The Rake's Progress: Igor Stravinsky

Stravinsky was inspired by William Hogarth's sequence of anecdotal pictures, The Rake's Progress (c.1735), to compose this three-act opera which charts the rise and decline of Tom Rakewell after inheriting an unexpected legacy. The libretto is by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallmann and follows an 18th century operatic structure with arias, ensembles and choruses linked by recitative.