The perennial Christmas opera, “Amahl and the Night Visitors” made its very first appearance on Dec. 24, 1951 via NBC Opera Theatre. Since then, it has been a fixture for the holiday season. Just look around the US during late November and throughout December and you will see a plethora of companies finding time for Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera. It {…}
First premiering at the Hoftheater in Weimar on December 23, 1893, “Hansel and Gretel” was a collaboration between composer Engelbert Humperdinck and his sister, librettist Adelheid Wette. Adapting the libretto from the Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale, the music draws on popular Germanic folk songs and remains a favorite for companies to produce during the Christmas season. Short {…}
First premiering on December 18, 1892, “Iolanta” is the final opera composed by Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was penned by his brother, Modest Tchaikovsky, and adapts a German play by Henrik Hertz known as “King Rene’s Daughter.” First reading the play in an issue of The Russian Messenger, Tchaikovsky found himself enamored with the originality of the plot and {…}
Premiering on Dec. 18, 1926, “The Markopulos Affair” is Leos Janacek’s penultimate opera, followed by “From the House of the Dead.” The opera. The work is based on the play by Karel Capek (Janacek adapted the libretto himself) and Janacek is said to have initiated contact with the playwright in 1922 to begin the adaptation process. However, legal issues delayed {…}
“Il Trittico (The Triptych)” is comprised of three one-act operas. While the works are not connected through their plots and characters, Puccini had intended for each of them to relate to the canticles of Dante’s “Divine Comedy;” only the third opera, “Gianni Schicchi,” reflects this by exploring a historical case involving the Donati family, into which Dante married. While Puccini {…}
Richard Strauss’ “Salome,” adapted from the play by Oscar Wilde, first premiered on December 9th, 1905. The opera shocked not only the audiences, but many of the original performers as well, due to its themes which blend the violent and erotic within a Christian biblical setting. “Salome” was originally banned in London until 1907, and would not see a production {…}
Premiering on December 8th, 1849, “Luisa Miller” is the 15th opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi. Originally, Verdi was interested in adapting the novel “The Siege of Florence” by Francesco Domenico Guerazzi, but the censors in Naples had rejected this idea. Verdi would then try for an adaptation of “Kabale und Liebe” by the German playwright Friedrich von Schiller, a title {…}
Though not necessarily an opera in the traditional sense, Berlioz’s “La Damnation de Faust” is usually presented as such. The work, which features solo voices, full chorus, and orchestra is more appropriately described as a hybrid between an opera and a cantata, the dramatic freeness of the work making it rather challenging to stage as an opera. Berlioz himself called {…}
When he was to name what would be his great dramatic masterpiece “Otello,” Verdi struggled with the name. He was afraid not of his work being compared to Shakespeare’s immortal play but of having to suffer the consequences of doing battle with Rossini’s original opera on the subject. The master of Pesaro, an idol for the young Verdi, had created {…}
Making its premiere on December 2nd, 1877, “Samson et Dalila” is a grand opera composed by Camille Saint-Saëns. The libretto, penned by Ferdinand Lemaire, is adapted from the Biblical story of Samson and Delilah found within the Old Testament. Saint-Saëns describes the project’s conception as a result of working with Lemaire, who had recently married one of Saint-Saëns’ cousins, after {…}
Making its premiere on December 1st, 1956, Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide” is adapted from a novella of the same name written by the Enlightenment-era philosopher Voltaire. Being a comic operetta, it satirizes the prevailing attitudes of Voltaire’s time, particularly those of the church and of monarchism. Playwright and librettist Lillian Hellman saw clear parallels between the Inquisition of Voltaire’s time and {…}