Composing "Eugene Onegin", P. I. Tchaikovsky didn't hope for happy destiny of his creation. It seemed to him that the ordinary of the plot deprived of habitual opera collisions won't be able to carry away the audience. Fortunately, the composer was mistaken. The opera lives more than 100 years. Also isn't present, apparently, in the world of theater which wouldn't put "Eugene Onegin". But when more such staging, the freight of performing traditions is more burdensome, it is more difficult to read the score new view and to carry away the reading public.
Directors of new performance of the Krasnoyarsk opera theatre conceived its decision according to opera views of the composer. In the letter to the friend Fedotov P. I. Tchaikovsky noticed: "Owing to features of my artistic identity I can write with love and passion music on a plot at least and absolutely not effective if only characters inspired in me live sympathy if only I loved them, was sorry how love and feel sorry for living people", "I need people, but not dolls … I look for the intimate, but strong drama based on the conflict of provisions, me tested or seen, able to cut me to the quick".
Making start from this maxim of Tchaikovsky, builds performance drawing the director of the new version of "Eugene Onegin" on the Krasnoyarsk scene. Among the main director's objectives: creation of bright vital images characters, their display in a situation, typical for them, and, above all – an exposure of motivation of acts of heroes, backgrounds of their existence in the offered conditions.
Serious requirements were imposed by Tchaikovsky and to the opera libretto. According to the composer, it has to be laconic, purposeful, have an accurate ideological and figurative core in the basis: "In the opera the conciseness and speed of action is necessary — differently neither the author-musician won't have enough forces to write, nor at the listener attentively to listen to the end". Time and action of the Pushkin novel in new staging appear in the dynamic, concentrated form as if following direct instructions of the author.
Sacrificing many details of the novel, lowering and changing other subject courses and lyrical comments, Tchaikovsky intentionally concentrated the attention on personal tragedy of heroes. This circumstance provided enduring spectator interest which the composer predicted to the creation in the letter to the brother Modest: "You won't believe, to what I am in fury on this story. As I am glad to get rid of the Ethiopian princesses, Pharaohs, poisonings, any bombast! What chasm of poetry in "Onegin"! I am not mistaken, I know very well that scenic effects and the movement there will be a little in this opera, but the general poetry, humanity, simplicity of the plot in connection with the brilliant text will replace with interest all shortcomings".
