Virginia Zeani Tatiana’s Letter Scene 1

Virginia Zeani sang Tatiana in a production of Eugene Onegin in the Teatro Dell’Opera Roma in 1965 opposite her husband, Nicola Rossi Lemeni as Onegin. The conductor and producer was Lorin Maazel and the performances were sung in Italian. Too often, we hear sopranos burdening the delicate score with over heavy, laboured tone, which distorts both Pushkin’s poetry and Tchaikovsky’s music. With her usual clarity Zeani successfully avoids this and captures the youthful impetuosity of Tatiana with insight and subtlety. It is fascinating to hear the effect the change of language has on the music. The intrinsic Russian quality is diminished, making it sound a little like an unknown verismo opera. .