Shakespeare Opera Production Guide Project
For more than ten years, while I was still working on my PhD on the Puck character, I started collecting information on Shakespearean operas, operas inspired by any of William Shakespeare's play.
In 2014, we will celebrate Shakespeare's 450th birthday, and in 2016, the 400th anniversary of his death.
I am now completing a book, collecting all information I found on these operas. I intend to publish a book that would look like the following :
- W. Franklin Summers, Operas in One Act - A Production Guide, Lanham : Scarecrow Press, 1997
- Quaintance Eaton, Opera Production - A Handbook, 2 volumes, Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 1961 and 1974
- Rebecca Hodell Kornick : Recent American Opera - A Production Guide, New York : Columbia University Press, 1991.
All stage works listed in the following books, articles and dictionaries will be included :
- Christopher R. Wilson, "Shakespeare", in Stanley Sadie (ed.), New Grove Dictionary of Opera, , London : Macmillan Press Ltd, 1992, vol. 4, pp. 338-47
- Winton Dean, "Shakespeare and Opera", in Phyllis Hartnoll (ed.), Shakespeare in Music, London : Macmillan, 1964, pp. 89-176
- Winton Dean, "Shakespeare in the Opera House", Shakespeare Survey n° 18, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1965, p. 75-93
- Edward R. Hotaling, Shakespeare and the Musical Stage : a Guide to Sources, Studies and First Performances, Boston : G. K. Hall & Co., 1990, p. 421-3
- Bryan N. S. Gooch, A Shakespeare Music Catalogue, 5 volumes, Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1991
- Alfred Loewenberg, Annals of Opera 1597-1940, Cambridge : W. Heffer & Sons Ltd
- Allwyn Charles Keys, Les Adaptations musicales de Shakespeare en France jusqu'en 1870, Paris : Recueil Sirey, 1933
- Edward J. Dent : "Shakespeare and Music", in Harley Granville Barker, George Bagshaw Harrison (ed.), Companion to Shakespeare Studies, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1934
- Frederick William Sternfeld, "Shakespeare and Music", in Kenneth A. Muir, Samuel Schoenbaum (ed.), A New Companion to Shakespeare Studies, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1971
- Richard Allan Northcott, Shakespearean Operas, 1968, typescript (New York, Folger Shakespeare Library, shelfmark M1 no 29 Pamp)
- Harold Rosenthal, John Warrack, Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, London : Oxford University Press, 1974/1980
- Gary Schmidgall, Shakespeare and Opera, New York & Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1990
My book is divided in three parts :
- Shakespearean Works
- Partially Shakespearean Works
- Non Shakespearean Works or Non Operas
It will include all information needed by the opera profession (theatre manager, producer, conductor, director, singer) before deciding to produce an opera :
- composer, librettist, original title, translated title
- musical form as described by the composer, with number of acts, scenes
- date and location of first performance
- cast of the first performance
- detailed cast : characters' names and vocal ranges
- detailed orchestral setting : instruments and number of players, with expanded percussion section
- location of original manuscripts
- duration : number of acts and scenes, and approximate duration of each of them
- publisher : name, scores available : full score, vocal score, orchstral parts, vocal parts
- recordings : most famous recordings available on CD, lesser known but great recordings more difficult to find, notorious unpublished boradcast recordings
- set requirements according to the score and libretto
I have already completed the following articles :
|
- Adolphe Adam, Falstaff, 1856 - Thomas Adès, The Tempest, 2004 - Richard Adler, Music Is, 1976 - Zigmas Aleksandravicius, A Midsummer Night's Dream, / (composed 1964) - David Amram, Twelfth Night, 1968 - Dominick Argento, Christopher Sly, 1963 - Kurt Atterberg, The Tempest, 1948 - John Balamos, As You Like It, 1964 - Michael William Balfe, Falstaff, 1838 - Samuel Barber, Antony and Cleopatra, 1966/1975 - Carlo Emanuele Barbieri, Perdita, 1865 - John Edmond Barkworth, Romeo and Julia, 1916 - Ned Edwin Battista, Sir Jack, 1972 - Giorgio Battistelli, Richard III, 2005 - Georg Anton Benda, Romeo and Juliet, 1776 - Christopher Berg, Cymbeline, 2001 - Hector Berlioz, Béatrice and Bénédict, 1862 - Leonard Bernstein, West Side Story, 1957 - Antonio Bibalo, Macbeth, 1990 - Boris Blacher, Romeo and Juliet, 1947/1950 - Ernest Bloch, Macbeth, 1910 - Philippe Boesmans, A Winter's Tale, 1999 - Emmanuel Bondeville, Antoine et Cléopâtre, 1974 - Rutland Boughton, Agincourt, 1924 - Benjamin Britten, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1960 - Neely Bruce, Pyramus and Thisbe, 1967 - Max Bruch, Hermione, 1872 - Antonio Cagnoni, King Lear, 2009 (composed 1883) - Pietro Canonica, Miranda, 1937 - Mario Castlenuovo-Tedesco, All's Well That Ends Well, / (composed 1955-58) - Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, The Merchant of Venice, 1961 - Michael Ching, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2011 - Jan Cikker, Coriolanus, 1974 - Lawrance Arthur Collingwood, Macbeth, 1934 - Marcel Delannoy, Puck, 1949 - Salvatore Di Vittorio, Romeo and Juliet, / (composed 2003) - Jaroslav Doubrava, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1969 - John Charles Eaton, King Lear, / (in progress since 2003) - John Charles Eaton, The Tempest, 1985 - Franco Faccio, Hamlet, 1865/1871 - David Andross Farquhar, Enchanted Island, 2002/2005 - Klaus Fehmel, Twelfth Night, or the Shipwrecked from Illyria, 1963/1970 - Zdenek Fibich, The Tempest, 1895 - Vito Frazzi, King Lear, 1939 - Don Freund, Romeo and Juliet, 2008 - Christine Anne Frezza, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1987 - Giorgio Gaslini, Mister O, 1996 - Nicholas Comyn Gatty, Macbeth, / (composed before 1947) - Nicholas Comyn Gatty, The Tempest, 1920 - René Gerber, Le Songe d'une nuit d'été, 1984/1998 - Alexander Goehr, Promised End, 2010 - Hermann Goetz, The Taming of the Shrew, 1874 - Karl Goldmark, A Winter's Tale, 1908 - Charles Gounod, Roméo et Juliette, 1867 - Louis Gruenberg, Antony and Cleopatra, / (completed in 1964) - Reynaldo Hahn, Le Marchand de Venise, 1935 - Jacques Fromental Halévy, The Tempest, 1850 - John Harbison, Winter's Tale, 1979/2009 - Zeke Hecker, Pericles Prince of Tyre, 1981 - Alva Henderson, The Tempest, / - Hans Werner Henze, Venus and Adonis, 1997 - Lee Hoiby, Romeo and Juliet, 2000 - Lee Hoiby, The Tempest, 1986/1996/2008 - Gustav Holst, At the Boar's Head, 1925 - Toshio Hosokawa, Vision of Lear, 1998 - Christian Jost, Hamlet, 2009 - Tuulikki Kankaanpää, Tempest, 1988 - Rudolf Karel, The Taming of the Shrew, / - Rudolf Kelterborn, Julia, 1991 - Rudolf Kelterborn, Ophelia, 1984 - Carson Kievman, Hamlet, 2012 - Giselher Klebe, The Assassination of Caesar, 1959 - Jan Klusak, What You Will / Twelfth Night, 1989 - Babette Koblenz, The Witches' Skat, of The Strike of the Witches, 1984 - Frederick Koch, Comedy of Errors, 1974 - Isa Krejci, Uproar in Ephesus, 1945 - Igor Kuljeric, Richard III, 1987 - Alfred Loeffler, Love's Labour's Lost, 1984 - Luca Lombardi, Prospero, 2006
|
- Gian Francesco Malipiero, Antony and Cleopatra, 1938 - Gian Francesco Malipiero, Giulio Cesare, 1936 - Gian Francesco Malipiero, Romeo and Juliet, 1950/1961 - Jens-Ole Malmgren, Around Hamlet, / (composed in 1981) - George William Louis Marshall-Hall, Romeo and Juliet, 1912 - Frank Martin, The Tempest, 1956 - Aleksi Machavariani, Hamlet, 2013 - Paul McIntyre, Macbeth, 2005-2008 (excerpts) - Nicolas Nabokov, Love's Labour's Lost, 1973 - Otto Nicolai, The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1849 - Stephen Oliver, Timon of Athens, 1991 - Mario Persico, The Taming of the Shrew, 1931 - Cole Porter, Kiss Me Kate, 1948 - Johann Friedrich Reichardt, The Haunted Island, 1798 - Aribert Reimann, Lear, 1978 - Hermann Reutter, Hamlet, 1980 - Mark Richards, Hamlet, 2008 - Richard Rodgers, The Boys from Syracuse, 1938 - Gioachino Rossini, Otello, 1816 - Ernst Roters, Hamlet, / - Antonio Salieri, Falstaff, 1799 - Aulis Sallinen, King Lear, 2000 - Gervais Bernard Gaston Salvayre, Richard III, 1883/1891 - François Sarhan, A King Lear, 2010 - Alan W. Schmitz, Julius Caesar, 1978 - Salvatore Sciarrino, Macbeth, 2002 - Humphrey Searle, Hamlet, 1968/1969 - Charles Silver, The Taming of the Shrew, 1922 - Vladimir Soukup, Cleopatra, / - Charles Villiers Stanford, Much Ado About Nothing, 1901 - Daniel Steibelt, Romeo and Juliet, 1793 - Heinrich Sutermeister, The Enchanted Island, 1942 - Heinrich Sutermeister, Romeo and Juliet, 1940 - Peter Tahourdin, The Tempest, / (completed in 2000) - Flavio Testi, Richard III, 1987 - Ambroise Thomas, Hamlet, 1868/1869 - Manfred Trojahn, What You Will, 1998 - Ming Tsao, The Enchanted Island, 2011 - Ralph Vaughan Williams, Sir John in Love, 1929 - Giuseppe Verdi, Falstaff, 1893 - Giuseppe Verdi, Macbeth, 1847 - Giuseppe Verdi, Otello, 1887 - Richard Wagner, Das Liebesverbot, 1836 - David Ward, Timone, / (composed in 1995) - Hugo Weisgall, The Gardens of Adonis, 1992 - André Werner, Lavinia A., 2007 - Peter Talbot Westergaard, The Tempest, 1994 - James Wilson, Twelfth Night, 1969 - Mario Zafred, Hamlet, 1961 - Antonio Zanon, La leggenda di Giulietta, 1969 - Winfried Zillig, Troilus and Cressida, 1951/1983
- Gaetano Andreozzi, Hamlet, 1792 - Jeremy Beck, Anne Boleyn, 1984/1985 - Luciano Berio, Un Re in Ascolto, 1984 - Benjamin Britten, The Rape of Lucretia, 1946 - Antonio Buzzola, Hamlet, 1848 - Paolo Renosto, Banquo's Shadow, 1976 - Ottorino Respighi, Lucrezia, 1937 - Ambroise Thomas, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1850/1886 - Michael Tippett, The Knot Garden, 1970 - Riccardo Zandonai, Juliet and Romeo, 1922
- Charles Guillaume Alexandre, Georget et Georgette, 1761 - Franco Alfano, Miranda, / (composed in 1896) - Pasquale Anfossi, Cajo Mario, 1770 - Attilio Ariosti, Cajo Marzio Coriolano, 1723 - Franz Asplmayr, Life and Death of King Macbeth, 1771 - Franz Asplmayr, The Tempest, 1779 - Edmond Audran, Gillette de Narbonne, 1882 - Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, Brutus, 1774 - Vincenzo Bellini, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, 1830 - Tom Cunningham, The Okavango Macbeth, 2009 - August De Boeck, A Winter Night's Dream, 1902 - Gaetano Donizetti, Anna Bolena, 1830 - Pascal Dusapin, Roméo et Juliette, 1989 - Reynaldo Hahn, Much Ado About Nothing, 1936 - Niccolo Jommelli, Cajo Mario, 1746 - Beatrice Laufer, Shylock, 1929 - Giuseppe Lillo, Caterina Howard, 1849 - Aleksi Machavariani, Othello, 1957 - Vicente Martin y Soler, La Capricciosa corretta, 1795 - Giuseppe Nicolini, Coriolano, 1808 - Carl Orff, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1939/1964 - Camille Saint-Saëns, Henry VIII, 1883 |
I have no information about a number of operas, and I would be very pleased to receive details about the following works :
I am especially looking for the following : score, program book, reviews, world premiere cast, orchestral and vocal setting.
- Jean van den Acker : Romeo en Marielle ou Tout pour l'amour, Antwerp, 1859
- Richard Adler : Music Is, New York, St James Theatre, 20 December 1976
- Marek Alaszewski : Ein Sommernachtstraum, Berlin, Metropol Theater, 1975
- Flor Alpaerts : Shylock, Antwerp, 22 November 1913
- David Amram : Twelfth Night, Glenns Falls, 1 August 1968
- Arturo de Angelis : La Tempesta, Perugia, 5 July 1905
- Moric Anger : Viola, 1872
- Armand Angyal : The Tempest
- Dennis Drew Arundell : A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1930
- Theodore Aylward : A Midsummer Night's Dream, London, 1790
- Vincenzo Bernabei : Gli Equivoci d'amore, Wien, 1689
- Nick Bicat : All's Well that Ends Well, Oxford, 16 May 1978
- Howard Biggs : Shrew, Seattle, 1939
- Pavel Blatny : Vecer Trikralovy
- Piero Bottagisio : La bisbetica domata, Verona, 1928
- W. Bromley : Arden
- Kurt Brüggeman : Illyrisches Abenteuer
- Geoffrey Bush : Love's Labour's Lost, 1988
- M. Carl : Julius Cäsar, 1880
- Oreste Carlini : King Henry V, Napoli, 1820
- D. Carnochan : Lear, 1972
- Luigi Caruso : La Tempesta, Napoli, 1798
- Tom Chatburn : The Gay Venetians, Derby, 1955
- Hy Conrad : Ta-Dah !, New York, 1981
- Alfredo Consorti : Giulio Cesare, 1923
- Carlo Conti : Antony and Cleopatra, Genoa, 1842
- M. Cooney : Hamlet, New York, 1870