Opera may not have been of central importance to Rachmaninov�s long and diverse creative life but, relatively early in his career, he completed two one-act operas. The intense psychological study The Miserly Knight takes as its source of inspiration a tragic tale by Pushkin. Francesca da Rimini is based on an episode at the end of Canto V of Dante�s Inferno. The earlier Aleko, based on a tale of love and jealousy in a gypsy camp, won the composer the gold medal for composition at the Moscow Conservatory in 1892. All three works demonstrate Rachmaninov�s gift for yearning melodies, as well as his mastery of orchestral colour and drama.