La ville morte | |
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by Nadia Boulanger and Raoul Pugno | |
Language | French |
Based on | Gabriele D'Annunzio's play La città morta |
Premiere | 2005 |
La ville morte is an opera by Nadia Boulanger and Raoul Pugno to the text of Gabriele D'Annunzio's play La città morta . It has been called Boulanger's "most significant achievement as a creative artist".[1]
After hearing her examinations at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1904, Pugno became Boulanger's teacher, collaborator and promotor.[2] Some writers say that Pugno and Boulanger became lovers, while others do not.[3] In 1909 they wrote a song cycle, Les heures claires, together.[4] Work on the opera probably began in 1909 and was finished in 1912.[5] Pugno died on 3 January 1914, before the opera could have its premier. Opéra-Comique had finished casting by July 1914, and choir rehearsals were scheduled to start on August 17 that same year when the outbreak of World War I disrupted all plans.[6] With many echoes of Pelléas et Mélisande, the story follows the lives and loves of an archeologist, Léonard, his sister Hebé, Alexandre, a colleague, and his wife Anne, amidst the ruins of Mycenae.[7]
A fully orchestrated version of the opera has not survived.[8] The opera was reconstructed from surviving scores by Mauro Bonifacio and had its world premiere at the 2005 Chigiana festival in Siena.[9] It was performed for the second time in a concert staging by Mia Nerenius, using screens and projections, in March 2020 at the Gothenburg Opera.[7][10]
A US premiere by Gotham Chamber Opera, postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is planned for 2024.[11][12]
Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 16 March 2005[13] (Conductor: Luca Pfaff) |
Gothenburg Opera cast, 8 March 2020[14] (Conductor: Anna-Maria Helsing) |
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Hebé | soprano | Michelle Canniccioni | Katarina Karnéus |
Anne | mezzo-soprano | Letitia Singleton | Matilda Paulsson |
Léonard | tenor | Lorenzo Carola | Markus Pettersson |
Alexandre | Baritone | Randal Turner | Anton Ljungqvist |