Par CORDUAS / CUSANO / MAGGIORE / DI NAT. Classical/ Recueil / Opéra Théorique ou Didactique

An Opera in Three Acts-Adès?s third opera The Exterminating Angel premiered at the Salzburg Festival in July 2016. Based on Luis Buñuel?s surrealist classic El ángel exterminador the opera sees a collection of society?s grandees inexplicably trapped in a room.The libretto adapted from the original Buñuel-Alcoriza screenplay by the composer together with the director Tom Cairns brilliantly captures their descent into anarchy. Featuring a jaw-dropping 15 principals (who remain on stage for the majority of the piece) The Exterminating Angel is a true ensemble opera and the skill with which Adès delineates the many intricacies and undercurrents present over itsdensely-packed span (just under two hours plus interval) is breathtaking. Like the shipwrecked characters of The Tempest the cast of this new opera are held in a state of entrapment and dramatic stasis. Like the glittering high-society world of Powder Her Face the dinner party guests are denizens of a nightmarish world of aristocratic pretension.

Par VELILLA NATALIA. Education / Formation musicale / Recueil / Opéra Théorique ou Didactique

Par GRISONI RENATO. / Solfège/Formation Musicale / Opéra Théorique ou Didactique

Par HINDEMITH PAUL. The opera is set in a variety of locations between the years 1608 and 1630 and throws a spotlight on individual scenes, sometimes presented simultaneously, from the life of the astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630); the opera takes its name from Kepler’s theoretical work ‘Harmonices mundi’. Hindemith utilises substantial historical studies as the basis for his sketches of individuals within Kepler’s circle who each accompany the astronomer’s scientific endeavours with a variety of personal ambitions. The military commander Wallenstein attempts to utilise Kepler’s astrological abilities to realise his own pretensions to power while Kepler’s assistant Ulrich aspires to scientific fame and recognition. Kepler’s mother urges her son to apply his scientific abilities to the services of her black magic and the Lutheran minister Hizler forbids the astronomer to receive communion because Kepler questions the doctrine of Holy Communion in the Lutheran church and expresses sympathy for Calvinist doctrine. The few figures shed in a positive light include Kepler’s wife Susanna who supports her husband’s pursuit of truth and knowledge and the child Susanna who listens to the voices of nature and the moon in her childish naivety, thereby gaining revelatory knowledge. At the end of his life, Kepler takes stock of his situation, succumbs to a state of resignation and considers death as the greatest harmony of all. In his state of agony, music of the spheres can be heard; the constellations appear as allegorical figures in the opera and contradict Kepler’s negative concepts: lying beyond all that can be researched by mankind is a final majestic realm with the powers to ‘permit us to be amalgamated into a gigantic harmony of the spheres.’ / Date parution : 2022-07-20/ Répertoire / Opéra

Wagner completed the first version of the opera in 1845 during his tenure as Kapellmeister at the royal court of Dresden but he continued to redraft and revise it for the rest of his life. The setting is medieval Germany: the minstrel Tannhauser has fallen into sin with the goddess Venus but after a year in a moment of realisation he demands to leave. He finds himself near his home and is reunited with Elisabeth a girl he once loved. Elisabeth's uncle the landgrave organises a singing competition between Tannhauser and Wolfram who also loves her. Wolfram's song is simple and moving while Tannhauser confused by Venus outrages the audience by singing of profane love.He is banished to Rome on a pilgrimage to seek redemption and Elisabeth follows him with Wolfram. After much searching she gives up and dies just missing Tannhauser who Wolfram discovers creeping back to Venus the Pope having said that it was as impossible for him to be forgiven as for his staff to sprout flowers. Tannhauser sees Elisabeth and casts himself to die by her coffin and the Pope's staff bursts into bloom. This is the Schirmer edition of the Vocal Score edited and translated into English by Natalia MacFarren.

Georg Frideric Händel?s Serse (Xerxes) has everything one would expect from a Baroque opera - many intertwining love stories affairs intrigues scheming misunderstanding and forgiving allpresented in the great master?s magnificent music.The opera is set in Persia in 480 BC and is very loosely based upon Xerxes I of Persia though there is little in either the Baroque libretto or music that is relevant tothat setting the main focus is on the characters (Serse Arsamene Amastre Romilda Atalanta Ariodate and Elviro some of which are based on real historical persons) and their plotting. The English version forthe opera in three acts was made for the English National Opera?s production first performed in 1985 on the 300th anniversary of Händel?s birth.In this edition of the Vocal score with the original Italian and thelater English lyrics accompaniment is provided by the instruments indicated in the orchestration (2 Recorders (or Flutes) 2 Oboes 2 Horns in F Trumpet in D Strings and Continuo [Harpsichord Cello Double Bass Bassoon]) butcan also be played by the Piano. Serse?s part originally sung by a castrato can be performed by a Soprano or a Countertenor.

Par CAVALLI FRANCESCO. In 1662, Cavalli’s career was at its zenith. The two dozen operas he had written for Venice had helped establish Venice as the world’s first operatic superpower. “Scipione Affricano” (Venice 1664), Cavalli’s first opera after returning from France, was one of his most successful compositions. In a period that valued new works over familiar ones, “Scipione” was one of a handful of operas to live on after its premiere season: it was revived eight times and chosen to inaugurate Rome’s Teatro Tordinona in 1671. Cavalli’s librettist, Nicolò Minato, was inspired by historical accounts of the life of the Roman general Scipio, whose defeat of Carthage in 202 BCE earned him the honorary agnomen “Africanus.” In setting Minato’s libretto, Cavalli drew upon the lyrical gifts that have made operas like “La Calisto” and “Giasone” so popular today. But at the same time “Scipione Affricano” also shows the composer embracing aspects of his two years in France, and responding to musical changes that, in the 1660s, were rapidly altering the face of Italian opera: the growing dominance of arias, a clearer sense of aria organization, and increased interplay between voice and instruments. The first goal of this edition is a practical one: to develop a version of the opera suited to the needs of both professional and student performers. A second goal is to reconstruct the opera’s complete performance history. An amply documented appendix reconstructs earlier versions of 21 arias. Other appendices print the surviving additional music from revivals in Rome and Venice. The edition is framed by a substantial Introduction, covering the drama, the musical style, the composition, premiere, and revivals, and a guide for performance today, plus a detailed “decoding” of the sources. - series Francesco Cavalli – Opere / Date parution : 2022-11-08/ Répertoire / Opéra

Lyric opera in two acts. Libretto by David Pountney.Commissioned?jointly by the Royal Academy of Music London UK and The Juilliard School New York USA.UK premiere: 18th March 2011 - Royal Academy of MusicOpera and Sinfonia at the Royal Academy of Music London conducted by Jane Glover.US premiere: 16th November 2011 - Students of The Julliard School at Peter Jay Sharp Theatre New York conducted by AnneManson.Overview.The piece consists of three interlocking stories of students involved in political action in three different situations.?Die Weiße Rose? was the name taken by a group of students atthe University of Munich led by Sophie and Hans Scholl. They produced leaflets protesting against the National Socialist government of Germany in 1942-3 until they were arrested and guillotined.?Soar to Heaven? follows twocharacters Wu and Zhou involved on opposite sides of the Cultural Revolution in China.?The Oxford Revolution? tells the story of James Meredith who fought a lonely battle against segregation and racial prejudice to becomethe first black student to enrol at ?Ole Miss? the University of Mississippi in the USA.Librettist's Note.There are inevitably and properly some differences between the original libretto and whatMax ultimately set to music. Most of these are insignificant but all the Latin texts in the opera were added by Max and texts for the alternating black / white choruses (Scene 19) and final chorus (Scene 28) were written by him.

Opera in 3 acts Text: Meredith Oakes after Shakespeare-The opera The Tempest is inspired by Shakespeareâ??s play rather than literally being based on every aspect of it. There are key images from the play as well as new material. From among the playâ??s many themes and possible interpretations the opera focusses on the difficulty and the necessity of mercy. The libretto uses contemporary vocabulary. Its lines are short rhythmic and rhymed or semi-rhymed echoing Shakespeareâ??s strophic songs more than his blank verse. This choice reflects the playâ??s magical ritual childlike elements and acknowledges the traditional power of incantation in song. The operatic Prospero is the passionately vengeful man seen in the play more than the wise disconnected actor also seen there. Despite his near-omnipotence he finds things out as he goes along and experiences contradictory emotions to the end. Please note: Full Score and Parts are rental material. Please contact hire@fabermusic.com

Gaetono Donizetti's 'The Elixir Of Love' (L'Elisir D'Amore) remains an important work in the repertory of major opera houses of the twenty-first century. It is a good-natured story in which the peasant Nemorino attempts to winthe heart of his love Adina through the ingestion of a farcical magic elixir (which is in fact merely Bordeaux!). Nemorino's aria 'Una furtiva lagrima ' is the most famous excerpt from the opera.

Par JANACEK LEOS. With his third opera Jenufa Leoš Janácek succeeded in making his breakthrough as an operatic composer. Since the premiere of this moving story about the fate of the sexton and her stepdaughter Jenufa at the Brno National Theatre in 1904, it has become one of the composer's most frequently performed works. Janácek was the first to succeed in transforming everyday speech directly into music. His method of using speech-melodic motives is clearly distinctive. It is known that the composer preserved everyday conversations in the form of little musical sketches: 'Jotting down genuine speech melody is, as it were, music's life class,' he said/ Répertoire / Opéra