I'm trying to make a list of operas which have something to do with Christmas. There are two categories of such works: 1) operas which were first staged/performed during the Christmas days (december 8th-26th) - also, operas composed for Christmas, and 2) operas whose action is set or partially set in a Christmas time.
The most famous of them are Haensel und Gretel (1) and La bohème (2), but there are a lot of not-so-wll know works to be listed, too.
Of the first category I know at the moment only three works, two by Humperdinck: Haensel und Gretel (December 23th), Die sieben Geislein (December 19th), and one by Pfitzner: Das Christ-Elflein (December 11th).
Of the second category I know a bit more titles: Puccini's La bohème; Alfano's Resurrezione; Zandonai's Il grillo del focolare and I cavalieri di Ekebù; Hermann's Wuthering Heights, Pfitzner's-Das Christ-Elflein, and, I suppose, Goldmark's Das Heimchem am Herd. I cannot remember at the moment of Respighi's Marie Victoire is partially set in a christmas time, too.
Do you know other titles?
Surely Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors falls into both categories.
How about these two:
Vakula the Smith by Tchaikovsky and Christmas Eve by Rimsky Korsakov - both have scenes on Christmas Day (both based on the same Gogol story)
I always think of Massenet's Werther when I think of Christmas, but there are some really intriguing suggestions here that I will seek out!
Is it not a bit early in the year to be thinking of this?
Boughton's Bethlehem, an actual nativity opera. Also Bridge's 'The Christmas Rose', though it's a bit past the era of this site
Wilhelm Kienzl's "In Knecht Ruprechts Werkstatt" Op.75 (described by Operone as a Weihnachtsmärchenspiel and premiered on December 25 1907 in Graz.)
Operone also lists among operas premiered on Christmas , Eduard Kunneke's Die lockende Flamme Op.32 (premiered December 25 1933 in Berlin) ; Leroux' Les Cadeaux de noël (premiered Christmas 1915 at the Opera-Comique) ; Alfred Bruneau's Les Quatre Journées (conte lyrique) (Christmas 1916) ; Vandenbroek's pantomime Le Génie Assouf ou Les Deux Coffrets (Christmas 1795, Paris) ; etc.
Here's one for the opera buffs:
Which opera ends with the word "Christmas" ...or its linguistic equivalent ???
Quote from: mikehopf on Saturday 25 May 2013, 08:26
Which opera ends with the word "Christmas" ...or its linguistic equivalent ???
We've already mentioned it.
Werther by Massenet.
Not the one I was thinking of... try again!
Hint: Natale..Natale
Thank you all very much for your suggestions! And many thanks especially to eschiss1 for his list of operas premiered on Christmas!
How could I forget Werther??
@Gauk (it's that not the name of the actual President of Germany?) - no, by this weather I think that argument to be very appropriated :P
@mikehopf it's then an italian opera? I should know it... hmm
Quote from: savvy on Saturday 25 May 2013, 23:48
@Gauk (it's that not the name of the actual President of Germany?)
No, that is Joachim Gauck. (I should say, yes, that is me! For all you know ...) Actually I am borrowing the moniker from Aleksandr Vassilievich Gauk, the conductor.
I think the opera that ends with "Natale" is Leoncavallo's version of "La Boheme".
Quote from: regriba on Sunday 26 May 2013, 13:07
I think the opera that ends with "Natale" is Leoncavallo's version of "La Boheme".
Quite right. They are Mimi's last words.
... Natale means birth. It does not have an intrinsically holy meaning... or, capitalized, a meaning attached to one specific reli... eh.. .never mind...
Orff's Weihnachtsgespiel I suppose is a cantata.
NA
Yep, I'm afraid Orff's well off our musical map.
Ah, now there's a tradition probably almost as old as opera- sacred opera (more or less, not thinking of oratorio so much as rather, rather early examples, e.g. by A. Scarlatti ... - hrm... maybe those were oratorios or cantatas on Christmas subjects rather than operas... have to check my notes, there. :) )
(And more recently, The Christmas Rose by Bridge; Rebikov's The Christmas Tree (Ёлка) (there's a video of this opera on YouTube, I gather. Published ca.1900. Nothing on librettist "Plaxin"...) etc. ...
I recently got a copy of Lortzing's Der Weihnachtsabend described as a 'liederspiel in einem akt', premiered in 1832, but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet...
David
PS. (2001 Doebeln, Germany performance available through Premiereopera Italy)
Quote from: eschiss1 on Wednesday 13 November 2013, 01:26
(And more recently, The Christmas Rose by Bridge; Rebikov's The Christmas Tree (Ёлка) (there's a video of this opera on YouTube, I gather.
Are you able to give the link? I can find only the famous Waltz....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdjisjFWLgk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdjisjFWLgk) this may be it.
Franz Lehar's "Der Zarewitsch" (The Tsarevich) comes to mind.
The last act of Massenet's opera "Amadis" takes place at Christmas.
Nikolay Lysenko composed an opera apparently based on Gogol's text: [http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/1990/529006.shtml]. Another composer who wrote an opera based on Gogol was Alexander Serov in 1860, at least according to the not always reliable "Lexikon der musischen Kuenste" by Friedrich Leipoldt. According to other sources Serov died before he had composed much of the music for this opera. There was also a children's opera by Gustav Kneip: Christkinds Erdenreise - it was the first German radio opera in 1929 and thus, probably?, well beyond the scope of UC. Does anybody know what Kneip's music is like? There was a CD issue of this opera in 1990.
Quote from: eschiss1 on Wednesday 13 November 2013, 10:06
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdjisjFWLgk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdjisjFWLgk) this may be it.
No I don't think tha't it - the text says its from a show called the Little Matchstick Girl (ok, a Christmasy theme) with music from Rebikov's opera The Christmas Tree and Tchaikovsky's The Seasons. The accompaniment is all piano, no orchestra.
ah. My mistake then :( ...
... a show called the Little Matchstick Girl (ok, a Christmasy theme)
This reminds me of another opera that takes place on Christmas Eve: "The Little Matchstick Girl" by Danish-Italian composer August Enna. However, the story isn't all that Christmassy: a poor girl is sent out by her parents to sell matches, but no one buys any. Fearing to return home without money, the girl stays outside in the cold and freezes to death. The music could be described as a kind of "Nordic verismo" - Enna's Italian roots are quite clear. Since he was also a great admirer of Wagner, I think the music sounds more like Leoncavallo than Puccini. There are good recordings on both cpo and Dacapo
well, isn't that the original Andersen story?? (Not positive, but I think so.) Can't very well blame Enna for sticking to source.
Does Hiller's Der Traum in der Christnacht have anything to do with Christmas?
Yes it does. It's set at Christmas and is based on a play called "The Miller and his Daughter" by Ernst Raupach. Here's Google's slightly garbled translation (http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.friedrich-pilsner.de/mueller1.htm&prev=/search%3Fq%3DRaupach%2BDer%2BM%25C3%25BCller%2Bund%2Bsein%2BKind%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DK70%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official) of its plot, which gives you a fair enough idea.
I've thought of another one! Mackenzie composed an operatic version of "The Cricket on the Hearth".
Oh yes, with a gloriously addictive overture which Hyperion recorded, when they were still doing things like that
There is a comic opera with the title La Nuit de Noel composed in 1848 by Napoleon-Henri Reber.
Vittorio Monti's Noël de Pierrot (1900, Paris) (A Clown's Christmas)? Don't know if it qualifies quite as I really know nothing about it...
(Before the Maherish New Rules (joking, joking) I would have accosted, I mean brought in, Hindemith for his late opera "The Long Christmas Dinner". Indeed I see a number of Christmas-related (or so their titles suggest) operas from the 1960s and 1970s mentioned on an opera site...)
(Hrm, also "Weihnachten" ("Weihnachten Natale Oper in einem Aufzug") (pub.ca.1900?, performed Dec. 29 1900) by Alberto Gentili (1873-1954). Don't know of a recording or score, but biography can be found in Italian under "G" on page Protagonisti (http://musica.san.beniculturali.it/web/musica/protagonisti/protagonisti), also in Italian Wikipedia. Though actually a fair number of his manuscripts, edited works (of Stradella, etc.) are listed in the Internet Culturale catalogue- 154 in all- some downloadable perhaps- maybe Weihnachten among them; will have a closer look later, maybe try to get some notion if this was worth mentioning...)
Massenet's Le Jongleur de Notre Dame was broadcast on Radio 3 in the early hours of Christmas Eve, and was described on the BBC website (followed by other websites) as 'Massenet's Christmas opera '. I'm not aware of any connection with Christmas before this broadcast decided to make one. Am I missing something?
Maybe they were confusing it with Cendrillon?