Genesis of the Opera

YEVGÉNY ONÉGIN (Евгений Онегин - Eugene Onegin)
Lyric Scenes in Three Acts (1879)
Music by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky - Пётр Ильич Чайковский (1840-1893)
Libretto by the composer, his brother Modest, and Konstantin Stepanovich Shilovsky, after Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin's novel in verse (1833)

Setting and time setting - A country estate in Russia, and St. Petersburg, circa 1820
Approximate running time - 2 hours and 30 minutes

Characters and voices

Larina, a landowner - mezzo soprano
Tatyana, her daughter, a teenager - soprano
Olga, Tatyana's older sister - contralto
Filipyevna - an old nursemaid - mezzo soprano
Yevgeny Onegin - landowner and playboy - baritone
Lensky - his friend, a poet, the Larins' neighbor and Olga's intended - tenor
Prince Gremin - Tatyana's husband in the third act - bass
A Company Commander - bass
Zaretsky - Lensky's second and duel organizer - bass
Triquet - a Frenchman - tenor
Guillot - a valet de chambre, Onegin's man - silent
Peasants, ballroom guests, landowners, officers
...