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Exhibition

D’Albert : Die toten Augen. Vocal score. Berlin, 1913. Design by Ilna Ewers-Wunderwald. Composed in 1912-13, the work’s premiere was delayed by the war.

More Opera Premieres in 1916

September 2016

For a year which marked the mid-point of the Great War, 1916 was surprisingly rich in operatic premieres, albeit for the most part of works of modest length.  We show five examples below.

 

 

 

 

CHARLES VILLIERS STANFORD :  The Critic, or An Opera Rehearsed.
Opera in two acts.
Libretto by L. Cairns James and the composer, after Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s burlesque The Critic, or A Tragedy Rehearsed (Drury Lane, 1779).
London, Shaftesbury Theatre (Beecham Opera Company Season), 14 January 1916.

Characters in the Play :

Puff (the author) : Nigel Playfair
Dangle (the composer) : Arthur Wynn
Sneer (the critic) : Frederic Austin
Mr Hopkins (the under-prompter) : Lewis Morgan

Characters in the Opera :

Lord Burleigh : W. Parkyn Newton
Governor of Tilbury Fort and Justice : Herbert Langley
Earl of Leicester : Frederick Ranalow
Sir Walter Raleigh : Percy Heming
Don Ferolo Whiskerandos : Frank Mullings
Tilburina : Caroline Hatchard
Confidant : Lena Maitland

Conductor (‘Mr Thomas Linley’) : Eugene Goossens, jun.
Producer : L. Cairns James
Designer : Hugo Rumbold

ETHEL SMYTH : The Boatswain’s Mate
Comedy in one act.
Libretto by the composer, after a story by W.W.Jacobs.
London, Shaftesbury Theatre (Beecham Opera Company Season), 28 January 1916.

Harry Benn : Courtice Pounds
Mrs Waters : Rosina Buckman
Travers : Frederick Ranalow
Mary Ann : Norah Roy

Conductor : Ethel Smyth (first night only; subsequently Eugene Goossens, jun.)
Designer : Hugo Rumbold

ENRIQUE GRANADOS : Goyescas
Opera in three tableaux.
Libretto by Fernando Periquet.
New York, Metropolitan Opera House, 28 January 1916 (in Spanish).

Rosario : Anna Fitziu
Fernando : Giovanni Martinelli
Paquiro : Giuseppe de Luca
Pepe : Flora Perini
Dancers : Rosina Galli, Giuseppe Bonfiglio

Conductor : Gaetano Bavagnoli
Producer : Jules Speck
Set designer : Antonio Rovescalli
Costume designer : G. B. Santoni

EUGEN D’ALBERT : Die toten Augen
Stage poem in one act.
Libretto by Hanns Heinz Ewers and Marc Henry, after Henry’s play Les Yeux Morts (1897)
Dresden, Hofoper, 5 March 1916.

Myrtocle : Helena Forti
Aurelius Galba : Curt Taucher (in 2 performances of the initial seven the role was sung by Richard Tauber)
Arcesius : Friedrich Plaschke

Conductor : Fritz Reiner

GUSTAV HOLST : Savitri
An episode from the Mahabharata.
Libretto by the composer.
London, Wellington Hall, St. John’s Wood (London School of Opera), 5 December 1916.

Satyavan : George Pawlo
Savitri : Mabel Corran
Death : Harrison Cook

Conductor : Herman Grunebaum
Producer : T.C.Fairbairn