Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress : A Short Guide To A Great Opera

Stravinsky's opera was inspired by engravings of Hogarth's paintings entitled The Rake's Progress. Hogarth was a contemporary of Handel in the eighteenth century. The opera was premièred in Venice in 1951, when Stravinsky was nearly eighty. It comes from his ‘neo-classical'period. It is notably accessible, and enjoyable. W.H. Auden's absurd and witty libretto makes particular use of two of Hogarth's scenes, the brothel, and ‘bedlam', the notorious madhouse. Tom Rakewell, an idle lay-about, pledges his soul to the devil in the guise of Nick Shadow, his alter ego, who informs him that he has inherited a fortune from his deceased uncle. Tom deserts his fiancée Anne, a country girl, and heads for London with Nick. Within a year, he spends money like water, and goes from bad to worse: he frequents Mother Goose's brothel; and he marries Baba the Turk, an existential character, a bearded circus artiste. He runs out of money and his property is sold up. Nick comes for his wages, and demands Tom's soul. Tom stakes his life, wins against Nick at cards, but is cursed to insanity. He dies in Bedlam. Meanwhile, Anne remains loyally devoted to him.Short Guides to Great Operas written by Michael Steen, author of the acclaimed The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, are concise, entertaining, and easy-to-read books about opera. They are packed with useful information and informed opinion, helping to make you a truly knowledgeable opera-goer, and so maximising your enjoyment of a great musical experience.Each at around the price you pay for a standard opera-house programme, and available from all popular ebook retailers and ereaders, they are the perfect accompaniment to a night at an opera – whether that's at home, or at the opera house, or in the cinema for opera on screen, such as ROH Live, Met Opera HD Live, or Glyndebourne Festival in cinemas.Also available: Great Operas – A Guide to 25 of the World's Finest Musical Experiences. A compendium of Short Guides for the opera-goer who wants a wider-ranging reference to the masterpieces of the art form.