The Russian Gambler

1. The Russian Gambler Cast
2. The Gambler The Movie
3. The Gambler Song
4. The Russian Amber Room
5. The Russian Gambler Tv Series
6. The Gambler Album

“The Gambler” is a novella by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky that was originally published in 1867. The story, inspired by Dostoyevsky’s own real life gambling addiction, tells the tale of a young tutor named Alexei Ivanovich who begins gambling to win enough money to become a rich man and therefore win the favor of the woman that he loves. In chronicling the disastrous love affairs and gambling adventures of Alexei Ivanovich, Dostoevsky explores the irresistible temptation to look into the abyss of ultimate risk that he believed was an essential part of the Russian national character. About The Double and The Gambler.

The Gambler (Russian: Игрок — Igrok in transliteration) is an opera in four acts by Sergei Prokofiev to a Russian libretto by the composer, based on the 1866 story of the same name by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Prokofiev had decided on this story as an operatic subject in 1914, and the conductor Albert Coates, of the Mariinsky Theatre, encouraged Prokofiev to compose this opera and assured him of a production at that theatre.^[1] Prokofiev wrote the opera in piano score between November 1915 and April 1916, and completed the orchestration in January 1917.^[2]Vsevolod Meyerhold was engaged as stage director. However, in the wake of the 1917 February Revolution, that production never occurred.

Performance history[edit]

The opera did not receive its first performance until 1929, after it had been extensively revised (in 1927),^[3] at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels. Prokofiev prepared an orchestral suite based on the opera in 1931 (see below).

The Bolshoi Opera performed the opera at the Metropolitan Opera (The Met) in New York City in 1975, but the Met did not mount its own first production until March 2001.^[4]

The original version of the opera was finally staged in 2001 at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky.^[5]

Roles[edit]

Synopsis[edit]

Place: Roulettenburg, a fictional European spa resort

Time: The 1860s

Act 1[edit]

In the Grand Hotel garden, Alexei, tutor to the General's family, meets Polina, the General's ward, who is in debt to the Marquis. Alexei loves Polina, and informs her that he observed her directions to pawn her jewelry and gamble with the funds. However, he lost the money. The General is enamoured of the much younger demimondaine Blanche, and enters with her, the Marquis and Mr Astley, an Englishman. When asked about his losses, Alexei says he lost his own savings. He is chided that someone of his modest income should not gamble, but Alexei dismisses the idea of saving money with a caustic diatribe. Astley is impressed and invites Alexei to tea. The General then receives a telegram from 'Babulenka' (literally a diminutive of 'grandmother'; she is, in fact, the General's aunt and Polina's grandmother) in Moscow. The General is hoping that Babulenka will die soon so that he can inherit her money and marry Blanche.

Polina is frustrated that she cannot repay her debts to the Marquis. While Alexei continues to protest that he loves her, she wonders if he has any other interest than greed. The General interrupts their conversation. Polina challenges Alexei to prove his love, and to see if he would truly do anything for her, by making a pass at a German Baroness sitting in the park. Alexei does this, to the anger of the Baron. In the ensuing fuss, the Baron and Baroness leave.

Act 2[edit]

In the hotel lobby, the General reproaches Alexei for his actions. Alexei is unrepentant, upon which the General dismisses him as his family tutor. The General then tries to obtain the help of the Marquis in preventing any appearance of a scandal. Mr. Astley enters, and explains to Alexei the General's concerns. Blanche had earlier asked the Baron for a loan, which upset the Baroness. Because of the high social status of the Baron and Baroness, the General is keen to avoid any sense of impropriety. Astley further explains that the General cannot propose to Blanche until he receives his share of the inheritance from Babulenka. Alexei begins to think that once Polina receives her own share of the inheritance, the Marquis will attempt to win her over.

The Marquis appears on the General's behalf, to try to mollify Alexei's behaviour. Alexei is contemptuous to the Marquis, until the Marquis produces a note from Polina, which calls on Alexei to stop behaving like a schoolboy. Alexei accuses him of making Polina write the letter and leaves in anger. The Marquis tells the General and Blanche that he was successful in subduing Alexei.

The General predicts Babulenka's death that same evening, but immediately afterward, her voice is heard, as she has arrived at the hotel, in good health. She greets Alexei and Polina with some affection, but at once she sees through the General and the others. She says that she has overcome her illness and plans to recuperate, and gamble, at the spa.

Act 3[edit]

The Russian Gambler Cast

At the casino, Babulenka has been losing her money at the roulette tables, and ignoring all pleas to stop. The General is despondent and sees his chances with Blanche diminish. After the Marquis tells just how much Babulenka has lost, the General suggests to summon the police but The Marquis dissuades him. Alexei arrives, and the General and the Marquis ask for his help to halt Babulenka's gambling losses. Prince Nilsky, another potential suitor to Blanche, then arrives and further enumerates Babulenka's losses. The General collapses, distraught, and then runs into the casino. Blanche departs with Nilsky. Alexei wonders of what will happen with Polina's family, after Babulenka's financial losses. Babulenka, exhausted and depleted of funds, wants to go home to Moscow. Babulenka asks Polina to come with her, but declines. The General bewails Babulenka's losses and his own loss of Blanche to Nilsky.

Act 4[edit]

In his hotel room, Alexei finds Polina, who has a letter from the Marquis. The Marquis says he is selling General's properties mortgaged to him, but will forgive fifty thousand for Polina's sake, and Marquis will consider their relationship as over. Polina feels this paying her off as an insult and wish she had fifty thousand to fling at Marquis's face. Alexei is deliriously pleased that Polina has turned to him for assistance.

Rushing to the casino, Alexei has a run of good luck, winning twenty times in a row and breaking the bank. After an entr'acte, the other patrons continue to talk about Alexei's run. Alexei returns to his room, yet he continues to hear the voices of the croupiers and the other gamblers. He then becomes aware of Polina who has been waiting for him. He offers her funds to pay the Marquis back. She refuses and asks whether he really loves her. When Alexei gives her the money, she tosses it back in his face and runs out. The opera ends with Alexei alone in the room, recalling obsessively his success at the tables.

Recordings[edit]

• Revised version (Melodiya CD 10 01271): Vladimir Makhov, Gennadiy Troitskiy, Nina Polyakova, Tamara Antipova; All-Union Radio Opera Chor, Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio and Television, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, conductor (1963 recording)^[7][8]
• Revised version (Philips 454 559): Nikolai Gassiev, Ljubov Kazarnovskaya, Marianna Tarassova, Valery Lebed, Sergey Aleksashkin, Vladimir Galusin, Elena Obraztsova, Alexander Shubin, Andrei Khramtsov, Elena Mirtova, Erik Eglit, Evgeny Kochergin, Gennadi Bezzubenkov, Gennady Anikin, Gregory Zastavny, Lia Shevtzova, Liubov Sokolova, Liudmilla Kannunnikova, Olga Kondina, Sergei Naida, Sergei Yukhmanov, Vladimir Zhivopistsev, Yevgeny Fedotov, Yuri Dolgopolov, Yuri Zhikalov; Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre; Valery Gergiev, conductor (1996 recording)^[8]
• Original version (Exton OVCL-00155): Mikhail Urusov, Olga Guryakova, Leonid Zimnenko, Elena Manistina, Pavel Kudryavchenko, Vladislav Verestnikov, Evgenia Segeniuk; Soloists of the Bolshoi Opera; The Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra; Gennady Rozhdestvensky, conductor (2001 recording)^[8]
• Video (UITV; Kultur in the USA): Misha Didyk (Alexei); Kristīne Opolais (Polina); Vladimir Ognovenko (General); Stefania Toczyska (Babulenka); Stephan Rügamer (Marquis); Sylvia de la Muela (Blanche); Viktor Rud (Mr. Astley); Staatskapelle Berlin; Daniel Barenboim, conductor (2008 recording)^[8][9]
• Video (Mariinsky 0536): Sergei Aleksashkin (General); Tatiana Pavlovskaya (Polina); Vladimir Galuzin (Alexei); Nikolai Gassiev (Marquis); Alexander Gergalov (Mr Astley); Nadezhda Serdyuk (Mlle Blanche); Andrei Popov (Prince Nilsky); Oleg Sychev (Baron Wurmerhelm); Andrei Spekhov (Potapych); Mariinsky Orchestra; Valery Gergiev, conductor (2010 recording)^[10]

Suite: Four Portraits and a Dénouement from The Gambler, op. 49[edit]

Prokofiev produced an orchestral suite from the opera in 1931. The four portraits are Alexei, Babulenka, the General and Polina; the dénouement is not, in fact, the last scene of the opera, but represents Alexei's winning streak at roulette. As The Gambler is not a number opera, none of the characters has any extended arias; Prokofiev, therefore, gathered the basic materials for the suite by tearing up the score and heaping the pages relating to each character together in piles.^[11]

References[edit]

Notes

1. ^Porter, Andrew, 'Prokofiev's Early Operas: The Gambler. The Love of Three Oranges' (August 1962). The Musical Times, 103 (1434) 528-530.
2. ^Robinson, Harlow (2000). 'Dostoevsky and Opera: Prokofiev's The Gambler'. The Musical Quarterly. LXX (1): 96–106. doi:10.1093/mq/LXX.1.96. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
3. ^David Nice Prokofiev: From Russia to the West 1891-1935: New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003; p. 121
4. ^Anthony Tommasini (21 March 2001). 'Spinning the Roulette Wheel With a Firm Russian Hand'. New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
5. ^'Gennadi Rozhdestvensky: Conductor'. State Academic Bolshoi Theatre. Archived from the original on 2011-06-03. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
6. ^'The digital opera archives of La Monnaie'. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
7. ^Although '1966' is given by Operadis (see next note) and in the printed documentation of Melodiya's CD release (2007), it is incorrect. The well-known tenor Matvei Matveyev, who plays the 'Ardent Gambler', died 4 December 1964, and the original Melodiya release number of the LP set - D 012559-64 - reveals that the recording was made in 1963 (14th March, from <https://records.su/album/36835>). 1966 references the date of the filmed version of the opera, which uses this recording as its soundtrack. [From research by Michael Weston, 2019]
8. ^ ^abcdRecordings of The Gambler on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
9. ^UITV DVD: OCLC816329556; Kultur DVD: OCLC463312204.
10. ^Mariinsky DVD: OCLC845457071.
11. ^Taruskin, The Gambler

Sources

• Earl of Harewood (ed.), Kobbé's Complete Opera Book London: The Bodley Head, 1987 (Tenth ed.) ISBN0-370-31017-9
• Taruskin, Richard (2007). L. Macy (ed.). 'Gambler, The / Igrok; Le joueur'. New Grove Dictionary of Opera / Grove Music Online. Retrieved 2007-06-12.

Considered one of the greatest writers who ever lived, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
captured the spirit of 19th-century Russia while dealing with weighty religious
and philosophical subjects in his work. He enjoyed a significant level of
success during his lifetime, but his stature as an author has continued to grow
in the 100+ years after his death. He’s also managed to influence an impressive
collection of writers, including everyone from Ernest Hemingway to Jean-Paul
Sartre.

Of course, the biography of Fyodor Dostoyevsky wouldn’t be included here
unless he had some manner of connection to gambling. As it turns out, he has a
couple.

First off, Dostoyevsky was an avid gambler for much of his life, often
putting himself and his family in financial jeopardy in the process. Second, he
penned the famed literary work known as The Gambler, which coincidentally was
used to help alleviate some of the monetary hardships that his arisen from his
love for casinos.

Once we’ve covered the high (and low) points of his life, I’ll also take a
closer look at some of his more notable works. And for those who prefer movies
to books, I’ve included a few recommendations for films based on his most famous
gambling-related novel.

The Early Life of Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Dostoyevsky was born on November 11th, 1821, in Moscow, Russia to Mikhail and
Maria. The second of eight children, he grew up playing in the gardens of the
Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, where his father served as a doctor. Mikhail
later accepted a position as a collegiate assessor, a move that granted the
family noble status.

The young Fyodor was interested in literature from an early age, and he
received a liberal dose of both modern classics and fairy tales from his parents
and nanny. When he was four, his mother taught him to read and write by using a
bible.

He was sent to a series of boarding schools in 1833, and the future author
often struggled to fit in among his more aristocratic classmates. Fyodor and his
brother Mikhail were eventually sent to the Nikolayev Military Engineering
Institute, although the former was rejected because of his poor health and
instead assigned to an academy in Estonia. In 1837, Dostoyevsky’s mother died of
tuberculosis.

Military Academy Years

Dostoyevsky’s love of the arts stood in stark contrast to most of his
classmates, as they preferred subjects such as engineering, science, and math.
Despite his tendency to stick out, he managed to earn the respect of both
teachers and peers, picking up the nickname “Monk Photius” along the way (due to
his fascination with religion).

His father died in 1839, and the official cause was listed as a stroke. A
neighbor, however, accused the local peasantry of murder, although they would
later be acquitted.

While deeply troubled to the point of a seizure, Dostoyevsky continued his
studies and eventually became an engineer cadet. He moved out on his own, often
traveling to Reval to visit his brother. During these trips, he would be exposed
to all manner of high culture, but he was also introduced to the joys of
gambling for the first time.

Beginnings of Literary Career

The first literary work by Dostoyevsky was published in 1843, but this-and a
number of other translations-failed to bring him any money or accolades. He
therefore decided to write a novel, and his first effort, Poor Folk, was
published in 1846. Due to its success, he decided to devote himself to writing
full-time, resigning his post in the military.

The work was a success, and he followed it up with The Double in the same
year. The latter was a commercial and critical disappointment, however, and the
strain brought on a series of seizures. Between his poor health and fondness for
gambling, the author often had to rely on others to get by. He continued to
produce various short stories, but his affiliation with a group of socialists
would land him in trouble in 1849.

Exile and Imprisonment

In 1849, Dostoyevsky was arrested on charges of reading and distributing
banned literature. He and others were initially sentenced to death for their
actions, but the verdict was commuted at the last minute by Emperor Nicolas I.
Instead, he was sentenced to four years of hard labor in a Siberian prison camp.

Dostoyevsky spent his time packed inside a barracks with 200 other prisoners.
His hands and feet were constantly shackled, and he suffered from hemorrhoids,
weight loss, fever, and seizures. Despite all of this, he somehow survived and
was released in 1854.

Renewed Literary Output

The terms of his sentence also required Dostoyevsky to serve a stint in the
military, so he joined the Siberian Army Corps of the Seventh Line Battalion. He
also wrote The House of the Dead, drawing on his own experiences for this
semi-autobiographical look at a Siberian prison camp.

He sometimes served as a tutor to make ends meet, and a formal letter of
apology eventually earned him the right to publish books and even get married.
His financial struggles continued, and he was released from his military service
in 1859. Dostoyevsky was also given permission to return to Russia, and he
wasted no time in doing so.

His literary output continued, but the author always seemed to suffer from
severe bouts of poverty. His seizures continued, but this didn’t prevent him
from visiting Eastern Europe, falling in love, and blowing his remaining
finances at the casinos in Baden-Baden and Wiesbaden.

A Long Honeymoon

After the death of his first wife and brother, Dostoyevsky married the
stenographer who’d helped him complete The Gambler. They departed for Eastern
Europe for a honeymoon, and they wouldn’t return to Russia for more than four
years. He started a family during this period, wrote The Idiot, and finally
managed to conquer his addiction to gambling.

Later Life and Death

Dostoyevsky continued to increase the size of his family, although he also
endured chronic health problems, police surveillance, and continued debt. He
also ran into occasional legal problems regarding the content of his work,
although none of it resulted in imprisonment or exile.

The publication of The Writer’s Diary in 1876 brought an influx of admirers,
although his health problems continued. He considered moving to a different
climate, but that was before he received a personal request from Tsar Alexander
II to educate the ruler’s children.

The author soon found himself the toast of Russia, receiving numerous honors
and rubbing elbows with all manner of celebrities and notables. Unfortunately,
his health problems continued, and these were later compounded by the death of
one of his sons from a massive epileptic seizure.

In January of 1881, the author began to suffer from pulmonary bleeding.
Doctors were consulted, but they could do nothing to prevent the inevitable. On
February 9th, 1881, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky passed away at the age of
59.

He was buried in a Saint Petersburg cemetery near two of his favorite poets,
and it was reported that the crowd of mourners ranged in size from 40,000 to
100,000.

The Gambler The Movie

Quotes from The Gambler

Since you’ve wound up on this site, there’s a decent chance that you enjoy
slots, roulette, poker, or some other manner of gaming. For those who also
aspire to improve their understanding of classic literature, there no better
place to start than The Gambler.

Written in 1867, this novella is perhaps the most critically acclaimed story
ever penned about games of chance. Of course, there’s also a lot more taking
place within the pages, including greed, addiction, desperation, and unrequited
love.

For those who are totally unfamiliar with The Gambler, here are some
excerpts. These should also serve as a decent introduction to Dostoyevsky’s
distinctive style of writing.

• “But gamblers know how a man can sit for almost twenty-four hours at
  cards, without looking to right, or to left.”
• “Well, what, what new thing can they say to me that I don’t know myself?
  And is that the point? The point here is that-one turn of the wheel, and
  everything changes, and these same moralizers will be the first (I’m sure of
  it) to come with friendly jokes to congratulate me. And they won’t all turn
  away from me as they do now. Spit on them all! What am I now? Zero. What may
  I be tomorrow? Tomorrow I may rise from the dead and begin to live anew! I
  may find the man in me before he’s lost!”
• “No, it was not the money that I valued-what I wanted was to make all
  this mob of Heintzes, hotel proprietors, and fine ladies of Baden talk about
  me, recount my story, wonder at me, extol my doings, and worship my
  winnings.”
• “In the same way, I saw our General once approach the table in a stolid,
  important manner. A lackey darted to offer him a chair, but the General did
  not even notice him. Slowly he took out his money bags, and slowly extracted
  300 francs in gold, which he staked on the black, and won. Yet he did not
  take up his winnings-he left them there on the table. Again the black turned
  up, and again he did not gather in what he had won; and when, in the third
  round, the RED turned up he lost, at a stroke, 1200 francs. Yet even then he
  rose with a smile, and thus preserved his reputation; yet I knew that his
  money bags must be chafing his heart, as well as that, had the stake been
  twice or thrice as much again, he would still have restrained himself from
  venting his disappointment.”
• “Well, wherein lies my difficulty? It lies in the fact that by a single
  turn of a roulette wheel everything for me, has become changed.”
• “Even as I approach the gambling hall, as soon as I hear, two rooms
  away, the jingle of money poured out on the table, I almost go into
  convulsions.”

If you’re not exactly the literary type, The Gambler has also inspired a
number of movies that you might find more palatable. Some of the most notable
include the following:

The Gambler Song

• The Great Sinner (1949)

  A study of gambling addicts starring Gregory
  Peck and Ava Gardner.

• The Gamblers (2007)

  This low-budget German film emphasizes the romance
  between a tutor and the stepdaughter of a gambling addict.

• The Gambler (1997)

  Michael Gambon portrays Dostoyevsky as the author
  tries to complete his novel to pay off various debts. Also starring Dominic
  West (from The Wire).

• The Gambler (2014)

  A remake of the 1974 film of the same name, this
  work stars Mark Wahlberg as a literary professor with a gambling addiction
  who becomes the target of ruthless loan sharks. More of a spiritual adaption
  than a straight remake, it features an excellent supporting cast that
  includes John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Michael K. Williams, and Brie Larson.

Suggested Reading from Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Russian Amber Room

If you’d like to learn more about the works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, then I
suggest reading one or more of the works on this list. Those enamored with games
of chance are obviously urged to start with the shorter novel known as The
Gambler, at which point you can transition to one of his more involved efforts.
In total, Dostoyevsky penned 15 novels and novellas, as well as 17 short
stories, so there’s plenty of miserable Russian goodness to choose from.

The Russian Gambler Tv Series

• Poor Folk (1846)

  Tells of the relationship between an elderly official
  and his seamstress relative. The focus is on the poor, especially their
  suffering and lack of self-esteem.

• Notes from Underground (1864)

  Highly influential on modernist
  literature, this bizarre work focuses on a former civil servant and his
  rather bleak views on society and the human condition.

• Crime and Punishment (1866)

  The tale of a former student who decides
  to rob and murder an elderly pawnbroker, as well as his healing relationship
  with a virtuous teenage prostitute.

• The Idiot (1868)

  The story of a pure-hearted nobleman who’s unmoved by
  wealth and power. He finds himself drawn to two different women, eventually
  suffering the kind of heartbreak associated with many of the author’s tales.

• Demons (1871)

  Warning of the consequences of nihilism, this novel
  tells of a revolutionary who plots a murder in order to bring his group of
  conspirators closer together. If you’ve guessed that things go horribly
  awry, then you’re starting to get the hang of Dostoyevsky’s work.

• The Brothers Karamazov (1879)

  Considered by many literary critics to
  be Dostoyevsky’s finest work, this nearly 800-page novel concerns a deadbeat
  father and his three estranged sons. The primary themes of the story involve
  morality, God, and free will, with the usual amount of Russian anguish and
  self-loathing thrown in for good measure.

Conclusion

The Gambler Album

Fyodor Dostoyevsky is one of the titans of the literary world, and his works
are acclaimed for their ability to examine the psychological state of man and
provide insight into the world of 19th-century Russia. One of his most notable
stories was The Gambler, a tale of love, loss, and roulette. Dostoyevsky was all
too familiar with these subjects, especially since his own addiction to gambling
caused him a great deal of financial hardship during his adult years.