About the work
"The Demon" is a fantastical opera in three acts and five scenes by Anton Rubinstein, to a libretto by Pavel Viskovatov based on Mikhail Lermontov's narrative poem "The Demon." Rubinstein completed the score as early as 1871, but the premiere, conducted by Eduard Nápravník, did not take place until 25 January 1875, at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg.
Plot
In the Caucasus, a fallen demon courts the soul of the Georgian princess Tamara, even having her fiancé murdered to win her. Tamara resists his seductions twice but finally succumbs to his last declaration of love and dies at his kiss; angels carry her soul to heaven while the demon is left cast out.
Cultural significance
Soon after its premiere, "The Demon" became one of Russia's most frequently performed operas and reached a German stage for the first time in Hamburg in 1880. After decades of rarity in the West, it has seen new productions including at the 1997 Bregenz Festival and, later, stagings produced in collaboration with Moscow's Helikon Opera.