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Ascanio in Alba, K. 111, is a pastoral opera in two parts (Festa teatrale in due atti) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Parini. It was commissioned by the Empress Maria Theresa. It was first performed at the Teatro Regio Ducal in Milan, on 17 October 1771.
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Atmen gibt das Leben (Breathing Gives Life), is a choral opera with orchestra by Karlheinz Stockhausen, written in 1974 and expanded in 1976–77. It is Number 39 in the catalogue of the composer's works, and lasts about 50 minutes in performance.
The first part of Atmen gibt das Leben was composed for a cappella choir during a composition seminar on 1 February 1974. This was in response to a request from the German Choral Association for a piece that could be sung by amateur choirs, and Stockhausen's original idea was that his students should each write a simple choral piece using a text from The Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan, and then all the pieces would be published together in a single volume. Not all of his students reacted favourably, and so the piece he composed himself for the project became the first part of Stockhausen's choral opera (Kurtz 1992, 195–96). This part was premiered by the Choir of the North German Radio (NDR Choir) in a public concert in Hamburg as part of the series Das Neue Werk on 16 May 1975. The choir soloists in this performance were Susanne Denman (soprano) and Ulf Kenklies (tenor). This first version of the score is dedicated to Doris Stockhausen on her birthday, 28 February 1974 (Stockhausen 1978, 243; Stockhausen 1979).
Stockhausen interrupted work on Sirius in order to compose two further sections in December 1976 and January 1977, this time with an orchestra (which may be played back on tape) to support and colour the choir. The first of these additions, "Sing ich für Dich, singst Du für mich" (If I sing for thee, you will sing for me) was premiered by the NDR Choir on 9 May 1977 at the Biennale Zagreb. The same choir gave the premiere of the third part, "Eine Welt von Sorge und Schmerz" (A world full of sorrow and pain), as part of the first integral performance of the work on 22 May 1977 at the Marc Chagall Museum in Nice, as a pre-celebration of Chagall's 90th birthday, made possible by a commission from the French Minister for Religious Affairs. The two new sections (printed as a single part II in the score) were dedicated to the composer's daughter Christel Stockhausen on the occasion of her 21st birthday, 22 January 1977 (Kurtz 1992, 208; Stockhausen 1978, 243–44).
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Attila is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the 1809 play Attila, König der Hunnen (Attila, King of the Huns) by Zacharias Werner. The opera received its first performance at La Fenice in Venice on 17 March 1846.
Ezio's act 2 aria of heroic resolution È gettata la mia sorte ("My lot is cast, I am prepared for any warfare") is a fine example of a characteristic Verdian genre, and it achieved fame in its own time with audiences in the context of the adoption of a liberal constitution by Ferdinand II. Other contemporary comment praised the work as suitable for the "political education of the people", while, in contrast, others criticised the opera as "Teutonic" in nature.
Overall, the reception from the press on opening night was not as positive as that from the audience present. As Budden notes, "the Italian public had taken Attila to their hearts" and he adds that the Roman general Ezio's aria - Avrai tu l'universo, resta l'Italia a me ("You can have the universe, but leave Italy for me") - brought forth spontaneous cheers".
After its world premiere in 1846 in Venice, the opera went on to be produced in all of the major Italian cities (plus Barcelona, Lisbon, and Trieste), a total of over 25 productions, including one in Palermo under the title of Gli Unni e I Romani in 1855. One production in Como is recorded to have taken place in 1875, after which the opera appears to have disappeared in Italy, at least.
Attila was first produced in London in 1848 by Benjamin Lumley who, as impresario at Her Majesty's Theatre, had successfully presented Verdi's I masnadieri there in 1847. In his 1864 autobiography he notes that "none perhaps of Verdi's works had kindled more enthusiasm in Italy or crowned the fortunate composer with more abundant laurels than Attila. The Attila premiere featured Sophie Cruvelli, Italo Gardoni, Velletti, and Cruzzoni. The opera was first given in New York City in 1850.
In the 20th century, it was revived in concert performance during Venice Festival of 1951 with Mancini, Penno, Giangiacomo, Guelfi, and Italo Tajo, under the conductor Carlo Maria Giulini; and at Sadler's Wells in London in 1963 (with an English libretto), with Rae Woodland, Donald Smith, Mossfield, and Donald McIntyre, with Muir Mathieson conducting. There was a Rome revival a year later, then productions in Trieste in (1965), in Buenos Aires in (1966), in Berlin in (1971), and in 1972 Attila was performed at the Edinburgh Festival and in Florence.
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Atys (Attis) is a tragédie en musique, a type of early French opera, in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully to a libretto by Philippe Quinault based on Ovid's Fasti. It was premiered on 10 January 1676 by Lully's Académie Royale de Musique (Paris Opera) for the royal court at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye and was first performed in public in April at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris. Although this opera was met with indifference by the Parisian audience, it became known as "the king's opera" because of King Louis XIV's love for it. It was repeated for Louis XIV in 1678 and 1682.
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Babes in Toyland is an operetta composed by Victor Herbert with a libretto by Glen MacDonough (1870–1924), which wove together various characters from Mother Goose nursery rhymes into a Christmas-themed musical extravaganza. The creators wanted to cash in on the extraordinary success of the stage musical The Wizard of Oz, which was produced in New York beginning in January 1903, under producer Fred R. Hamlin, and directed by Julian P. Mitchell. MacDonough had helped Mitchell with revisions to the Oz libretto by L. Frank Baum. Babes in Toyland features some of Herbert's most famous songs – among them "Toyland", "March of the Toys", "Go To Sleep, Slumber Deep", and "I Can't Do the Sum". The theme song "Toyland", and the most famous instrumental piece from the operetta, "March of the Toys", occasionally show up on Christmas compilations.
The original production opened at the Chicago Grand Opera house in June 1903, produced by Hamlin and directed by Mitchell, and toured to East Coast cities before opening in New York in October 1903 and ran for 192 performances. This was followed by many successful tours and revivals. The piece was so popular that it spawned other "fairy-tale" shows over the next decade.
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Die Bajadere is an operetta in 3 acts composed by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kalman. The libretto was written by J. Brammer and A. Grunwald. The work premiered in Vienna on 23 December 1921. With the English-language title of The Yankee Princess, the work received its first New York City performances in October 1922.
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Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball) is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. However, Somma's libretto was itself based on the five act libretto which playwright Eugène Scribe had written for Daniel Auber's 1833 opera, Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué.
Although it was to take over two years between the time of the commission and its premiere performance, that took place at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 17 February 1859.
Scribe wrote about the assassination in 1792 of King Gustav III of Sweden who was killed as the result of a political conspiracy against him. He was shot while attending a masked ball and died 13 days later of his wounds.
In order to become the Un ballo in maschera which we know today, Verdi's opera (and his libretto) was forced to undergo a significant series of transformations, caused by a combination of censorship regulations in both Naples and Rome, as well as by the political situation in France in January 1858.
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Bandanna is an English language opera in a prologue and two acts by Daron Hagen, first performed by the The University of Texas at Austin opera theater in Austin, February 25, 1999. The libretto is by Irish poet Paul Muldoon based on a treatment co-written with the composer. The story of the Venetian Moor is recast and updated to 1968 by combining elements of the original Venetian story, William Shakespeare's Othello, Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello, and new, original characters and situations. The opera's unifying concept is the idea of the borderlines between emotional, metaphysical and moral states. The commission itself is notable for two reasons: first, it stipulated that there be no strings (other than the customary string basses associated with symphonic band) in the pit, second, it was financed by a consortium of over one hundred college bands from across the United States, all members of the College Band Directors National Association.
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Bang! is an opera for young people by John Rutter to an English libretto by David Richard Grant. The opera was written for the Trinity Boys Choir, and the ensemble premiered the work at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon under conductor David Squibb on 14 March 1975.
Industry:Drama
Der Barbier von Bagdad (The Barber of Baghdad) is a comic opera in two acts by Peter Cornelius to a German libretto by the composer, based on The Tale of the Tailor and The Barber’s Stories of his Six Brothers in A Thousand and One Nights. The first of three operas by Cornelius, the piece was first performed at the Hoftheater in Weimar on 15 December 1858.
Cornelius planned the work as a one-act comedy, but on the advice of Franz Liszt expanded it to two. Franz Liszt later arranged the second overture for orchestra (S.352). Unlike most German comic operas of the period, which have spoken dialogue, Der Barbier von Bagdad is through composed. Cornelius offered the inventive and complex opera as an alternative to the contemporary German opera composers such as Richard Wagner, whose ideological fervor he found overwhelming.
At its first performance the opera was a failure, and it was not played again in the composer’s lifetime. The composer's mentor and friend Franz Liszt conducted the premiere. However, political actions by the director of the theater resulted in demonstrations against Liszt and the so-called neo-German school of composition. The opera closed after only one performance, and Liszt resigned his post. Cornelius also left Weimar.
In the late 19th century two versions were made, by the noted Wagnerian conductors Felix Mottl and Hermann Levi. In New York the work was first played in 1890 by the Metropolitan Opera House Company and in London in 1891. Finally, in June 1904, the original version as composed by Cornelius was again staged in the Weimar Hoftheater, this time to popular approval and critical acclaim.
In the 20th century, the opera was performed infrequently abroad but held its own in German opera companies using the original text, rather than Mottl’s or Levi’s revisions. It has a minor niche in the operatic repertoire.
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