# composers who composed just one opera



## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I don't konw many...I'd like you to add to my tiny list:

Bartok: The Bluebeard's Castle
Beethoven: Fidelio
Borodin: Prince Igor....

Please help me.

Sincerely

Martin


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Debussy - Pelléas et Mélisande 
Schumann - Genoveva
Gershwin - Porgy and Bess


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

All of the above and:

George Enescu's Oedipe
Messiaen's Saint-François d'Assise
Maazel's 1984
Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre
Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles
Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-bleue (although he did start four more, but destroyed them and his only completed one is this one)


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

Chausson: Le roi Arthus


With the exception of the category "songs", Chausson never wrote more than one of any genre.

Scott Joplin: Treemonisha


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)

Nobuo Uematsu - Mario and Draco


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Almaviva - Les Mamelles d'Anna


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> Almaviva - Les Mamelles d'Anna


I'm not sure if I should have liked that... Oh, what the heck!


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

For the record, one can find in the cd/dvd market other Debussy's operas. They were unfinished, but anyhow released.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Klavierspieler said:


> I'm not sure if I should have liked that... Oh, what the heck!


 Of course you should have liked it. Almaviva the composer is a good connoisseur of his subject matter. _Les Mamelles d'Anna_ is a masterpiece! Or actually, both of them are masterpieces. The right one is slightly bigger than the left one but they're both great.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Almaviva - Les Mamelles d'Anna


I love this opera seeing as it was written predominantly for male voices. The object of their obsession & owner of the 'mamelles' is their fantasy woman so consequently is off stage for most of the time. This cast is sublime:

Hero as a boy: Juan Diego Flórez (tenor)
Hero's pal: Joseph Calleja (tenor)
Hero as a man: Simon Keenlyside (baritone)
His sidekick: Dmitri Hvorostovsky (baritone)
Baddie: René Pape (basso) 
Another baddie: John Relyea (basso)
Fantasy creature (makes brief appearance at end): Anna Netrebko (mute)
(Note: 'mamelles' do not appear)


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

:lol::lol:

Can you get me tickets?


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Almaviva - Les Mamelles d'Anna


:lol: 
I can't wait for DVD production of this opera !


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Sergei Taneyev : Oresteia, very beautiful opera based on Aeschylus' tragedy. I've just finished listening to it ...


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Debussy - Pelléas et Mélisande
> Schumann - Genoveva
> Gershwin - Porgy and Bess


Debussy composed, I think another "kind" of opera...and many uncomplete...Le martyr of St-Sebastian (is this an opera?) was completed

Sibelius, a beautiful short opera: The maiden in the tower...a very old fashion story...

Thank you

Martin


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I have no idea who composed les mamelles d'Anna...I know Poulenc's mamelles de Tirésias (Apollinaire)...and les mamelles de Dolly Parton...LOL (not an opera exactly)










Martin


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> I have no idea who composed les mamelles d'Anna...I know Poulenc's mamelles de Tirésias (Apollinaire)...and les mamelles de Dolly Parton...LOL (not an opera exactly)
> 
> Martin


:lol:

Not forgetting Mamelles d'Anna Nicole


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

It's a little known fact that Debussy composed an early opera called "Rodruigue et Chimene " ,based on the Spanish nation hero El Cid, which Massenet also turned into an opera. That's Le Cid, which was recorded by CBS,now Sony Classical at a live performance with Domingo, and Eve Queler conducting.
However, he never orchestrated it, and it was not until maybe 20 years or so that the Russian composer Edison Denisov completed it . It has been recorded, with Kent Nagano and the forced of the Lyon opera in France, I believe on Erato. I doubt whether this is still available, but you could check arkivmusic.com, the best website for getting hard-to-find classical and opera CDs. I haven't heard this recording, but would very much like to.


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> Debussy composed, I think another "kind" of opera...and many uncomplete...Le martyr of St-Sebastian (is this an opera?) was completed


No, it's not an opera, but an incidental music to a mystery play ...


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

sospiro said:


> :lol:
> 
> Not forgetting Mamelles d'Anna Nicole


Wow! Yours is really impressive...she seems so....talented and gifted!

LOL

Martin


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Il_Penseroso said:


> No, it's not an opera, but an incidental music to a mystery play ...


Any how, Debussy had many unfinished operas...For me it doesn't count exactly like JUST ONE opera.

e.g. La chute de la maison Usher was even published, I do have a copy on CD.

Martin


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

I just mentioned him in another thread . . .

Bernard Herrmann, _Wuthering Heights_.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

sospiro said:


> I love this opera seeing as it was written predominantly for male voices. The object of their obsession & owner of the 'mamelles' is their fantasy woman so consequently is off stage for most of the time. This cast is sublime:
> 
> Hero as a boy: Juan Diego Flórez (tenor)
> Hero's pal: Joseph Calleja (tenor)
> ...


Speak for yourself, dear. There was a Eurotrash production of this great opera in Zurich, directed by McVicar, with plenty of mamelles. The rather avant-garde staging disregards the fact that the owner of the mamelles is supposed to remain offstage (I hate it when these stage directors change the composer's and librettist's intentions, and this is such an abominable case), and brings Anna Netrebko in,* entirely naked*, at various moments. I confess that the production is not for the faint of heart, and quite objectionable. Funny enough, it's been sold out* every single time* - go figure! Why do these people continue to patronize these Regie types??? Apparently the audiences have been predominantly male. Some ugly scenes of fights for the tickets have required the presence of the police. A very regrettable affair. I mean, Almaviva's opera itself is excellent, but with such a Regie-rich production, I wouldn't expect people to be fighting for the tickets. Since you are European, do you have any insight to help me understand why this production is always selling out?


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> . . . do you have any insight to help me understand why this production is always selling out?


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## slowjazz (Aug 29, 2011)

how can you forgot HUGO WOLF and his Corregidor


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Sorry to disapoint you, but "les mamelles d'Anne" was composed by Wofhrantz Amadutwstz Mossart. Who composed many operas...Among them:

- I suck very hard
- All you can eat is usually bad
- There is not such a thing as a free lunch
- No tip for bad service

and other operas I cannot remember.

Martin


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I've never listened to Der Corrgidor...But I think I had enough with his multiple leader....They are great...but they are too many

Martin


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## slowjazz (Aug 29, 2011)

what did you mean? the corregidor is particular and very invventive is not much similar to other operas


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Speak for yourself, dear. There was a Eurotrash production of this great opera in Zurich, directed by McVicar, with plenty of mamelles. The rather avant-garde staging disregards the fact that the owner of the mamelles is supposed to remain offstage (I hate it when these stage directors change the composer's and librettist's intentions, and this is such an abominable case), and brings Anna Netrebko in,* entirely naked*, at various moments. I confess that the production is not for the faint of heart, and quite objectionable. Funny enough, it's been sold out* every single time* - go figure! Why do these people continue to patronize these Regie types??? Apparently the audiences have been predominantly male. Some ugly scenes of fights for the tickets have required the presence of the police. A very regrettable affair. I mean, Almaviva's opera itself is excellent, but with such a Regie-rich production, I wouldn't expect people to be fighting for the tickets. Since you are European, do you have any insight to help me understand why this production is always selling out?


Well I still prefer the staging which corresponds to the composer's original intentions. There was an excellent version, directed by Calixto Bieito which was performed last year at Gran Teatre del Liceu & which will shortly be released on DVD.

Bieito, who is not normally associated with refined and cultivated productions, realised that *in this case* he agreed totally with the composer's aim. This was to demonstrate the absurdity of certain men's obsession with this part of the female anatomy and so the objects of that obsession would never be exposed solely for entertainment & that their owner would remain off stage throughout most of the opera.

It may interest you to know that these performances were also sold out within minutes of the tickets going on sale and that the audience for Bieto's 'mamelle-free' and authentic staging was predominantly women & there were no fights.

So in view of the cost of policing and the cost of repairs to the Box Office at Opernhaus Zürich, I don't think that McVicar's Euro-trash production will ever be revived.


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

slowjazz said:


> how can you forgot HUGO WOLF and his Corregidor





myaskovsky2002 said:


> I've never listened to Der Corrgidor...But I think I had enough with his multiple leader....They are great...but they are too many
> 
> Martin





slowjazz said:


> what did you mean? the corregidor is particular and very invventive is not much similar to other operas


Wolf tried to compose another opera in his later years, and it was called Manuel Venegas, but he left it as he began to lose his health in 1897 and was placed in an asylum.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

sospiro said:


> So in view of the cost of policing and the cost of repairs to the Box Office at Opernhaus Zürich, *I don't think that McVicar's Euro-trash production will ever be revived.*


That serves him right! The nerve! I personally would never buy a ticket for this mamelle-rich production:angel: [Alma crosses his fingers]. I'll be eagerly awaiting the DVD with the mamelle-free one from the Liceu. I heard that most members of the female-only audience joined an organized movement against McVicar's production, by attending the Bieito production topless. The camera-*man *was empathetic enough (bless him) to dignify this righteous gesture against the debasement of the art form, by lingering often on the most comely audience members. I'm very thankful to these women for setting Mr. McVicar straight.


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## slowjazz (Aug 29, 2011)

Antonio Bazzini: Turanda

Pietro Filippo Scarlatti: Clitarco
J.Offenbach:The Tales of Hoffmann
György Ligeti - Le Grand Macabre


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

slowjazz said:


> Pietro Filippo Scarlatti: Clitarco
> J.Offenbach:The Tales of Hoffmann
> György Ligeti - Le Grand Macabre


_The Tales of Hoffman_ is not Offenbach's only opera. There's also _Die Rheinnixen. _He also, of course, wrote about 100 operettas.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

I hope people will also feel free to contribute to my new, related thread: "Opera Composers Who Composed No Operas."

So far, there hasn't been much response.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

amfortas said:


> I hope people will also feel free to contribute to my new, related thread: "Opera Composers Who Composed No Operas."
> 
> So far, there hasn't been much response.


Hmm... wouldn't Almaviva's _Les Mamelles d'Anna _qualify, since it is rather imaginary?


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## slowjazz (Aug 29, 2011)

Listz: Don Sanche

Jan NovakULCITIUS

Jean Vallerand: Le Magicien. 
myaskovsky2002 you should know it

A.Boito: Mefistofele

well I remembered we missed what is considered the first american opera, Howard Hanson's Merry Mount


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I'm pretty sure is good. Der Corregidor)..But I have never listened to it, that's all. Some comments are not that good...

Martin


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Boito...This is wrong (I'm sorry to tell you this), he composed Nerone too...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerone_(Boito)

Martin


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

slowjazz said:


> A.Boito: Mefistofele


 No, Boito also has Nerone.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> No, Boito also has Nerone.


LOL

I have just said so...slowjazz will feel harassed! Don't worry...This opera is very boring anyhow (IMHO)

Martin, smiling


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Hugo Wolf's one completed opera is "Der Coregidor" (the magistrate) ,which tells the same story as Manuel De Falla's ballet "The 3-Cornered Hat ".
The story concerns a lustful Spanish magistrate who attempts a liaison with the beautiful young wife a an older man who operates a mill , and how his attempt is foiled through a series of comic circumstances. The opera features quotes from several of Wolf's most famous songs, and the music has been described as "Richard Wagner on vacation in Spain !"
I was listening to my Koch CD of the opera conducted by Gerd Albrecht, who has recorded so many interesting obscure operas, and the excellent cast includes Werner Hollweg, Doris Soffel, Helen Donath, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Kurt Moll. 
I would describe the opera as an aquired taste, but definitely worth hearing.


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## ooopera (Jul 27, 2011)

amfortas said:


> I hope people will also feel free to contribute to my new, related thread: "Opera Composers Who Composed No Operas."
> 
> So far, there hasn't been much response.


Like Gustav Mahler?


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## slowjazz (Aug 29, 2011)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> Boito...This is wrong (I'm sorry to tell you this), he composed Nerone too...
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerone_(Boito)
> 
> Martin


Yeah, i know, but I thought that Boito has not completed the opera, that was done by others. Although this is true more for Wolf, who completed only less than 50 pages of the first act of Manuel Venegas


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

superhorn said:


> Hugo Wolf's one completed opera is "Der Coregidor" (the magistrate) ,which tells the same story as Manuel De Falla's ballet "The 3-Cornered Hat ".
> The story concerns a lustful Spanish magistrate who attempts a liaison with the beautiful young wife a an older man who operates a mill , and how his attempt is foiled through a series of comic circumstances. The opera features quotes from several of Wolf's most famous songs, and the music has been described as "Richard Wagner on vacation in Spain !"
> I was listening to my Koch CD of the opera conducted by Gerd Albrecht, who has recorded so many interesting obscure operas, and the excellent cast includes Werner Hollweg, Doris Soffel, Helen Donath, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Kurt Moll.
> I would describe the opera as an aquired taste, but definitely worth hearing.


Danke schön!

Her Martin


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

ooopera said:


> Like Gustav Mahler?


indeed, many composers didn't compose any operaS...Mahler, Myaskovsky, Pitchon, Almaviva (even if he says he compsed les mamelle...he didn'T ...lol...(Pitchon is me...LOL)

Martin


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> indeed, many composers didn't compose any operaS...Mahler, Myaskovsky, Pitchon, Almaviva (even if he says he compsed les mamelle...he didn'T ...lol...(Pitchon is me...LOL)
> 
> Martin


Mahler allegedly did - an early effort called Rubezahl - but it was suppressed and then lost. It's possible that some of the music was salvaged and then incorporated into some of his early compositions.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Mahler completed an unfinished comic opera by Carl Maria Von Weber called "Die Drei Pintos" (the three Pintos) from the sketches left by the composer. 
There was an R.C.A. recording from the 70s conducted by the late Gary Bertini, and I believe a recent one by other performers I can't think of at the moment on one of the more obscure labels. It's quite entertaining. I'm not sure of the older recording has been reissued on CD.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I will compose an opera for my friend Almaviva considering all of his request. The title? Irma La Douce. Entertaining and with a lot of sex. I think this would be my only opera...I know nothing about music. LOL

Martin


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## AnaMendoza (Jul 29, 2011)

slowjazz said:


> ........
> 
> well I remembered we missed what is considered the first american opera, Howard Hanson's Merry Mount


What about Scott Joplin's _Treemonisha_?


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> I will compose an opera for my friend Almaviva considering all of his request. The title? Irma La Douce. Entertaining and with a lot of sex. I think this would be my only opera...I know nothing about music. LOL
> 
> Martin


I loved that movie. Officer Patou: "Do you have a license?" Irma: "Ermmmmm..." Officer Patou: "For the dog?"


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## slowjazz (Aug 29, 2011)

AnaMendoza said:


> What about Scott Joplin's _Treemonisha_?


Well i'm not sure that it is an opera really in the meaning of his term. in addition the opera was obscured and nobody knew until a few years ago


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Hanson's Merry Mount is hardly the first American opera. I recently borrowed the Naxos
recording conducted by Gerard Schwarz from my library, and I think it's a terrific opera,though. The Met should definitely revive it, I hope with Schwarz conducting. 
It was premiered at the Met in the 30s and was a big success with the audience, and the conductor was none other than Tullio Serafin !


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## AlanPalgut (Apr 11, 2012)

What? Four pages and _Jungfrun i tornet_ by Jean Sibelius hasn't been mentioned yet?


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

Liszt wrote an opera in one act - Don Sanche, at ages 13-14.


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

Lisztian said:


> Liszt wrote an opera in one act - Don Sanche, at ages 13-14.


Does this still exist?


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

^Yes, it does. 



 (Most of the work can be found here).


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

Lisztian said:


> ^Yes, it does.
> 
> 
> 
> (Most of the work can be found here).


Thank you. And a remarkably mature work it is too.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Lisztian said:


> Liszt wrote an opera in one act - Don Sanche, at ages 13-14.


Liszt composed a wonderful oratorio that sounds more like an opera: _St-Elisabeth's legend_.
I had it on 3 audio-cassettes...I transferred this into CD, very successfully!

Martin


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

Helmut Lachenmann has only written one opera to date: _Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern _(_The little match girl_, based on Hans Andersen's mawkish little story) which he describes as "Musik mit Bildern (Musiktheater)".

And Pierre Boulez may yet write what is likely to be his only opera - based on Beckett's _Waiting for Godot_: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2010/jul/09/pierre-boulez-opera-waiting-for-godot


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Following your recommendation, I've just bought Don Sanche by Liszt. It was mp3 (CD versions were at 90$!). It is nice, sung in French, that's why it's Don Sanche and not Don Sancho. It is not wagner, but it is still very pretty.

Martin


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

I don't think Rued Langgaard's Antikrist has been mentioned yet. The whole thing seems to be up on youtube


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

quack said:


> I don't think Rued Langgaard's Antikrist has been mentioned yet. The whole thing seems to be up on youtube


I.M.H.O. Not very appealing though...Of course this is personal...I get bored very easily.

Martin


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

superhorn said:


> Hanson's Merry Mount is hardly the first American opera. I recently borrowed the Naxos
> recording conducted by Gerard Schwarz from my library, and I think it's a terrific opera,though. The Met should definitely revive it, I hope with Schwarz conducting.
> It was premiered at the Met in the 30s and was a big success with the audience, and the conductor was none other than Tullio Serafin !


Frederick S. Converse's opera "The Pipe of Desire" was the first, Met 1910.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Here's one, Raoul Laparra, "La Habanera", Paris 1908.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Cesar Franck - Hulda

which I recall seeing in 1994, in my 'Bloomsbury Years'. Latterly I'm quite a fan of Franck's music and would love to hear a recording of it. Anybody know of one?

...oops. Sorry, it appears there's another one called Ghiselle, although it seems that both in total only amount to a handful of performances.

Adds another, to make up for the above. Rufus Wainwright


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## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

quack said:


> I don't think Rued Langgaard's Antikrist has been mentioned yet. The whole thing seems to be up on youtube


Just been giving this a listen, terrific piece! I love the late romantic style with hints of modernism.


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

Domenico Alaleona composed a single opera: Mirra.
Quite good too, IMO.


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## Pantheon (Jun 9, 2013)

Can John Cage's Europeras be considered as an opera?
Arensky : Dream on the Volga
Kodály : Háry János
Satie : Geneviève de Brabant


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