«Aleko», S. Rakhmaninov

Opera in one action.
Composer: S. Rakhmaninov.
Libretto: by V.Nemirovich-Danchenko on A. Pushkin's poem "Gypsies".

Producer of stage: Andrei Slonim, Honored worker of culture of Uzbekistan;

Musical Director and Conductor: Aida Abdullaeva, People's artist of Karakalpakstan;

Artistic Director: Zubaidullo Batyrov, Honored worker of culture of Uzbekistan.

Performance duration: 1 hour.

The first Premiere on the stage of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater named after Alisher Navoi (opera studio of the Tashkent State Conservatory) was held in 1966.
The first staging by the creative forces of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater named after Alisher Navoi took place in 1995.

Plot

Gypsy camp pitched its tents on the bank of the river. Softly humming, they quietly and peacefully prepare for bed. An old Gypsy, Zemfira's father, recalls his youth and his love that caused him much suffering. A very short time he was loved by Mariula. After a year she left with the other camp, abandoning her husband and young daughter.
The story of the old man provokes a stormy response from Aleko. He would not forgive betrayal and therefore can not understand why the old man did not take revenge on the unfaithful wife and her lover. If he finds an enemy even sleeping over the abyss of the sea, he will push him into the abyss.

Speeches of Aleko deeply alien and unpleasant to Zemfira, who till recently loved him. Now this person, who came to them in a tabor from another world, is hostile to her, his cruelty is incomprehensible, and love has become foul. Zemfira does not hide the passion that has flared up in her towards the young gypsy. Rocking the cradle, she sings a song about an old, jealous, unloved husband. "I sing a song about you," she says Aleko. Night falls and Zemfira goes on a date.
Left alone, Aleko is immersed in a bitter, painful thought. With the pain he recalls about past happiness. The thought of betraying Zemfira leads him into despair.


Zemfira and a young gypsy return only in the morning. Aleko meets the lovers. For the last time he has prayed to Zemfira about love. Trying to soften her heart, he recalls that for the love of Zemfira, he felt himself free to exile from the society in which he was born and raised. But Zemfira is adamant. The pleas of Aleko are replaced by threats. Overcome with anger, he stabs a young gypsy. Mourning the death of his lover, Zemfira curses the villainy of Aleko. Aleko also kills Zemfira. The noise converge Gypsies. They, who hate executions and murders, do not understand the act of Aleko.

We are wild, we do not have laws,
We do not torment, we do not execute,
We do not need blood and moans,
But we do not want to live with a murderer, -

says Zemfira's father. The gypsies go, leaving Aleko, lonely, embraced by desperate anguish.

Summary
Prologue.
... Aleko, tormented by the painful remorse, recalls the tragic story of his life in the gypsy camp. Trying to abandon the urbanized civilized life, he went into wandering with nomadic gypsies. And he met a young beauty Zemfira among them, and experienced the burning passion of love. But Zemfira quickly cooled to his senses, and in an effort to free herself from any life-long shackles, she turned her gaze to the Young Gypsy who had recently come to the camp. With this began a rampage of passions, which led everyone to a terrible and inexorable outcome ...

First action
Evening in the boundless Bessarabian steppe. Gypsies lead their free, nomadic life. Old Gypsy - the head of the camp - begins to tell the sad history of his distant youth. He tenderly loved the beautiful Mariula, and their happiness was cloudless and light. But once they met another gypsy camp. And Mariula, finding there her new love, left her former lover, leaving him a small daughter - Zemfira. And he, now the Old Man, was left alone...
Aleko violently protests. How could a deceived lover fail to take revenge for his scorned feeling and not fight to death a traitor and an opponent? The terrified Zemfira seeks protection from a life-threatening father. In the camp there is confusion. Aleko and the Young Gypsy are almost ready to rush at each other. Even passionate dances do not discharge the heat, and the wise leader of the camp tells everyone to go to rest. The old Gypsy woman-diviner, foreseeing the impending disaster, tries to stop the raging passions. She witnesses a fervent love conversation between Zemfira and the Young Gypsy. Arranging a meeting at night, they say goodbye. And Zemfira, seeing Aleko, gloomy and immersed in his thoughts, teases his feelings with a passionate song about the hated "old and formidable husband" and a beautiful lover...
       Aleko, left alone, painfully comprehends his loneliness. It seemed to him that a new life among the gypsies, free from laws and prejudices, his love and passion - would bring him the desired harmony. But Zemfira cooled down to him, and an unusual life in the camp - bored. Realizing the treachery of Zemfira, Aleko rushes in search of his beloved, to finally find out everything ...
On the mound at the abandoned grave of Zemfira and the Young Gypsy admit each other in a passionate feeling. The Young Gypsy sings a passionate song about the freedom of love, which knows no barriers and laws. Their meeting is interrupted by the arrival of the dismembered Aleko. He begs Zemfira to return to him. But meets only the mockery of the beloved and the rival. Then, in a thirst for revenge for the first time, like Cain, brought Death into a free camp. In a rage Aleko kills her and, a second later realizing the inescapable heaviness of his crime, for his scolded feeling, Aleko inflicts a mortal blow with a knife on the young Gypsy. Zemfira curses the crime of Aleko in tears and despair. After all, he brought death to a peaceful gypsy camp.
Gypsies flock together, awakened by a terrible news. The old Gypsy mournfully bends over the dying daughter, having heard her last sigh. Aleko, pleading for forgiveness, meets in the eyes of gypsies only fear and hatred. The old Gypsy woman calls for a funeral rite. And the Old Man mournfully and calmly tells Aleko that, without acknowledgment of punishment, they can not live together with the murderer. The whole camp commands that Aleko should leave them forever.
In a mournful procession, the tabor leaves its parking lot. Aleko is condemned to loneliness and longing until the end of the earthly days. And the sad gaze of the Old Gipsy woman-diviner is forever imprinted in his soul as an indelible reproach of conscience, as an eternal verdict for the atrocity and dark power of the raging passions...