26 Oct 2008
STRAUSS: Intermezzo — Vienna 1963
Intermezzo: Bürgerliche Komödie with symphonic interludes in two acts.
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Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor), a comical-fantastical opera in three acts with dance.
ROSSINI: Guglielmo Tell — Rome 1954
Guglielmo Tell: Melodramma tragico in four acts
ROSSINI: Armida — Firenze 1952
Armida, Dramma per musica in tre atti.
ROSSINI: Armida — Venice 1970
Armida, Dramma per musica in tre atti.
WEBER: Euryanthe
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Music composed by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826). Libretto by Wilhelmina Christiane von Chézy.
WAGNER: Parsifal
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Music and libretto by Richard Wagner.
MOZART: La clemenza di Tito
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MOZART: Idomeneo
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MOZART: Requiem
Requiem in D Minor (K. 626)
Music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Text based on the Mass for the Dead (Requiem Mass).
HAYDN: Die Schöpfung
Die Schöpfung, Oratorium in drei Teilen
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GOUNOD: Faust
Faust, Opéra en cinq actes
Music composed by Charles Gounod. Libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré after Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
BERLIOZ: La damnation de Faust
La damnation de Faust, Légende dramatique en quatre parties
Music composed by Hector Berlioz. Libretto by Hector Berlioz, Almire Gandonanière and Gérard de Nerval after Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
BOITO: Mefistofele
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Music and libretto by Arrigo Boito (1842-1918), based on Faust: Eine Tragödie by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi. Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on the drama Don Alvaro o La fuerza del sino by Angel Perez de Saavedra
FLOTOW: Martha — Berlin 1944
Martha, an opera in four acts.
Music composed by Friedrich von Flotow. Libretto by Wilhelm Friedrich.
First performance: 25 November 1847 at Theater an der Wien, Vienna.
PERGOLESI: La serva padrona
La serva padrona, intermezzo in two parts
Music composed by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Libretto by Gennar'antonio Frederico.
First performance: 28 August 1733, Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples.
BEETHOVEN: Fidelio — Munich 1978
Fidelio, an opera in two acts
VERDI: Macbeth
VERDI: Macbeth, melodramma in quattro parti.
Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi. Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play by William Shakespeare.
STRAUSS: Die Fledermaus
Music composed by Johann Strauss II.
Libretto by Richard Genée based on Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy/Karl Haffner.
First performance: 5 April 1874 at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna.
Victorien Sardou — A Tale of Two Operas
Victorien Sardou (1831-1908) was a popular French dramatist during the later half of the 19th Century. He, along with Eugène Scribe, combined melodrama and realism to a produce a more serious form of drama that emphasized careful plot construction.
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Music composed by Richard Strauss. Libretto by the composer.
First Performance: 4 November 1924, Sächsisches Staatstheater Opernhaus, Dresden
| Principal Roles: | |
| Hofkapellmeister Robert Storch, a composer | Baritone |
| Christine, his wife | Soprano |
| Anna, the chambermaid | Soprano |
| Baron Lummer | Tenor |
| Der Notar [Notary] | Baritone |
| Frau des Notars | Soprano |
| Kapellmeister Stroh, a conductor, and skat partner of Storch | Tenor |
| Ein Kommerzienrat, and skat partner | Baritone |
| Ein Justizrat, and skat partner | Baritone |
| Ein Kammersänger, and skat partner | Bass |
| Franzl, the Storch’s son | Spoken Role |
Setting: Vienna and Grundlsee during a 1920’s winter
Synopsis:
The composer Storch is leaving for a conducting tour, and his wife Christine helps him pack, arguing and nagging along the way. Seeking relief from lonelinesss she goes toboganning and collides with a skier, a young Baron who befriends her. They dance together at a ball and she arranges for him to lodge in the house of her notary. The friendship is soured when the Baron asks Christine for financial assistance. She opens a letter, supposedly for her husband, from a lady arranging an assignation. She immediately telegrams Storch demanding they part for ever. In tears, she seeks solace in her son's bedroom but he defends his father. Storch is playing skat with friends in Vienna when the telegram arrives, and is bewildered by the accusations. Stroh, a conductor friend, admits that he knows the lady and surmises that his and Storch's surnames must have been confused. Christine visits the notary to demand a divorce, but he is unwilling to pursue the matter. She sends the Baron to Vienna to gather evidence of infidelity. Packing to leave, she receives a telegram from her husband saying that Stroh will explain the misunderstanding. Even after Stroh's visit she is reluctant to accept the truth.Storch returns home, and an argument ensues. The Baron arrives with evidence that Stroh rather than Storch had indeed known the lady and Christine dismisses him, assured that her husband is blameless. Storch forgives her anger and teases her about her dalliance with the Baron. Husband and wife declare a renewed love.
[Synopsis Source: Boosey & Hawkes]