Christmas operas

[swanekj]

Orff's Weihnachtsgespiel I suppose is a cantata.

[BFerrell]

NA

[Alan Howe]

Yep, I'm afraid Orff's well off our musical map.

[eschiss1]

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. ...

[edurban]

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)

[Christopher]

(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....

[eschiss1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdjisjFWLgk this may be it.

[Dave]

Franz Lehar's "Der Zarewitsch" (The Tsarevich) comes to mind.

[Revilod]

The last act of Massenet's opera "Amadis" takes place at Christmas.

[Wheesht]

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.

[Christopher]

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.

[eschiss1]

ah. My mistake then ...

[regriba]

... 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

[eschiss1]

well, isn't that the original Andersen story?? (Not positive, but I think so.) Can't very well blame Enna for sticking to source.

[Derek Hughes]

Does Hiller's Der Traum in der Christnacht have anything to do with Christmas?