Alessandro Stradella (opera)

Alessandro Stradella is a romantic opera (Romantische Oper) in three acts composed by Friedrich von Flotow to a German libretto by Wilhelm Friedrich. Set in Venice and the countryside near Rome, it is loosely based on the colourful life of the 17th century Italian composer and singer Alessandro Stradella. It was first performed in its full version on 30 December 1844 at the Stadttheater auf dem Gänsemarkt in Hamburg

Performance history

Alessandro Stradella began its life as Stradella, a one act comédie en vaudeville which opened in Paris at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal on 2 February 1837. Flotow then revised and expanded the work to a full three-act opera which had a successful premiere at the Stadttheater auf dem Gänsemarkt in Hamburg on 30 December 1844. The work proved to be very popular in Germany and was also performed in Italian translation in several opera houses in Italy, including the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa and the Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan. It was also heard in Warsaw at the Teatr Wielki in 1858, in Paris at the Théâtre des Italiens in 1863, and in London at the Royal Opera House in 1864. By the time it received its Metropolitan Opera premiere on 4 February 1910 with Leo Slezak as Stradella and Alma Gluck as Leonore, the work had nearly been forgotten. Alessandro Stradella received six performances at the Met that season, but then returned to obscurity, never achieving the popularity of Flowtow's later opera Martha.

Roles

Stradella (tenor)
Bassi, a wealthy Venetian, (bass)
Leonore, Bassi's ward (soprano)
Malvolio, a bandit, (bass)
Barbarino, a bandit (tenor)
Pupils of Stradella, masks, villagers, pilgrims, distinguished citizens, patricians

Sources

Casaglia, Gherardo, "Flotow", Almanacco Amadeus, 2005 (accessed 21 May 2010, in Italian)
Metropolitan Opera, February 4, 1910, MetOpera Database
New York Times, "Flotow's Stradella is Heard", 5 February 1910.

External links

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