20 Oct 2008
Works on the Theme of “Greeks Bearing Gifts”
The following are works based on Greek literature, myth and literature.
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Giovanni Pacini: Medea
Medea: Melodramma tragico in three acts.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Die Tote Stadt
Die Tote Stadt, an opera in three acts.
Music composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957). Libretto by Paul Schott (Julius and E. W. Korngold) after the novel Bruges la morte by Georges Rodenbach.
Stendhal on the Rossini Revolution
Some Details concerning the Revolution inaugurated by Rossini
PUCCINI: Manon Lescaut
Manon Lescaut, dramma lirico in quattro atti
STRAUSS : Elektra
Elektra: Tragedy in one act.
Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2020 Ring Cycle
Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced both schedules and cast-lists for is Spring 2020 performances of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Given the series of individual productions already staged by the company since Fall 2016, that pave the way for the complete cycle, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s complete production should affirm the artistic might of the great composer.
Carlo Diacono: L’Alpino
“Diacono himself does not know what musical talent he possesses” – Mascagni
The Nibelungen-Myth. As Sketch for a Drama
From the womb of Night and Death was spawned a race that dwells in Nibelheim (Nebelheim), i.e. in gloomy subterranean clefts and caverns: Nibelungen are they called; with restless nimbleness they burrow through the bowels of the earth, like worms in a dead body; they smelt and smith hard metals.
Martín y Soler: Una cosa rara
Una cosa rara, ossia Bellezza ed onestà. Dramma giocoso in two acts.
Music composed by Vicente Martín y Soler (1754–1806). Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte from the comedy La luna de la Sierra by Luis Vélez de Guevara.
Mefistofele at Orange’s Chorégies
This is the one where a very personable devil tells God that mankind is so far gone it isn’t worth his time to bother corrupting it further.
A culinary coupling from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
What a treat the London Music Conservatoires serve up for opera-goers each season. After the Royal Academy’s Bizet double-bill of Le docteur Miracle and La tragédie de Carmen, and in advance of the Royal College’s forthcoming pairing of Huw Watkins’ new opera, In the Locked Room, based on a short story by Thomas Hardy, and The Lighthouse by Peter Maxwell Davies, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama have delivered a culinary coupling of Paul Hindemith’s The Long Christmas Dinner and Sir Lennox Berkeley’s The Dinner Engagement which the Conservatoire last presented for our delectation in November 2006.
THOMAS: Hamlet, Moscow 2015
Hamlet: Opéra in five acts. Music composed by Ambroise Thomas. Libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier after The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare.
La Púrpura de la Rosa
Advertised in the program as the first opera written in the New World, La Púrpura de la Rosa (PR) was premiered in 1701 in Lima (Peru), but more than the historical feat, true or not, accounts for the piece’s interest.
Das Liebesverbot, Vienna 1962
Das Liebesverbot: Grosse komische Oper in two acts.
Lohengrin, Bayreuth 2010 Live
Opera in three acts. Words and music by Richard Wagner.
Parsifal, Bayreuth 2012 Live
Parsifal. Bühnenweihfestspiel (“stage dedication play”) in three acts.
Music from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“German poet, dramatist and novelist. One of the most important literary and cultural figures of his age, he was recognized during his lifetime for his accomplishments of almost universal breadth. However, it is his literary works that have most consistently sustained his reputation, and that also serve to demonstrate most clearly his many-faceted relationship to music. . . .
Operas Based on French Literature
Here are operas based on French literature from Balzac, Hugo and beyond:
Jules Massenet: Le Cid
Le Cid, Opéra in 4 acts
Vincenzo Bellini: I puritani
I puritani, opera seria in three acts
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Repertoire
- BERLIOZ: Les Troyens
- PAISIELLO: Fedra
- STRAUSS : Elektra
- SACCHINI: Oedipe à Colone
- PACINI: Medea
- GLUCK: Alceste
- LULLY: Alceste, ou Le triomphe d’Alcide
- GLUCK/BERLIOZ: Orphée
- GLUCK: Paride ed Elena
- MOZART/STRAUSS: Idomeneo
- TRAETTA: Ippolito ed Aricia
- ROSSINI: Ermione
- MARTÍN Y SOLER: Andromaca
- CHERUBINI: Medea
- VINCI: La Partenope
- JOMMELLI: Fetonte