title: Life with an Idiot
text: # Life with an Idiot
  
  Life with an Idiot (Russian: Жизнь с идиотом, romanized: Zhizn s idiotom) is an opera by the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke to a Russian libretto by Viktor Erofeyev. Written as an allegory of oppression under the Soviet Union, the opera was first performed at Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam, on 13 April 1992.
  
  ## Roles
  
  Roles, voice types, premiere cast :
  
  | Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 13 April 1992 Conductor: Mstislav Rostropovich |
  | - | - | - |
  | I | baritones | Dale Duesing/Romain Bischoff |
  | Wife | soprano | Teresa Ringholz |
  | Vova | tenor | Howard Haskin |
  | Guard | bass | Leonid Zimnenko |
  | Marcel Proust | baritone | Robbin Leggate |
  
  ## Synopsis
  
  ### Act 1
  
      As a punishment for not working hard enough, "I" is forced by the authorities to live with an idiot. He chooses Vova from a lunatic asylum. Vova is only capable of speaking a single word: "Ech".
  
  ### Act 2
  
      At first Vova behaves well but then he suddenly begins to make a nuisance of himself, including tearing up I's wife's copy of the works of Marcel Proust. I and his wife go to live in another room and Vova calms down. I's wife falls in love with Vova and becomes pregnant by him. Then Vova and I turn on the wife. Vova kills her and I becomes an idiot.
  
  ## Recordings
  
  * Life with an Idiot (live recording of premiere cast), Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Rostropovich (Sony)
  