Life with an Idiot

Life with an Idiot
Opera by Alfred Schnittke
Native title	Жизнь с идиотом
Librettist	Viktor Erofeyev
Premiere	13 April 1992 (1992-04-13) Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam

Life with an Idiot (Russian: Жизнь с идиотом, romanized: Zhizn s idiotom) is an opera by the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke to a Russian libretto by Viktor Erofeyev. Written as an allegory of oppression under the Soviet Union, the opera was first performed at Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam, on 13 April 1992.

Roles

Roles, voice types, premiere cast

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 13 April 1992 Conductor: Mstislav Rostropovich
I	baritone	Dale Duesing/Romain Bischoff
Wife	soprano	Teresa Ringholz
Vova	tenor	Howard Haskin
Guard	bass	Leonid Zimnenko
Marcel Proust	baritone	Robbin Leggate

Synopsis

Act 1

As a punishment for not working hard enough, "I" is forced by the authorities to live with an idiot. He chooses Vova from a lunatic asylum. Vova is only capable of speaking a single word: "Ech".

Act 2

At first Vova behaves well but then he suddenly begins to make a nuisance of himself, including tearing up I's wife's copy of the works of Marcel Proust. I and his wife go to live in another room and Vova calms down. I's wife falls in love with Vova and becomes pregnant by him. Then Vova and I turn on the wife. Vova kills her and I becomes an idiot.

Recordings

• Life with an Idiot (live recording of premiere cast), Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Rostropovich (Sony)

Further reading

• The Viking Opera Guide, ed. Amanda Holden (Viking, 1993).
• Del Teatro (in Italian).