Monna Vanna
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| Operas by Sergey Rakhmaninov |
|---|
Aleko (1892) |
Monna Vanna (Russian: Монна Ванна) is an unfinished opera by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) after a play by Maurice Maeterlinck. Rachmaninoff had completed Act I in short vocal score, with piano accompaniment, and then he went to ask for permission to set the text in a full three-act treatment. However, another composer had by then received the rights to an operatic setting of the text. Had Rachmaninoff proceeded to a complete operatic setting, such a work could not have been produced in European countries which were signatories to copyright laws that covered the work of Maeterlinck. This opera could only have been produced in countries, like Russia, which at the time were not signatories to European copyright law. Ultimately, Rachmaninoff abandoned further work on this opera and never wrote a complete setting.[1]
Years later, Igor Buketoff prepared a performing orchestrated edition of the one-act torso, which he recorded and conducted in its world premiere with The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1984[2].
Contents |
[edit] Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast Fragment performed, August 1984 (Conductor: Igor Buketoff) |
|---|---|---|
| Guido, military commander | baritone | Sherrill Milnes |
| Guido's father | tenor | John Alexander |
| Monna Vanna, wife of Guido | soprano | Tatiana Troyanos |
| Torello | ||
| Vorso | ||
| Chorus (off stage) | ||
[edit] Synopsis
Act I falls into three scenes. The setting is 15th-century Pisa, Italy, during an armed conflict with the city under siege.
Guido, the military commander in Pisa, learns from his father that the enemy will cease conflict if Monna Vanna, wife of Guido, goes to the enemy's camp, but dressed only in a mantle. Monna Vanna agrees to this demand.
[edit] Selected Recordings
- Chandos CHAN 8987: Sherrill Milnes, Seth McCoy, Blythe Walker, Nickolas Karousatos, Jon Thorsteinsson; Icelandic Opera Chorus; Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Igor Buketoff, conductor and arranger[3]
Historical recordings have been released with Fernand Ansseau singing arias from Monna Vanna in French, on the Pearl label.
[edit] Homonymy
- See also Monna Vanna opera by Henry Février
[edit] References
- ^ Geoffrey Norris, "Tantalising torso". The Musical Times, 133(1792), p. 302 (1992).
- ^ Will Crutchfield, "Rachmaninoff's Monna Vanna Fragment". New York Times, 13 August 1984.
- ^ John Webb, "Record Review" (issues of Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff). Tempo (New Ser.), 181, pp. 40-41 (June 1992).
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