In 1891, when the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) wrote his famous words ‘Life imitates art far more than art imitates life’, he had somehow managed to overlook the artistic realities of the late nineteenth century. By that time, after some 50 years of the High Romantic era, music and opera had brought real life on stage and had presented it in the raw, with all its disappointments, tragedies, insecurities, ...
King Ludwig II of Bavaria (1845–86), a homosexual and a strange, obsessive character, came from a royal family, the Wittelsbachs, which had a strong streak of madness in it. Ludwig virtually fell in love with Wagner and his music, calling the composer his ‘one true friend whom I shall love until death.... If only, I had the opportunity to die for you’ he added. After he succeeded to the Bavarian ...
The Teatro alla Scala – known outside Italy as La Scala, Milan – is one of the world’s most famous opera houses and originally opened in the sixteenth century as the Salone Margherita in the Palazzo Ducale. Both this theatre and another built on its site, the Teatro Regio Ducale, burned down, in 1708 and 1776 respectively. After an appeal by 96 box holders to the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, ...
The Académie Royale de Musique (now known as the Paris Académie de Musique or the Paris Opéra), has had many homes. The Académie opened in 1671, and from 1672–87 was largely controlled by Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–87). In 1763, the building was destroyed by fire, as was the next building in 1781. The Opéra moved to rue de Richelieu as Theatre des Arts in 1794, to the rue Favart in 1821, ...
The city of St Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great as his ‘window on the West’ – part of his plan to connect backward Russia to the modern world. A court theatre was included as part of Peter’s modernizing policy, but plays were being performed there for more than 30 years before the first opera was staged. This was La forza dell’amore e dell’odio (‘The Force of ...
In 1876 Pyotr Tchaikovsky began an extraordinary relationship with a wealthy widow, Nadezhda von Meck (1831–94), which was totally platonic and conducted entirely by letter. The two of them never formally met, but they remained devoted to each other for the rest of their lives. Madame von Meck settled on Tchaikovsky an allowance of 6,000 roubles, which gave the composer much-needed financial security. Tchaikovsky dedicated his Fourth Symphony (1878) to ...
The claque, a French word for ‘slap’ or ‘clap’, was a crowd of supporters hired by composers, impresarios or performers to work up enthusiasm for an opera or, alternatively, sabotage the work of rivals. Most professional claques were indistinguishable from the rest of the audience and flourished more in France and Italy than they did in Germany and England, but the tradition still existed. It was put on to commercial ...
On the face of it, the French Revolution failed when the House of Bourbon returned to rule France after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. The face of it, however, was deceptive. The forces of liberalism unleashed by the Revolution had simply made a strategic withdrawal. In France, liberals, socialists and republicans remained opposed to extreme right-wing royalists, a situation duplicated throughout Europe where the ruling elites and the formerly ...
Aida, set in Ancient Egypt, was not composed to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, as has often been suggested. Nor was it commissioned by the Khedive of Egypt to mark the opening of the Cairo Opera House that same year. It happened that the French Egyptologist, Auguste Mariette, keeper of monuments to the Egyptian government, suggested the opera to the Khedive as a suitable celebration for ...
Composed: 1844–53 Premiered: 1861, Pest Libretto by Béni Egressy after József Katona’s play Prologue King Endre of Hungary is away at war and his wife Gertrud and her corrupt followers have taken control at court. Act I At Gertrud’s instigation, her brother Otto intends to seduce Bánk’s wife Melinda. Rebels opposed to Gertrud have sent a message to Bánk seeking his help. Word arrives of Endre’s victory. Bánk arrives and is told that Melinda is in ...
Boris Godunov, the only project out of nine that Mussorgsky completed himself, has been cited as the great masterpiece of nineteenth-century Russian opera – with its thrilling crowd scenes, historic panorama and the chilling power of its principal character. Boris was unusual in having its chief male role written for a bass voice and for the ‘sung prose’ used instead of verse for the inn scene in Act I, Scene ...
Carmen is the opera that has ensured Bizet’s lasting fame but which, somewhat uniquely, was partly fashioned by pressures from the directorate of the commissioning theatre, the Opéra-Comique. The revenue from this theatre was largely dependent on attracting the bourgeoisie, providing an evening out for chaperoned couples with an eye on marriage. Thus a setting including a cigar factory, a murder outside a bullring and a tavern inhabited by gypsies somewhat ...
‘The Flying Dutchman’ Initially a one-act opera, Der Fliegende Holländer was later expanded to three. Wagner was anxious to make sure it was performed in the way he wished, and wrote detailed production notes for the directors and singers. He also conducted the first performance at the Hofoper or Court Opera in Dresden on 2 January 1843. Although Wagner regarded Holländer as his first ‘total work of art’, this music drama was ...
Wagner’s Ring cycle is made up of four works – Das Rheingold (‘The Rhinegold’, 1851–54), Die Walküre (‘The Valkyrie’, 1851–56), Siegfried (1851–57; 1864–71) and Götterdämmerung (‘Twilight of the Gods’, 1848–52; 1869–74). Although there have been other, even more ambitious projects in the history of opera – Rutland Boughton’s cycle of choral dramas based on the Arthurian legends and Karlheinz Stockhausen’s (b. 1928) seven-opera Licht cycle, for example – the Ring has ...
‘The Bat’ Composed: 1874 Premiered: 1874, Vienna Libretto by Carl Haffner and Richard Genée after Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy’s Le réveillon Prologue Falke wants revenge for a practical joke when Eisenstein left him sleeping, dressed as a bat, outside the Vienna law courts. Act I Eisenstein’s wife, Rosalinde, recognizes the voice serenading her as her lover Alfred. Her maid Adele has been invited to Prince Orlofsky’s ball and, pleading her aunt’s illness, tries to get the ...
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