Previously, I have been under the impression that Russian culture values, or is at least deeply entertained, by the virtues of cunning and guile, as established by the Gogol reading. Eugene Onegin both subverts and promotes. It features a character who well and truly falls for what appears to be his own lie. At some time prior to the plot of the Opera, he has convinced himself he is unworthy of love, or is perhaps incapable of giving it. By the end, it is revealed that is is, on some level, a self deception when Onegin admits his love for Tatyana. And in the end, he pays the price.

The whole idea of the Russian mind imposing itself onto reality in the form of subterfuge of course can be seen in Boris Godunov, but here, such warping takes the shape of denial. This interested me because it affirms the link between deception and suffering. In the case of both Onegin and Godunov, truth is kicked around and mutilated with disastrous results. And yet, such tragedies act as affirmations of the Russian identity.

On a side note, I appreciated the musical bits we were assigned for this particular section. I noticed with many of them (especially with some of the gentler ones such as “I Loved you Once”) that the musicians (or composer) seemed to take great liberties with tempo. This isn’t too unusual for Romantic pieces of music in general, but it still interested me because these works also frequently contained rapid notes beneath the lethargic, changeable tempos. I was drawn the most to Evening Bells for this reason.