Stravinsky saw Hogarth's celebrated engravings charting the Rake's Progress exhibited in Chicago in 1947. The scenes of a society corrupted by the pursuit of pleasure and money made a great impression on him, and he approached WH Auden for a libretto. Together with Chester Kallman , they produced a witty three-act opera, with a moral for all times.
Stravinsky The Rake's Progress
BBC Singers, BBC Symphony
Orchestra, conductor Andrew Davis