The Duenna[1] (La Dueña) is an English/German-language opera in three acts composed by Robert Gerhard to libretto by the composer, after the 1775 comedy The Duenna by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Composed from 1945 to 1947, the opera was premiered on BBC radio in 1949, conducted by Stanford Robinson and was 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.[2] The opera is in part atonal, following Gerhard's teacher Schoenberg.[3][4]
Later, Gerhard had showed remorse for having infused the music with serial elements.[5]
- ^ "Roberto Gerhard Duenna - Opera". www.boosey.com. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
- ^ 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".
- ^ 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”, "
- ^ Amanda Holden The New Penguin Opera Guide 2001 p293 "This is particularly true of his only opera, The Duenna."
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:2was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search