Why does Eugene Onegin, the famed opera of the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, endure? It’s a curious thing. It certainly wasn’t the work that the composer was most proud of – his opera about Joan of Arc, for one, written in the wake of Eugene Onegin’s success, was more ambitious and closer to his heart, but never resonated as strongly.
In fact, in his 25-year career in the 19th century, Tchaikovsky wrote 11 operas and only two are regularly performed – this and Queen of Spades. Queen of Spades has a great story going for it – following a woman who sells her soul to the devil to win a game of cards, and the man obsessed with uncovering her secret. Eugene Onegin, on the other hand, does not – the tale of a self-involved and unlikable hero who spurns the love of a young woman only to regret it later.
Tchaikovsky recognised this problem the moment that the idea of adapting Alexander Pushkin’s novel of the same name was brought to him by a famous opera singer in May 1877. He thought the strength of the novel was in the beauty of how it was written, not in its plot, and stayed up all night stressing over it until he had an epiphany on how to do it. What would make it work, above all, was emotional sincerity.
It's difficult not to speculate that this may have had something to do with Tchaikovsky’s personal life. He was 37 at the time, and that same year, he married his former student Antonio Miliukova, a disastrous partnership. Nine years earlier, he had nearly married someone else – the Belgian soprano Desiree Artot – but it ended before it really began. The composer later said that she was the only woman he ever loved. Quite a similar emotional circumstance to Eugene Onegin’s, wouldn’t you say?
There have been countless stagings of Eugene Onegin around the world, many of which play with the dreamlike nature of the story – with most of the action taken only in the character’s minds, finding inspiration more in what they want their lives to be than in what they actually are.
The staging that’s on in the UAE at the moment, showing on Friday at Dubai Opera, is by the Czech Republic’s National Theatre Brno. The music is stirringly performed, the costuming is impeccable and the use of light and colour is often breathtaking. Interestingly, unlike others in recent years, it’s not Eugene's (Ales Jenis) mind we find ourselves getting lost in, it’s his love interest Tatyana (Linad Ballova).
In this version, it’s the long scene set in Tatyana’s bedroom the night after she meets Eugene that is most transcendent, as she grapples with her love. When she sleeps, her bed soars through the air and maidens populate the stage to echo her sentiments in chorus. And, thankfully, the English translation above the screen captures the beauty of Pushkin’s words that Tchaikovsky was careful to stay faithful to – beauty that matches the music, some of the best of the composer’s career.
Eugene is as contemptible as ever. It’s only in his final sequence, as he grapples with the stupidity of his indifference and the crushing consequences of his past actions that his performance transcends – this is the emotional sincerity that Tchaikovsky built the work around, and part of the reason it will continue to be staged for centuries to come.
Eugene Onegin will be performed at Dubai Opera on Friday
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
German plea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the German parliament that. Russia had erected a new wall across Europe.
"It's not a Berlin Wall -- it is a Wall in central Europe between freedom and bondage and this Wall is growing bigger with every bomb" dropped on Ukraine, Zelenskyy told MPs.
Mr Zelenskyy was applauded by MPs in the Bundestag as he addressed Chancellor Olaf Scholz directly.
"Dear Mr Scholz, tear down this Wall," he said, evoking US President Ronald Reagan's 1987 appeal to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
Specs
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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'Avengers: Infinity War'
Dir: The Russo Brothers
Starring: Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Robert Downey Junior, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen
Four stars
UAE SQUAD
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Mohamed Usman (vice captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Imran Haider, Tahir Mughal, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed, Fahad Nawaz, Abdul Shakoor, Sultan Ahmed, CP Rizwan
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The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
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Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
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War
Director: Siddharth Anand
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Ashutosh Rana, Vaani Kapoor
Rating: Two out of five stars
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THE APPRENTICE
Director: Ali Abbasi
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Maria Bakalova, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The specs
Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo 16-cylinder
Transmission: 7-speed auto
0-100kmh 2.3 seconds
0-200kmh 5.5 seconds
0-300kmh 11.6 seconds
Power: 1500hp
Torque: 1600Nm
Price: Dh13,400,000
On sale: now
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
The biog
Prefers vegetables and fish to meat and would choose salad over pizza
Walks daily as part of regular exercise routine
France is her favourite country to visit
Has written books and manuals on women’s education, first aid and health for the family
Family: Husband, three sons and a daughter
Fathiya Nadhari's instructions to her children was to give back to the country
The children worked as young volunteers in social, education and health campaigns
Her motto is to never stop working for the country
TV (UAE time);
OSN Sports: from 10am
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
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Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
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Traits of Chinese zodiac animals
Tiger:independent, successful, volatile
Rat:witty, creative, charming
Ox:diligent, perseverent, conservative
Rabbit:gracious, considerate, sensitive
Dragon:prosperous, brave, rash
Snake:calm, thoughtful, stubborn
Horse:faithful, energetic, carefree
Sheep:easy-going, peacemaker, curious
Monkey:family-orientated, clever, playful
Rooster:honest, confident, pompous
Dog:loyal, kind, perfectionist
Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent
