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I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata (The Lombards on the First Crusade) is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on an epic poem by Tommaso Grossi, which was "very much a child of its age; a grand historical novel with a patriotic slant". Its first performance was given at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 11 February 1843. Verdi dedicated the score to Maria Luigia, the Habsburg Duchess of Parma, who died a few weeks after the premiere.
In 1847, the opera was significantly revised to become Verdi's first grand opera for performances in French at the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opera under the title of Jérusalem.
The plot complications of Tasso's original drama required the librettist to make significant changes; the historical characters portrayed in the original do not appear and the story becomes that of a fictional family and its involvement in the Crusades. Julian Budden's analysis of the opera's origins notes: "In 1843 any subject where Italian were shown united against a common enemy was dangerous, especially in Austrian Milan. Yet strangely enough it was not the police but the church that took exception to I Lombardi", since the Archbishop of Milan had heard rumours that the work contained specific elements of Catholic ritual. However, given Verdi's refusal to make any changes to the music, it is fortunate that the result of the police chief's investigations of the archbishops complaints required only very minor alterations.
Industry:Drama
Lord Byron is an opera in three acts by Virgil Thomson to an original English libretto by Jack Larson, inspired by the historical character Lord Byron. This was Thomson's third and final opera. He wrote it on commission from the Ford Foundation for the Metropolitan Opera (Met), but the Met never produced the opera. The first performance was at Lincoln Center, New York City on April 20, 1972, by the music department of the Juilliard School with John Houseman as stage director, Gerhard Samuel as the conductor and Alvin Ailey as the choreographer. A performance of a revised version, by the composer, took place in 1985 with the New York Opera Repertory Theater.
The opera is set in London from 1812 to 1824.
In the nave of Westminster Abbey, Lord Byron's friends, wife and sister have arrived to present a statue of Lord Byron to the Dean of the Abbey, and to lobby for the poet's burial there. They learn that Byron had written his memoirs, which causes them concern for his reputation. The statue of Byron arrives, which sets off memories in the minds of Byron's relations and friends. These include the courtship of Byron with his future wife. However, the memories also include that Byron committed incest with his half-sister Augusta Leigh and fathered her daughter, which led to Byron's self-exile and Byron's wife insisting that he must never see Augusta again. While they have not read Byron's own manuscript, their memories cause enough fear that they burn the memoirs. The Dean of the Abbey arrives, and upon learning that the relatives considered Byron's memoirs unfit for reading, he denies permission to have Byron buried in Westminster Abbey. At the end of the opera, the shades of the poets in the Abbey's Poets' Corner welcome Byron among them.
Industry:Drama
Louise is an opera (roman musical) in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists.
The opera depicts Parisian working-class life. However the city itself is in many ways the true star of this very atmospheric work - invoked at various points during the opera. A French example of verismo opera, it tells the story of the love between Louise, a seamstress living with her parents in Paris, and Julien, a young artist. It is the story of a young girl's desire for freedom (associated in her mind with her lover and the city of Paris).
Charpentier later wrote a sequel to Louise, the opera Julien, which describes the artistic aspirations of Louise’s suitor.
Louise premiered on 2 February 1900 at the Opéra-Comique conducted by André Messager in a production by Albert Carré. It was successful, reaching its 100th performance just over a year later; the 500th performance at the Opéra-Comique took place on 17 January 1921, and by the early 1950s it had reached over 950 performances. The opera helped launch the career of the soprano Mary Garden, who sang Louise in Act 3 at the eighth performance. On 30 April 1900 the Opéra-Comique director Albert Carré gave away 400 seats to Paris dressmakers.
The revival of Louise at the Opéra-Comique on 28 February 1950, with scenery after maquettes by Utrillo and Géori Boué in the title role, celebrated the 50th anniversary of its creation and the 90th birthday of its composer. Although it was hoped that Charpentier might conduct the performance, in the end André Cluytens did so, but with the composer conducting the 'Chant de l’apothéose' after the 3rd act.
Industry:Drama
Louis Riel is an opera in three acts by the Canadian composer Harry Somers.
This full length opera was written for the 1967 Canadian centennial. It concerns the controversial Métis leader Louis Riel, who was executed in 1885, and is one of Somers' biggest pieces.
It is arguably the most famous Canadian opera. Somers set the music to an English and French libretto by Mavor Moore and Jacques Languirand. The opera was commissioned by the Floyd S. Chalmers Foundation and produced by the Canadian Opera Company with financial assistance from the Canadian Centennial Commission, the Canada Council, and the Province of Ontario Council for the Arts (Ontario Arts Council).
Louis Riel had its first performances at the O'Keefe Centre in Toronto 23 and 28 September and 11 October 1967 and at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts, in Montreal 19 and 21 October 1967. Victor Feldbrill conducted, Leon Major directed, and Murray Laufer and Marie Day designed the sets and costumes. The original cast included Bernard Turgeon as Riel, Cornelis Opthof as Sir John A. Macdonald, Joseph Rouleau as Monseigneur Taché, Patricia Rideout as Riel's mother, Mary Morrison as his sister, Roxolana Roslak as his wife, Howell Glynne as William McDougall, and Ermanno Mauro as Baptiste Lépine.
The libretto depicts the post-Confederation political events bounded by the Indian and Métis uprisings of 1869–70 (Red River Rebellion) and 1884–5 (North-West Rebellion) and the personal tragedy of the leader of the uprisings, the Manitoba schoolteacher and Métis hero Louis Riel. After the premiere, Kenneth Winters described the opera in the Toronto Telegram (25 September 1967) as a 'pastiche ... big, efficient, exciting, heterogeneous ... It had no ring of eternity but it was a vigorous harnessing of current and choice; a brash, smart, cool hand on the pulse of a number of fashions, social, dramatic and musical.' The production was repeated in 1968 in Toronto—six performances with the assistance of the Chalmers Foundation—and was adapted by Franz Kraemer in 1969 for CBC TV.
Industry:Drama
The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33, also known by its French language title L'amour des trois oranges, is a satirical opera by Sergei Prokofiev. Its French libretto was based on the Italian play L'amore delle tre melarance by Carlo Gozzi. The opera premiered at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, on 30 December 1921.
The initial criticisms of the Chicago production were generally harsh, e.g., "it left many of our best people dazed and wondering", "Russian jazz with Bolshevik trimmings" and "The work is intended, one learns, to poke fun. As far as I am able to discern, it pokes fun chiefly at those who paid money for it".
The opera was not performed again in the United States until 1949 when the New York City Opera resurrected it. As staged by Vladimir Rosing and conducted by Laszlo Halasz, the production was successful. Life magazine featured it in a color photo spread. The New York City Opera mounted a touring company of the production, and the opera was again staged in New York for three successive seasons.
The opera is now widely performed around the world. A 1988 production by Richard Jones for Opera North, later seen at English National Opera, New York City Opera and elsewhere, used 'scratch'n'sniff' cards handed out to the audience, suggesting various scents matching events in the staging (gunshots, Truffaldino's 'wind', the aroma of oranges).
Industry:Drama
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico (tragic opera) in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor.
Donizetti wrote Lucia di Lammermoor in 1835, a time when several factors led to the height of his reputation as a composer of opera. Gioachino Rossini had recently retired and Vincenzo Bellini had died shortly before the premiere of Lucia leaving Donizetti as "the sole reigning genius of Italian opera". Not only were conditions ripe for Donizetti's success as a composer, but there was also a European interest in the history and culture of Scotland. The perceived romance of its violent wars and feuds, as well as its folklore and mythology, intrigued 19th century readers and audiences. Sir Walter Scott made use of these stereotypes in his novel The Bride of Lammermoor, which inspired several musical works including Lucia.
The story concerns the emotionally fragile Lucy Ashton (Lucia) who is caught in a feud between her own family and that of the Ravenswoods. The setting is the Lammermuir Hills of Scotland (Lammermoor) in the 17th century.
Industry:Drama
Lucrezia Borgia is a melodramatic opera in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after the play by Victor Hugo, in its turn after the legend of Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia was first performed on 26 December 1833 at La Scala, Milan with Lelande and Pedrazzi. While not performed as regularly as Donizetti's more popular operas, Lucrezia's aria "Com'è bello", Orsino's Brindisi "Il segreto per esser felici", the tenor's "Di pescator ignobile", and the bass aria "Vieni, la mia vendetta!" are all very effective and famous melodic moments from the opera and have been performed and recorded frequently.
The first London production was at Her Majesty's Theatre on 6 June 1839 with Giulia Grisi and Mario. When the opera was staged in Paris (Théâtre des Italiens) in 1840, Victor Hugo obtained an injunction against further productions within the domain of French copyright law. The libretto was then rewritten and retitled La rinegata, with the Italian characters changed to Turks, and the performances were resumed.
The first English-language production was in London on 30 December 1843. The English tenor Sims Reeves was a noted Gennaro. Lucrezia was first presented at New York's American Theatre on 11 May 1843 and later at the Astor Opera House in 1847: with Giulia Grisi in 1854; and with Thérèse Tietjens and Brignoli in 1876. It was given at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, in 1882, and at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in 1904 with Enrico Caruso as Gennaro and Arturo Vigna conducting.
Tietjens, a particularly famous 19th century Lucrezia, made her debut in the role at Hamburg in 1849, and in her day was unequalled and completely identified with the role. (She was also a superb Norma, Donna Anna, and Agathe.) In later life she became very fat, and collapsed on stage at Her Majesty's Theatre, London during her last performance, in this role, in 1877, and died soon afterwards.
Industry:Drama
Luisa Miller is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play Kabale und Liebe (Intrigue and Love) by the German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller.
Verdi's initial idea for a new opera - for which he had a contract going back over several years - was rejected by the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. He attempted to negotiate his way out of this obligation and, when that failed, Cammarano came up with the idea of adapting the Schiller play with which Verdi was familiar. The process was set in motion, with Verdi still living and working on initial ideas from Paris, where he had been living for almost two years before moving back to his home town of Busseto in the summer of 1849. It was from there that he wrote the music and traveled to Naples for rehearsals; the first performance, was given on 8 December 1849.
This was Verdi's 15th opera and it is regarded as beginning the composer's "middle period".
Industry:Drama
Lulu (written mostly in 1934, premièred incomplete in 1937) is an opera by the composer Alban Berg. The libretto was adapted by Berg himself from Frank Wedekind's plays Erdgeist (Earth Spirit, 1895) and Die Büchse der Pandora (Pandora's Box, 1904).
Berg first saw Die Büchse der Pandora in 1905 in a production by Karl Kraus, but did not begin work on his opera until 1929, after he had completed his other opera, Wozzeck. He worked steadily on the score until 1935, when the death of Manon Gropius, the daughter of Walter Gropius and Alma Mahler, prompted him to break off work to write his Violin Concerto.
Berg completed the violin concerto swiftly, but the time he spent on that meant he was unable to complete the opera before his death later in 1935. The following portions of the third and final act were fully scored: the first 268 bars; the instrumental interlude between scenes 1 and 2; and the finale of the opera, beginning with the monologue of Countess Geschwitz. (The last two of these passages comprise the fourth and fifth movements of the Lulu Suite which Berg compiled for concert performance.) The rest of the work remained in short score with indications of instrumentation for much of it.
Berg was able to hear the Symphonic Pieces in a BBC radio broadcast from the Queen's Hall, London on 20 March 1935, conducted by Adrian Boult and produced by Edward Clark. It was the first time he had ever heard any of the music of Lulu. He was not to hear these excerpts performed live until a concert in Vienna on 11 December, a fortnight before his death.
The opera was first performed by the Zurich Opera in an incomplete form in 1937. Erwin Stein made a vocal score of the whole of act 3 following Berg's death, and Helene Berg, Alban's widow, approached Arnold Schoenberg to complete the orchestration. Schoenberg at first accepted, but upon being sent copies of Berg's sketches he changed his mind, saying that it would be a more time-consuming task than he had thought. Helene subsequently forbade anybody else to complete the opera, and for over forty years only the first two acts could be given complete, usually with the act 3 portions of the Lulu Suite played in place of act 3. The last recording made of the original two-act version—Christoph von Dohnányi conducting the Vienna Philharmonic, with Anja Silja in the title role (Decca/London, recorded 1976 and released 1978)—presented it in this form.
Director Heinz Ruckert shot the silent film featured at the midpoint according to Berg's exacting specifications. The film wordlessly depicts Lulu's arrest, trial, incarceration, and ultimate liberation thanks to the cunning of the Countess Geschwitz. Like the music for this sequence (and the opera as a whole), the film has a palindromic structure. The original film is lost save for four stills which remain in the Zurich Stadtarchiv. Each successive production requires a new film to be shot with the stage actors. However, many recent productions omit the film altogether.
Industry:Drama
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play, L'attaché d'ambassade (The Embassy Attaché) by Henri Meilhac.
The operetta has enjoyed extraordinary international success since its 1905 premiere in Vienna and continues to be frequently revived and recorded. Film and other adaptations have also been made. Well-known music from the score includes the "Vilja Song", "Da geh' ich zu Maxim" ("You'll Find Me at Maxim's"), and the "Merry Widow Waltz".
Industry:Drama
