Native title Жизнь с идиотом First performance 13 April 1992 Librettist Viktor Yerofeyev Adapted from Life with an Idiot | Written 1992 Composer Alfred Schnittke Language Russian | |
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Premiere 13 April 1992 (1992-04-13)
Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam Similar Lady Macbeth of the Mtsen, War and Peace, Semyon Kotko, The Gambler, The Nose | ||
Alfred schnittke life with an idiot tango
Life with an Idiot (Russian: Жизнь с идиотом, Zhizn s idiotom ) is an opera by the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke to a Russian libretto by Viktor Erofeyev. An allegory of Soviet oppression, the opera was first performed at Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam, on 13 April 1992.
Contents
life with an idiot by schnittke susanne elmark
Act One
As a punishment for not working hard enough, "I" is forced by the authorities to live with an idiot. He chooses Vova from a lunatic asylum. Vova is only capable of speaking a single word: "Ech".
Act Two
At first Vova behaves well but then he suddenly begins to make a nuisance of himself, including tearing up I's wife's copy of the works of Marcel Proust. I and his wife go to live in another room and Vova calms down. I's wife falls in love with Vova and becomes pregnant by him. Then Vova and I turn on the wife. Vova kills her and I becomes an idiot.