Romeo und Julia (Sutermeister opera)

Last updated

Romeo und Julia is an opera in two acts by Heinrich Sutermeister. The composer wrote the libretto, after Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet .

Contents

Erik Levi explains that the opera: "presents a synthesis of Romantic and impressionist elements. It marks a ... return to the conception of opera as a sequence of closed forms, incorporating ... stylistic features related to madrigal, oratorio and pantomime." [1]

Performance history

It was first performed on 13 April 1940, at the Semperoper, Dresden, under the musical direction of Karl Böhm, who also commissioned the work, with Maria Cebotari as Julia, and was a considerable success. [1] It was also performed at Sadler's Wells in London in the mid-50s. [2]

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere cast,
13 April 1940
(Conductor: Karl Böhm)
Julia, daughter of the Capulets soprano Maria Cebotari
Romeo, son of Montague tenor
Balthasar, Romeo's servant baritone
Nurse sopranoInger Karén
Capuleti (Capulet) bass Kurt Böhme
Countess Capuleti (Lady Capulet) contralto Helena Rott
Father Lorenzo (Friar Laurence)bassSven Nilsson
Escalus, Prince of Veronabaritone
Servanttenor
Montague, Romeo's fatherspoken
Count Parisballerina

Synopsis

Sutermeister's version follows Shakespeare's plot. In the final scene, a celestial chorus celebrate the union in death of the two lovers.

Recordings

Sutermeister: Romeo und Julia – Bavarian Radio Chorus, Tölzer Knabenchor, Munich Radio Orchestra

Related Research Articles

<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> Tragedy by William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.

Penthesilea is a one-act opera by Othmar Schoeck, to a German-language libretto by the composer, after the work of the same name by Heinrich von Kleist. It was first performed at the Staatsoper in Dresden on 8 January 1927.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heinrich Sutermeister</span> Swiss composer (1910–1995)

Heinrich Sutermeister was a Swiss composer, most famous for his opera Romeo und Julia.

<i>Fervaal</i>

Fervaal, Op. 40, is an opera in three acts with a prologue by the French composer Vincent d'Indy. The composer wrote his own libretto, based in part on the lyric poem Axel by the Swedish author Esaias Tegnér. D'Indy worked on the opera during the years 1889 to 1895, and the score was published in 1895.

<i>Der junge Lord</i> Opera by Hans Werner Henze

Der junge Lord is an opera in two acts by Hans Werner Henze to a German libretto by Ingeborg Bachmann, after Wilhelm Hauff's 1827 fairy tale "Der Affe als Mensch" from Der Scheik von Alessandria und seine Sklaven.

<i>A Village Romeo and Juliet</i> Opera by Frederick Delius

A Village Romeo and Juliet is an opera by Frederick Delius, the fourth of his six operas. The composer himself, with his wife Jelka, wrote the English-language libretto based on the short story "Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe" by the Swiss author Gottfried Keller. The first performance was at the Komische Oper Berlin on 21 February 1907, as Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe. Thomas Beecham conducted the British premiere at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London on 22 February 1910. The US premiere was on 26 April 1972 in Washington, D.C.

Il prigioniero is an opera in a prologue and one act, with music and libretto by Luigi Dallapiccola. The opera was first broadcast by the Italian radio station RAI on 1 December 1949. The work is based on the short story La torture par l'espérance from the collection Nouveaux contes cruels by the French writer Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam and from La Légende d'Ulenspiegel et de Lamme Goedzak by Charles De Coster. Some of the musical material is based on Dallapiccola's earlier choral work on a similar theme, Canti di prigionia (1938). Dallapiccola composed Il prigioniero in the period of 1944–1948. The work contains seven parts and lasts about 50 minutes. The musical idiom is serialism, and it is one of the first completed operas using that compositional method.

<i>Lear</i> (opera) Opera by Aribert Reimann

Lear is an opera in two parts with music by the German composer Aribert Reimann, and a libretto by Claus H. Henneberg, based on Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare.

<i>Lanima del filosofo</i> Opera by Joseph Haydn

L'anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice, Hob. 28/13, is an opera in Italian in four acts by Joseph Haydn and is one of the last two operas written during his life, the other being Armida (1783).The libretto, by Carlo Francesco Badini, is based on the myth of Orpheus and Euridice as told in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Composed in 1791 for His Majesty's Theatre during his first visit to England, the opera was never performed during Haydn's lifetime and only given its formal premiere in 1951.

Der Widerspänstigen Zähmung is a German-language comic opera in four acts by the German composer Hermann Goetz. It was written between 1868 and 1872 and first performed at the National Theatre Mannheim on 11 October 1874 under the conductor Ernst Frank. The libretto, by Joseph Victor Widmann and the composer, is based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The style of the opera shows Goetz turning away from the musical ideas of Richard Wagner towards the classicism of Mozart. Der Widerspänstigen Zähmung was a huge success, not only in Germany but in the United States and in Great Britain, where it received high praise from George Bernard Shaw.

<i>Romeo und Julie</i>

Romeo und Julie is a singspiel in three acts by composer Georg Benda. The opera has a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter that is based upon Christian Felix Weiße's translation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

<i>Giulietta e Romeo</i> (Vaccai) 1825 tragedia lirica by Nicola Vaccai

Giulietta e Romeo is an opera in two acts by the Italian composer Nicola Vaccai. The libretto, by Felice Romani, is based on the tragedy of the same name by Luigi Scevola and, ultimately, on the 1530 novella of the same name by Luigi Da Porto. It was first performed at the Teatro alla Canobbiana, Milan, on 31 October 1825. It was Vaccai's last major success, although he wrote another nine operas, and is rarely performed in its full version today.

<i>Fennimore and Gerda</i>

Fennimore und Gerda is a German-language opera with four interludes, by the English composer Frederick Delius. It is usually performed and recorded in English, as Fennimore and Gerda in a translation by Philip Heseltine. The German libretto, by the composer himself, is based on the novel Niels Lyhne by the Danish writer Jens Peter Jacobsen. In neither German nor English is the libretto highly regarded; rather, the work is considered an "orchestral opera", limited in its dramatic appeal but voluptuous and engaging in its instrumental texture.

<i>Hin und zurück</i> Operatic sketch by Paul Hindemith

Hin und zurück is an operatic 'sketch' in one scene by Paul Hindemith, with a German libretto by Marcellus Schiffer. It acts as a parody of conventional opera tropes featuring a coloratura ariette, a jealousy duet, and a terzet for the tenor, baritone and bass.

<i>Le Juif polonais</i> 1900 opera in three acts by Camille Erlanger

Le Juif polonais is a 1900 opera in three acts by Camille Erlanger composed to a libretto by Henri Caïn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldo Bertocci</span> Italian singer

Aldo Bertocci was an Italian operatic tenor who sang both comprimario and leading roles in a career spanning the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. He sang in the world premieres of nine 20th century operas, most of them in performances broadcast on the RAI, Italy's national public-service radio. His discography includes live recordings of several rarities such as Mascagni's Silvano and Leoncavallo's Zingari. Bertocci was born in Turin and from 1974 lived in Cassano Valcuvia where he died shortly before his 88th birthday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Carbone</span> Italian operatic soprano

Maria Carbone was an Italian operatic soprano. She created the lead female roles in two of Gian Francesco Malipiero's operas: the title role in Ecuba and Cleopatra in Antonio e Cleopatra.

<i>Aladdin</i> (Atterberg opera) Opera by Kurt Atterberg

Aladdin or Aladin, Op. 43, is an opera by the Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg, to a libretto written by Bruno Hardt-Warden and Ignaz Michael Welleminsky. Two versions exist, in Swedish and German. The opera is based on the story, "Aladdin's Magic Lamp" from One Thousand and One Nights. It was first performed on 18 March 1941 at the Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm.

References

Sources