Discover Prokofiev's Opera The Gambler
The spin of a roulette wheel determines the action, which whirls to a dramatic climax.
Introduction | Synopsis | Characters
Introduction
Prokofiev loved Dostoyevsky’s 1866 novel The Gambler and wrote the libretto himself, condensing 160 pages into four acts while remaining remarkably true to the prose and mood of the original. His music fits the text, rather than vice versa. Dramatic orchestration intensifies the action with driving rhythms and thick brass scoring.
The work was finished in 1917 but never performed at the Mariinsky Theatre, as planned. This was partly because of its radical new style of continuous recitative; it is almost entirely made up of unrhymed dialogue taken virtually unchanged from Dostoyevsky’s novel. There are no obvious melodies, no arias or duets. The singers complained that it was too dissonant and impossible to sing. The Russian Revolution of February 1917 put an end to the debate and precluded its staging at the Mariinsky. It is still relatively unknown.
The story concerns the ambiguous relationship between Alexei, a tutor for a widowed general, and Polina, the general’s stepdaughter. Money is a driving force: the general borrows large amounts and believes that he is about to inherit, Polina is at the mercy of whosoever can afford to marry her, the general’s mistress dumps him when she realises he is poor. The whole builds to a strident climax when Alexei gambles at the roulette wheel obsessively raking in money before rushing off to shower Polina with his winnings – which she rejects.
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Synopsis
ACT I
Setting: A hotel in a fictional German spa resort, Roulettenburg.
Originally, the opera was set in the 1860s, in the current Royal Opera production the action is updated to the 1930s.
Impoverished Russian tutor Alexei is madly in love with Polina, a poor ward on holiday with her Russian family. He has tried to help her by gambling but has lost all the money. She is angry and distraught.
Polina’s stepfather, a widowed general, is Alexei's employer. He chides Alexi for gambling. A telegramme arrives from the general’s elderly aunt. She is very ill and he is waiting for her to die so that he can inherit her money, and then marry his mistress Blanche.
Polina dares Alexei to prove his love to her by making a pass at a German baroness sitting in a nearby park. Alexei is so impulsive that he complies, to the anger of the baroness's husband.
ACT II
The hotel lobby
The general dismisses Alexei and warns him not to behave so rashly.
Alexei talks with Mr Astley, an Englishman staying in the hotel. He learns that the general’s mistress is only with him for his money, and that the general has promised to propose to her - once he receives his inheritance. .
The Marquis brings Alexei a note from Polina in which she tells him not to behave like a schoolboy. Alexei is angry and suspects that the Marquis has designs on Polina, especially as she stands to inherit some of her aunt’s fortune.
The general’s elderly aunt Babulenka then arrives. She says that she is not dying, but has come to recuperate and gamble at the spa. The general is horrified as he now has no hope of paying off his debts.
ACT III
The casino
Babulenka loses all her money at the casino, ignoring the general’s pleas to stop. Blanche, realising the general is now poor, transfers her attentions to another suitor. The general collapses in despair.
Babulenka, now humbled, returns to Moscow and has to borrow her own train fare home.
ACT IV
Alexei's room in the hotel
Alexei finds Polina in his hotel room. She has brought him a letter from the Marquis in which he says he is financially ruined and that she still has debts outstanding to him.
Alexei rushes to the casino to try to win money for Polina. He has an amazing streak of lucky and wins 20 times in a row, breaking the bank.
He runs back to Polina and offers her the money. She is bitterly angry, saying that her love is not a commodity. She tosses the money back and runs off.
The opera ends with Alexi deliriously reliving the excitement of his winning streak at the roulette wheel, a hopeless gambling addict.
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Characters
Alexei: Tutor to the general's family, he is young and impulsive and madly in love with Polina. He will do anything to impress her – including gambling.
Tenor
Polina: The general’s stepdaughter, she is an ambiguous femme fatale who leads Alexei on, daring him to increasingly dangerous behaviour.
Soprano
The General: Alexei’s employer and Polina’s stepfather. Foolish and dissolute, he keeps borrowing money to impress his mistress in the belief that he is shortly to inherit.
Bass
Blanche: The general’s worldly-wise and manipulative mistress. She loses all interest in him once it is clear that he is not rich.
Mezzo-soprano
The Marquis: A sinister French hanger-on who lends the general money at extortionate rates, and is ruined when it becomes clear that the general cannot repay him. Polina is attracted to him, but he flees when he is bankrupted, leaving her distraught.
Tenor
Mr Astley: An Englishman staying at the hotel, who befriends Alexei. He is one of the few characters who can temper his behaviour and resist the lure of the roulette wheel.
Baritone
Babulenka: The General’s rich aunt, he believes that she is about to die and leave him a fortune, but she turns up at the spa and proceeds to gamble away her fortune. She is filled with remorse at her actions.
Mezzo-soprano
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