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ROSSINI: Guglielmo Tell — Rome 1954

Guglielmo Tell: Melodramma tragico in four acts

MOZART: Idomeneo

Idomeneo, rè di Creta. Dramma per musica in tre atti (K. 366).

Music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Libretto by Giovanni Battista Varesco after Idomenée by Antoine Danchet.

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

Mefistofele, Opera in un prologo, quattro atti e un epilogo

Music and libretto by Arrigo Boito (1842-1918), based on Faust: Eine Tragödie by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

VERDI: La Forza del Destino

La Forza del Destino, a melodramma in quattro atti

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

Maria Callas Performs Lady Macbeth

Here we offer three selections from Macbeth with Maria Callas performing the role of Lady Macbeth. These are from a live performance given on 7 December 1952 at La Scala. Victor de Sabata conducts the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Milano.

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.

NICOLAI: Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor)

Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor), a comical-fantastical opera in three acts with dance.

GIORDANO: Fedora

Fedora, a melodrama in three acts.

Umberto Giordano, composer. Arturo Colautti, librettist, based on the play with the same name by Victorien Sardou

First performance: 17 November 1898 at Teatro Lirico Internazionale, Milan

PUCCINI: Tosca

Tosca, a melodrama in three acts

Giacomo Puccini, composer. Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on the play La Tosca by Victorien Sardou.

First performance: 14 January 1900 at Teatro Costanzi, Rome

The twists and trysts of Tosca

A few years ago, I had the rare experience of attending a performance of Tosca in a small farm community where opera was a fairly new commodity. After the second act ended, with Scarpia's corpse lying center stage, I happened to overhear a young, wide-eyed woman say to her companion, "I knew she was upset, but I didn't think she'd KILL him!"

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Mozart and Salieri

Mozart and Salieri, an opera in one act consisting of two scenes.

Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), composer. Libretto derived from Alexander Puskhin's play of the same name.

First performance: 7 December 1898 in Moscow.

MUSSORGSKY: Boris Godunov

Boris Godunov, an opera in four acts with prologue


Modest Mussorgsky, composer. Libretto by the composer, based on Alexander Pushkin's drama Boris Godunov and Nikolai Karamazin's History of the Russian Empire


First performance: 8 February 1874 at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg

TCHAIKOVSKY: Eugene Onegin

Eugene Onegin, lyrical scenes in three acts and seven tableaux.

Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, composer. Libretto by the composer, based on the verse novel by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin.

First performance: 29 March 1879 at the Maliy Theatre, Moscow.

TCHAIKOVSKY: The Queen of Spades

The Queen of Spades (Pique Dame), an opera in three acts.

Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, composer. Modest Tchaikovsky and composer, librettists.

First performance: 19 December 1890 at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg.

OPERA TODAY ARCHIVES »

FeaturedOperas

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist by Titian (1550)
20 Oct 2008

STRAUSS: Salome — Covent Garden 2008

Salome, Musikdrama in one act.

Streaming Audio

Richard Strauss: Salome

Salome (Nadja Michael)
Herodias (Michaela Schuster)
Page to Herodias (Daniela Sindram)
Herod (Thomas Moser)
Narraboth (Joseph Kaiser)
Jokanaan (Michael Volle)
First Nazarene (Iain Paterson)
Second Nazarene (Andrew Mayor)
First Soldier (Christian Sist)
Second Soldier (Alan Ewing)
First Jew (Adrian Thompson)
Second Jew (Martyn Hill)
Third Jew (Hubert Francis)
Fourth Jew (Ji-Min Park)
Fifth Jew (Jeremy White)
A Cappadocian (Vuyani Mlinde)
Slave (Pumeza Matshikiza).

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Philippe Jordan (cond.)

Live performance, February 2008, Royal Opera House, London.

 

Music composed by Richard Strauss. Libretto by the composer based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of Oscar Wilde’s play

First Performance: 9 December 1905, Hofoper, Dresden

Principal Characters:
Herodes, Tetrach of Judea Tenor
Herodias, wife of the Tetrach Mezzo-Soprano
Salome, daughter of Herodias Soprano
Jochanaan, a prophet Baritone
Narraboth, a young Syrian Tenor
A Page Alto
5 Jews 4 Tenors, 1 Bass
2 Nazarenes Tenor, Bass
2 Soldiers Basses
A Cappadocian Bass
A Slave Silent Role

Setting: Palace of Herod at Tiberias, Galilee, c. 30 C.E.

Synopsis:

Narraboth, the Captain of Herod’s guard, is fascinated by the princess Salome’s beauty. When she enters onto the palace terrace the voice of the prophet Jokanaan is heard from the cistern where he is imprisoned. She orders him to be raised up and Narraboth eventually surrenders to her will and disobeys Herod’s decree. Jokanaan emerges into the moonlight and denounces the incestuous union of Herod and Salome’s mother Herodias and demands that Salome repents and follows Christ. Equally apalled and mesmerised she is increasingly overcome by desire, praising his body, hair and mouth. Narraboth is distraught and kills himself, but Salome steps over his body in pursuit of her passion. Jokanaan curses her and returns to his prison. Herod emerges from the palace with Herodias, seeking Salome who ignores his advances. Stepping in Narraboth’s blood — a bad omen — he seeks relief from his nightmare visions. The voice of Jokanaan is heard again and Herodias demands that he be delivered to the Jews, provoking a religious debate about the true nature of the prophet and of Christ himself. Herod’s attention is solely focused on Salome who he begs to dance for him and swears an oath to grant her any wish. She performs the Dance of the Seven Veils and tells the horrified Herod that her payment will be the head of the prophet. She waits nervously at the edge of the cistern until the executioner delivers her prize on a silver platter. She ecstatically kisses Jokanaan’s lips, achieving fulfilment at last. In disgust, Herod orders her death.

[Synopsis Source: Boosey & Hawkes]

Click here for the complete libretto.

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