"Tom Rakewell is courting Anne Trulove outside her father's house in the country. Trulove has doubts about his daughter's proposed marriage and tries to arrange a regular job for Tom; but he resists the idea and, left on his own, declares his intention to 'live by my wits and trust to my luck.' When Tom expresses his wish for money, Nick Shadow appears and tells him that an unknown uncle has left him a substantial fortune. He then invites Tom to employ him as a servant and go with him to London to sort out his inheritance."
- The Rake Progress (1951) was one of the few works by Stravinsky that was not commissioned; he simply wanted to do it. In his leading man, Stravinsky created is a sort of antipode to Mozart's violent & charismatic Don Giovanni. Stravinsky's hero, Tom Rakewell, is the opposite of the Don, whose courage, vigor & decisiveness might have saved the rake from his lazy, floundering self. There were several conventions of 18th century music that Stravinsky had still left untouched until this point. Recitatives accompanied by harpsichord are a case in point; the composer's distinctive language makes the recycling of a dated convention relevant and striking. Nevertheless, The Rake's Progress was to be the composer's last neo-Classical work.

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