The Miserly Knight

The Miserly Knight, also The Covetous Knight, (Russian: Скупой рыцарь, Skupój rýtsar’) is a Russian opera in one act with music by Sergei Rachmaninoff, with the libretto based on the drama of Alexander Pushkin. The composer decided essentially to set the Pushkin text as written, and had Feodor Chaliapin in mind for the role of the Baron. The first performance was on January 24 (old calendar, 11 January), 1906 at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, with ... more

The Miserly Knight, also The Covetous Knight, (Russian: Скупой рыцарь, Skupój rýtsar’) is a Russian opera in one act with music by Sergei Rachmaninoff, with the libretto based on the drama of Alexander Pushkin. The composer decided essentially to set the Pushkin text as written, and had Feodor Chaliapin in mind for the role of the Baron. The first performance was on January 24 (old calendar, 11 January), 1906 at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, with the composer himself conducting, in a double-bill performance with another Rachmaninoff opera written contemporaneously, Francesca da Rimini. Productions of the opera have been rare. In addition, the characterization of the moneylender, who is identified in the story as being Jewish, has been criticized as anti-Semitic. The opera falls into three scenes. The setting is medieval era England Albert is a young knight who devotes himself to jousting and courtly pleasures, but is now deeply in debt as a result. His father, a very wealthy but... less