Opera Guide and Synopsis: The Rake's Progress, by Igor Stravinsky

The Rake's Progress is an opera in three acts by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written in English by the poet W.H. Auden, is based on a series of eighteenth-century engravings by William Hogarth. The engravings, entitled A Rake's Progress, portray a young man's rise to riches and then descent into immorality and madness.

The opera is written in a neoclassical style, one of the many styles Stravinsky explored in his works. There is a strict divide between aria and recitative, the latter of which uses only harpsichord accompaniment, in the style of composers such as Mozart and Rossini. The Rake's Progress premiered in Venice on September 11, 1951.

Characters in The Rake's Progress

• Tom Rakewell (Tenor)
• Anne Trulove, his sweetheart (Soprano)
• Trulove, her father (Bass)
• Nick Shadow, the Devil in disguise (Baritone)
• Mother Goose, a madam (Mezzo-soprano or contralto)
• Baba the Turk, a bearded lady (Mezzo-soprano or countertenor)
• Sellem, an auctioneer (Tenor)

Synopsis of The Rake's Progress

The story takes place in England in the eighteenth century.

Act I

Scene 1 - Trulove's Country House

Tom Rakewell courts his sweetheart, Anne. Her father, Trulove, worries about Tom's ability to support Anne, so he offers Tom a job. Tom refuses, determining to rely on fortune. He wishes that he had money.

Nick Shadow appears to tell Tom that a rich uncle has died and left him a fortune. He offers his services as a manservant, with wages to be determined after a year and a day, and takes Tom to London to take over the uncle's business.

Scene 2 - Mother Goose's Brothel

Nick takes Tom to a brothel, where he is introduced to Mother Goose and a gang of hooligans. He briefly thinks of his love, Anne, but then gives in to the temptations of Mother Goose and Nick.

Scene 3 - Trulove's Garden

Anne, having not heard from Tom since he went to London, resolves to visit him.

Act II

Scene 1 - Inside Tom's House

Tom wishes he were happy, and Nick Shadow advises him to woo Baba the Turk, a bearded lady and circus attraction.

Scene 2 - Outside Tom's House

Anne arrives to beg Tom to return. He tells her to return home and reveals that he has just married Baba the Turk, who waits impatiently for Anne to leave. Anne finally gives up, and Tom escorts his bride into the house.

Scene 3 - Inside Tom's House

Tom sulks while Baba describes all of her knick-knacks from various places and pleads for his attention. When he refuses to give it, she becomes enraged and smashes her things against the wall until Tom silences her by placing a wig over her face.

Tom falls asleep, and Nick Shadow enters with a machine into which he places a loaf of bread. Tom awakes and wishes that he could turn stone into bread; Nick shows him his machine, and Tom, seeing a way to make a fortune, abandons his wife.

Act III

Scene 1 - An Auction

Several months later, Tom's belongings are being auctioned off. Baba removes the wig from her face and continues singing from where she was interrupted by Tom.

Baba advises Anne to go after Tom, knowing that she loves him. She resolves to go back into show business and veils her face, proclaiming that people must pay to see it.

Scene 2 - A Graveyard

It has been a year and a day, and Nick Shadow names his wages: Tom's soul. He gives Nick a chance to win his soul back through a card game, and Tom wins through pure luck. The Devil leaves, but first strikes Tom insane.

Scene 3 - Bedlam, a Lunatic Asylum

Tom, believing himself to be Adonis, prepares for his wedding to Venus. Anne arrives and plays along with his fantasy, singing him a lullaby. Tom falls asleep, but when he wakes his fellow madmen convince him that the visit from Venus (Anne) was a dream. In despair, Tom dies.

The characters return with an epilogue proclaiming the story's moral: "For idle hands / And hearts and minds / The Devil finds / A work to do."

Source:

• Simon, Henry W. 100 Great Operas and Their Stories. Garden City: Dolphin, 1960.
• A Rake's Progress, by William Hogarth