Asrael

Last updated
Asrael
leggenda by Alberto Franchetti
Asrael Praha 1890 01.jpg
cast of the 1890 Prague production
Librettist Ferdinando Fontana
LanguageItalian
Premiere
11 February 1888 (1888-02-11)
Teatro Municipale di Reggio

Asrael is a leggenda or opera in four acts by composer Alberto Franchetti and librettist Ferdinando Fontana. The plot, based on German fairy tale and folklore, displays the conflict between the spirit of evil and the spirit of Christian love, represented by Asrael and Nefta respectively. The work is Franchetti's first opera and displays strong influences of Meyerbeer and Wagner, mixed with late 19th-century Italian idioms. The opera premiered at the Teatro Municipale di Reggio on 11 February 1888. [1] The opera made its United States debut at the Metropolitan Opera on 26 November 1890 with Andreas Dippel in the title role. [2] The cast also included soprano Marie Jahn as Nefta/Suor Clotilde. [3]

Contents

Roles

In cielo. Anfiteatro di nubi tagliato da una scala d'oro, set design for Asreal act 1 scene 3 (undated). In cielo. Anfiteatro di nubi tagliato da una scala d'oro, bozzetto di Augusto Ferri per Asreal (s.d.) - Archivio Storico Ricordi ICON004214.jpg
In cielo. Anfiteatro di nubi tagliato da una scala d'oro, set design for Asreal act 1 scene 3 (undated).
Roles, voice types, premiere cast
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 11 February 1888 [4]
Nefta/Suor Clotilde soprano Virginia Damerini
Asrael tenor Ladislao Mierzwinski
Loretta mezzo-soprano Giulia Novelli
Lucifero/re di Brabante bass Lodovico Contini
Lidoria contralto Maria Pia
ContadinobassFrancesco Carmignani
AraldobassUlisse Peroni

References

  1. ↑ Jürgen Maehder: "Asrael", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 30, 2009), (subscription access)
  2. ↑ Metropolitan Opera Archives Dippel, Andreas (Tenor). Accessed 25 January 2009.
  3. ↑ "Metropolitan Opera House". The New York Times . December 2, 1890. p. 4.
  4. ↑ Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Asrael, 11 February 1888" . L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.