The Miserly Knight

The Miserly Knight, Op. 24, also The Covetous Knight (, Skupój rýtsar’), is a Russian opera in one act with music by Sergei Rachmaninoff, with the libretto based on Alexander Pushkin's drama of the same name. It contains roles for five male singers, but no females. The composer decided essentially to set the Pushkin text as written, and had Feodor Chaliapin in mind for the role of the Baron, however, Chaliapin withdrew from the production over artistic differences. The first performance was on 24 January (11 January OS) 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. The director was Vasiliy Shkafer. 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. Roles