The origin of the Rake's Progress, in 1947, is a visit of Stravinsky to an exhibition which sets out eight engravings of William Hogarth on the defeat of a young man crushed by the vices of society. It's enough to stimulate the fertile imagination of the composer, who shortly after the writing of the book relies on the poet WH Auden (librettist of exception for Britten and Henze), which dismisses the text to the quiet rhythm of a measure in a year. In 1951, on a alluremozartiana music, the story of young Tom Rakewell, the loyal girlfriend Anna and the demonic Nick Shadow finally see the light at the Fenice, as part of a collaboration with the Music Biennale and the Teatro alla Scala.