Tchaikovsky
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TH 246

Adam Bede

Адам Беде

Projected opera (1893).

• An unrealised project dating from late 1893.

• Libretto based on the novel of the same name by George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1859).

History

Among the books in Tchaikovsky’s library at Klin is a French translation of George Eliot’s story Adam Bede, containing a brief musical sketch by the composer, which was later struck through. It seems likely that this note was made during the last months of his life, when the composer became acquainted with the works of George Eliot, and he also considered writing operas on the subjects of The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton and Mister Gilfil’s Love-Story).

From: The Tchaikovsky Handbook, vol. 1 (2002), p. 422
Copyright © 2002 Alexander Poznansky and Brett Langston