When Tatyana is introduced to the dashing, unconventional Onegin, she believes that he is the man of her dreams. But he carelessly rejects her - with terrible consequences.

Tchaikovsky?s best-loved opera is based on Alexander Pushkin?s verse drama of the same name. It provided Tchaikovsky with an opportunity to present everyday and real-life experiences on the stage, in contrast to the epic narratives that characterized much European opera of the time.

Eugene Onegin quickly became a firm favourite with Russian audiences. Within a decade of its 1879 premiere it had been performed over 100 times in St Petersburg.