Tatiana lives in the countryside and knows the big world only from books. However, the world appears in their family mansion in the form of the bon vivant Eugene Onegin, who messes with Tatiana's head. Onegin arrogantly rejects her feelings, breaks Tatiana's heart, and after a confrontation, shoots his friend Lensky in a duel. Since then, Onegin has been running away from himself as a “useless man”. After many years, he attempts to establish a relationship with Tatiana, who has become a wealthy woman through her marriage to Prince Gremin. Her rejection makes him even more painfully aware of the emptiness of his life.

 

In 1879, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's adaptation of Pushkin's verse novel Eugene Onegin was a major success in the history of opera. Tchaikovsky's sincere preoccupation with Tatiana's unrequited love led to the creation of a unique musical expression that consciously sought to distance itself from the operatic pathos of his time. He outlined the unfulfilled desires of a society tired of itself in his "lyrical scenes" with a subtle psychological sense.