William Tell: Rossini’s last opera
Rossini’s William Tell is a French-language opera in four acts to a libretto by Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy and L. F. Bis. At the age of 37 Rossini composed this last opera, a great work originally planned for 1828, but it took until August 1829 for the first performance by the Paris Opéra at the […]
A call for peace: Ukrainian and Russian opera stars in emotional embrace
Well yes! The pandemic that has not been completely averted is joined by another urgency that worries a large part of the world. Another war. Another time. The 35-year-old Ukrainian operatic baritone Yuriy Yurchuk, who most recently appeared in Tosca at the Royal Opera House in London, sings his national hymn at 10 Downing Street […]
The Elixir of Love: A melodramma giocoso by Gaetano Donizetti
L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love) is a melodramma giocoso (opera buffa) in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto and the opera premiered on 12 May 1832 at the Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan. Written in a six-week period, L’elisir d’amore is today one of the most […]
When Carnival meets opera: The best operatic titles that refer to the Carnival
Anything goes at Carnival time! During this festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent, people set aside their everyday individuality and experience a heightened sense of social unity allow. Participants often wear costumes and masks that display exaggerated features such as large noses, bellies, mouths and indulge in mock battles, food fights, […]
Pelleas and Melisande: Opera in five acts by Claude Debussy
Pelléas and Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from a drama by Maurice Maeterlinck, a Belgian poet who is famous for his use of symbolism. It premiered at the Salle Favart in Paris by the Opéra-Comique on 30 April 1902; Jean Périer was Pelléas […]
Tristan and Isolde: Opera in three acts by Richard Wagner
Tristan and Isolde is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered at the Königliches Hoftheater und Nationaltheater in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans […]
What is Opera buffa? The new genre of comic opera in the first half of the 18th century
When thinking about lyric opera, the classic image of the comedy and tragedy masks often comes to mind. Many early operas and musical plays told tragic or sacred stories and these performances eventually developed into a codified genre called opera seria. Comic characters had been a part of opera until the early 18th century, when […]
Covid fan tutte: A comic opera about life during the pandemic
This is neither a typo nor a slip. The Finnish National Opera commissioned and produced “Covid fan tutte”, a comic opera about life during the pandemic using music from Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte”, an aria from “Don Giovanni” and another from “The Magic Flute”. It premiered in Helsinki on 28 August 2020 with small audiences […]
Verdi’s Macbeth: “The opera without a love affair!”
Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on William Shakespeare‘s play of the same name. “L’opera senza amore!” (The opera without a love affair!): that was the Italians’ reaction to Verdi’s Macbeth when it premiered in Florence on […]
Christmas operas: Surveying trends throughout history
Our homes and streets are once again decorated for the most engaging holiday of the year: Christmas. There are many operas whose central theme is the Nativity of Jesus or secular Christmas stories and some contain more or less direct references to Christmas. The earliest Christmas operas appeared in the early 17th century and they […]
