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Umberto Giordano: La Cena delle Beffe (1924)
Opera in quattro atti. Running Time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Giordano’s penultimate opera was one of his successes of esteem. With a libretto by playwright Sem Benelli (adapting his own successful play) it was unlikely to completely fail like most of his other operas. The opera was a triumph at La Scala in December 1924,…
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Fredrik Pacius: Kung Karls jakt/The Hunt of King Charles (Final Version 1879)
Opera i tre akten. Running Time: 2 hours 22 minutes Fredrik Pacius (1809-1891) is known as the Father of Finnish music, although he was actually German and born in Hamburg, and his first opera (or more properly, a Singspiel), was written to a Swedish text. Pacius revised the score four times (the last in 1880),…
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Emilio Arrieta: La Conquista de Granada (1850)
Opera in tre atti. Running Time: 2 hours 15 minutes. Due to the immense impression that Ildegonda made in 1849 on Queen Isabella II of Spain, the Queen commissioned this work, partially about the life of her predecessor, Isabella of Castile. It took Arrieta and Solera six months to complete the libretto and score before…
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Carl Reinecke: Konig Manfred (1867)
Grand Opera in Five Acts. Running Time: 26 minutes (orchestral excerpts only) Carl Reinecke was a Danish-born German composer (his hometown of Altona was located on the Danish side of the Elbe river until he was 40). He is best known for his flute sonata “Undine” although he composed several symphonic pieces which are popular…
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Emilio Arrieta: Ildegonda (1845)
Opera in due atti. Running Time: 1 hour 46 minutes. I am almost certain that, even more so than with Fredegundis, no one has ever heard of this one! Written to a text by Temistocle Solera (1815-1878) (frequent early Verdi librettist including Nabucco and Attila) this was the Spaniard Arrieta’s first operatic composition; essentially a…