The Duenna (opera)

The Duenna is an English-language opera in three acts by Roberto Gerhard to libretto by the composer, after the 1775 comedy The Duenna by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Composed 1945–47, the opera was premiered on BBC radio in 1949, and received well. It was revised in 1951 for performance at the ISCM Festival in Wiesbaden, but there the use of popular melodies did not go down well with critics.[1] The opera is in part atonal, following Gerhard's teacher Schoenberg.[2][3] It was staged, in English, in 1992 at Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid, and Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona.

Recording

La Dueña (in English) Ann Taylor (mezzo-soprano), Richard van Allan (bass-baritone), Neill Archer (tenor), Susannah Glanville (soprano), Eric Roberts (baritone), Bruce Budd (baritone), David Owen-Lewis (narrator), Paul Wade (tenor), Stephen Briggs (tenor), Adrian Clarke (bass), Claire Powell (mezzo-soprano), Jeremy Peaker (narrator), Deborah Pearce (narrator), Denise Mulholland (soprano) Opera North Chorus, English Northern Philharmonia, Antoni Ros-Marba Chandos 2CD 2013 2 hours 28 minutes

References
  1. William Lacey, ‘The vocal music of Roberto Gerhard 1917-1947’, unpub. M.Mus. Diss. King’s College, Cambridge, 25 1996. p. 25. "[I]t was dismissed by almost everybody on the grounds of having tunes".
  2. Gerhard The Duenna - Review Gramophone "The music, Spanish no longer – indeed atonal – darkens under this, refuses to allow us to laugh at Jerome's “We were never fond enough to quarrel”, "
  3. Amanda Holden The New Penguin Opera Guide 2001 p293 "This is particularly true of his only opera, The Duenna."
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