappy lot 


Even one drop of sympathy 


Will not entirely abandon me. 


At first I wished to remain silent;


Believe me, my shame, my agony, 


You never ever would have heard. 


As long as hope remained preserved



That rarely, even once a week,


I'd see you in our country house,

 To hear your voice, to hear you speak, 


To say a few words, and then, and then 


To think, and think, and think again,

All day, all night, until the next meeting.

I love Tatiana's letter-in-verse to Onegin because it really gets to the heart of why Eugene Onegin is one of my favorite classics. Maybe I watched too much Wishbone as a child, but for me, but for me, one of the great joys of reading and really latching onto a story is believing in/relating to the characters. Finding some hook to your own life. Tatiana reminds me so very much of a younger/high school version of myself, passionately scribbling away in the middle of the night, poring over books, and superimposing literary characteristics onto the people around me - all things that I did when I was younger.

For her character, this is very much a story of seeing the world through literature, falling in love, and having to disentangle her literary fantasies from real life. It's all so beautifully illustrated in the scene where she visits Onegin's library after he's left. While going through his books, she comes to the realization that the person she imagined him to be was really a superimposition of all the literary heroes she had read about.

I've been there before. I did not, however, write nearly as well as Tatiana (through Pushkin) did. Her letter is one of my favorite, and in my opinion, most beautiful parts of Pushkin's novel-in-verse.

Spring Break

I had such a great time visiting friends at Cornell over spring break. With a week off from classes, I was glad to have the chance to get out of New York City for at least a few days, and see upstate New York for the first time. I wasn't disappointed. Ithaca is absolutely beautiful, with gorges, rivers, and lots of greenery. I had forgotten how much I missed being in a place with trees, fresh air, and no skyscrapers. Cornell's campus is really quite stunning, especially the clock tower, Gothic Way, and the AD White library. I generally enjoy wandering around gothic-style college campuses (which UW was but NYU is most definitely not), and so the change of scenery made for a very nice short spring break trip.

I headed down with a friend on Friday evening via the Shortline bus. (Note to self, never plan to do bluebook citations on a bumpy bus ride ever again, or at least without anti-motion sickness pills). We arrived at Ithaca sometime after midnight and wandered off to Short Stop Deli for sandwiches. The next morning, I got beignets at Northstar Cafe with two friends. So worth it. That place is delicious, especially because I haven't had authentic beignets in a long time. That afternoon, to make up for the fact that I wouldn't be able to see it live in NYC, we saw "Werther" broadcasted Live in HD at the Ithaca Mall theater. I'll probably be blogging about that in much greater detail soon, as it's now probably one of my favorite operas, and easily among the very best productions I've seen so far. Also,  the experience of seeing an opera live in HD was an interesting one. Again, there will probably be a much more detailed blog post on this. I do find it funny, though, that not one day in Cornell, I'm making up for something I would have done in NYC. I guess I'm slowly becoming a New Yorker after all.

The rest of the trip was spent wandering around Cornell, visiting the gorges and falls (which are very pretty, even when frozen over), drinking tea, wandering around College Town, hanging out in the computer science labs with my grad student friends, playing piano in the lounges, playing board games, and spending a lot of time reading in cafes, [and emotionally recovering from 'Werther":)]. Despite how cold it was, I really enjoyed my stay, and I wondered more than once what law school would have been like if I had opted to go to a school with a more traditional college campus and college town, rather than a very fast-paced, urban setting like the middle of Manhattan. I think I would definitely have enjoyed the more open-campus feel of a quieter setting. I've heard that New Yorkers recommend trying to get out of the city every once in a while for a change of scenery, and I'm very glad I did so for spring break.

The Enchanted Island

I saw my first Metropolitan Opera production, The Enchanted Island, a few weeks ago, and I enjoyed it a lot. I'm normally not the biggest fan of Baroque opera, but it was fun to watch a pastiche opera that mixed the music of several Baroque composers with an original libretto. The premise of The Enchanted Island is essentially a retelling/mashup of "The Tempest" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

The plot, as related by the New York Times, "centers on Prospero, the brooding hero of “The Tempest,” an exiled duke of Milan who lives on a remote island with his devoted daughter, Miranda, and spends his days immersed in books containing formulas for potions and magic spells. Here the sorceress Sycorax, only mentioned in Shakespeare, is Prospero’s former lover and a central character. Prospero has banished Sycorax to the dark realm of the island, stolen her spirit servant, Ariel, and forced her savage son, Caliban, into servitude. Hoping to ensure Miranda’s future and end his exile, Prospero conceives a plan to have Ariel create a storm that will wash ashore a passing ship bearing Prince Ferdinand, whom Prospero hopes to match with Miranda. But the spell is sabotaged by Sycorax, and another ship, bearing the four Athenian lovers from Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” is beset. A matrix of mismatched romantic pairings ensues on the island, due to Ariel’s hapless applications of love potion"

So all-in-all, a pretty ingenious mash-up of "The Tempest" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The production pulled various pieces from Baroque composers and wrote new lyrics to fit the music in a pastiche style. The staging was beautiful. There were intricately built sets, scenes with a a large number of extras, and some pretty eye-catching moments, such as mermaids suspended from midair during the "Neptune" scene. It's very fitting for a Baroque opera, which is meant to eschew minimalism for spectacle. I also liked the plot. Sort of. At intermission, somebody said that they couldn't tell if it was a comic opera, or a satire of a comic opera, and I agree. However, bringing in the four lovers from "Midsummer Night's Dream" via the storm that was supposed to bring Ferdinand in was a pretty clever way to merge the two story lines together. I also liked Sycorax being involved in the plot, and turning out to be a surprisingly sympathetic (and central) character. Also, the orchestra was amazing. They were stylistically spot-on and the quality of their ensemble playing was incredible. Also, I got to hear Placido Domingo live for the first time.

On the flip side, I'm not the biggest fan of Baroque opera. (I'm firmly a fan of Romantic and modernist opera, so I liked both "Wozzeck" and "Werther" much better as a matter of personal choice). Also, I thought the mash-up was clever, but I don't know how I felt about it. I get that it's just supposed to be a fun, light-hearted romp through Shakespearean comedy and Baroque music, with fantastic singers and stunning set and costumes, but I don't know.... I just couldn't get into the plot. (Basically, I either need to be invested in the characters, or the plot has to be very, very funny). I wasn't invested in the characters, and the plot wasn't really funny enough to make up for it.

This was a good first Met production to see, though. It hit all the right spots: good staging, gorgeous sets, star power, amazing singing, amazing playing from the orchestra, and it was overall a lot of fun to see live.

National Poetry Month

Happy National Poetry Month!