From Pride and Prejudice’s George Wickham to Bridgerton’s Simon Basset, the ‘rake’ crops up all the time in culture - arrogant rogues who live a lifestyle of trouble and unscrupulous behaviour, and for whom womanising isn’t a fun dalliance but a life-long career. Here are some of opera’s most prominent libertines, players and rakes.
The Duke from Rigoletto
Verdi’s Rigoletto has one of the most despicable womanising rakes in the whole operatic repertoire – the charming Duke of Mantua who makes a habit of frequently humiliating his courtiers by seducing their wives. Rigoletto’s daughter, Gilda, takes the Duke’s fancy and so he disguises himself as a poor student to seduce and gain her trust, before quickly discarding her for Maddalena, breaking Gilda’s heart. To add insult to injury, towards the end of the opera the Duke sings his famous aria La donna è mobile, in which he sings about the fickleness of women.
Tom Rakewell from The Rake’s Progress
The clue’s in the name – Tom Rakewell is definitely one to avoid. Stravinsky’s opera The Rake’s Progress (1951) documents the fall of Tom Rakewell into a life of debauchery and decay in Georgian London. Tom is befriended by the impressive and charismatic Nick Shadow and soon after deserts his wife Anne, embraces brothels, marries a bearded lady and loses his property to a scam. Nick Shadow reveals himself to be the Devil in disguise, but it’s too late – Tom is condemned to insanity and dies in Bedlam hospital.
Eugene Onegin from Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin is the vain and arrogant title character of Tchaikovsky’s 1879 operatic adaptation of Alexander Pushkin’s famous verse novel. Eugene is a bored St Petersburg nobleman who dismisses the elegant and heartfelt letter that Tatyana has written to him, telling her she shouldn’t express her emotions so freely. After insulting his friend Lensky he fatally wounds him in a duel, and when he tries to win Tatyana’s hand years later, he is too late – she is married and has moved on without him.
Baron Ochs from Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier’s Baron Ochs is someone you’d probably give a wide berth if you saw him in a bar. Arrogant, slimy, and charmless, the Baron is the Marschallin’s cousin in Richard Strauss’s 1911 opera, and when his new fiancée, the young Sophie von Faninal, is presented to him, Baron Ochs repulses her by pulling her onto his knee and claiming her as his. Nevertheless, that doesn’t stop the Baron from pursuing the chambermaid Mariandel (who is actually Octavian in disguise) - with good reason, the Marschallin tactfully recommends that he makes himself scarce.
Don Giovanni from Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni - could there be any one better fitting for this list? The title character of Mozart’s 1787 opera is the archetypal rake – a man of cheating, abuse, and of course womanising, which is well detailed in Leporello’s famous catalogue aria, listing all his many sexual conquests (2065 in all!). He is eventually dragged down to hell for his exploits, including the murder of Donna Anna’s father, The Commendatore - a true comeuppance if there ever was one.
You can see WNO’s rake-in-residence, the Duke of Mantua, in performances of our brand-new production of Rigoletto, touring around Wales and England until 16 November 2024.
