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Transient Delete: Original Composition with a Critical Examination of the Compositional Process and a Survey of Digital Technology in Opera

Description: This paper explores various technologies available to the modern composer and utilized in recent modern opera, providing creative approaches to producing aural, visual, and theatrical performance environments. It also explores my own use of digital technology in Transient Delete. Transient Delete is a digital miniature-opera that explores different aspects of a community of post-human cyborgs. The story follows Iméra, a newly converted cyborg as she acclimates herself to this new cybernetic exi… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Shirey, Benjamin, 1985-
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Riders to the Sea

Description: Riders to the Sea is a chamber opera in one act of approximately 40 minutes in duration. The single act is divided into six scenes that progress without pause. The vocal parts are comprised of 2 sopranos, 1 mezzo-soprano, 1 baritone, and an off-stage chorus of men's voices (tenor I, tenor II, baritone, and bass; two per part). The orchestra will be comprised of winds (1-1-1-1-1), brass (2-2-1-1), strings (2-2-2-2-1), piano, 2 percussionists, and tape, that will be used to provide a continuous b… more
Date: December 1993
Creator: Carson, Michael, 1959-
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Die Opernprobe by Albert Lortzing: a Critical Edition

Description: The purpose of the present edition of Albert Lortzing's Die Opernprobe is to restore and clarify the composer's original intentions, which were often obscured or altered by the first published version, which appeared in 1899. This thesis is divided into two parts. Part One contains an introduction which discusses Lortzing's place in the history of German opera, the details surrounding the composition of Die Opernprobe, the musical and dramatic structure of the opera, and the sources used in the… more
Date: August 1990
Creator: McDaniel, Jan (Pianist)
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness: An Opera Based on the Life of John the Baptist

Description: "A Voice Crying In The Wilderness," an opera in two acts, is written for baritone soloist (John) and chorus with minor singing roles for two sopranos, mezzo soprano, tenor, a major speaking role for male falsetto voice, and three lesser speaking roles for tenor voices. Members of the chorus are required to play an assortment of percussion instruments and must be able to dance in contemporary modern dance styles. The opera is scored for large string orchestra, amplified solo viola, two electroni… more
Date: August 1987
Creator: Irvin, Nat, 1951-
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Land of Dreams

Description: LAND OF DREAMS is an opera in one act based on poems by the English poet William Blake. The work is for chamber orchestra, dancers, and an actor, as well as the vocal cast listed below. Cast of Characters Thomas Soprano The Father Baritone The Nurse Alto The Mother Mezzo Soprano The opera divides into eight sections with a total performance time of approximately forty minutes. Each section represents a different stylistic approach to the musical material. This juxtaposing of various styles is r… more
Date: December 1983
Creator: Sanders, Greg
Partner: UNT Libraries

Daisy: Opera in Two Acts

Description: This is the original conductor's score for the opera "Daisy" including the vocal parts as well as instrumental lines for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horns, trumpets, bass trombone, timpani and percussion, harp and piano, violin, viola, cello, and string bass. The introductory pages at the start of the score include acknowledgements and synopsis by Professor Kenneth L. Ballenger, the cast of characters and scene list (5 scenes). There is an index to the scenes for each act following their … more
Access: Restricted to UNT Community Members. Login required if off-campus.
Date: September 15, 1973
Creator: Smith, Julia, 1905-1989
Partner: UNT Music Library

Les deux comtesses : opera bouffon imité de l'Italien et parodié sous la musique

Description: Paisiello’s comic operas were some of the most successful of the time. In point of fact, his operas enjoyed 251 performances in Vienna between 1783 and 1792, compared to 63 performances of Mozart’s operas. The intermezzo Le due comtesse, which first appeared in Rome (with an all-male cast) on 3 January 1776, was translated to French and parodied by Nicolas Etienne Framery, who also adapted Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia for the Parisian stage.
Date: 178X
Creator: Paisiello, Giovanni, 1740-1816 & Framery, Nicolas Etienne, 1745-1810
Partner: UNT Music Library

Richard Cœur de Lion : opéra comique en trois actes

Description: Richard Cœur-de-lion is probably Grétry’s most famous opéra-comique. However, it was banned during the French Revolution and subsequent rebellions in 1830 and 1848 due to its favorable depiction of royalty. Other than those exceptions, the work has remained popular due to its well-developed and compelling plot, its idealized representation of the Medieval community, as well as its musicodramatic structure in which a recurring romance melody is treated as a unifying plot point.
Date: 1838
Creator: Grétry, André Ernest Modeste, 1741-1813
Partner: UNT Music Library

Idomeneo : dramma eroico in tre atti, volume 1

Description: This score is special edition of Mozart's opera "Idomeneo" issued by subscription by J. Frey in ca. 1822. The cursive signature J. Frey appears in ink at the bottom of the t.p. This edition is in two volumes. Volume 1 lists the names of subscribers and has a table of contents for each of the three acts with the incipit of first lines of texts of arias, recitatives and choruses. Volume 1 also contains the overture of the opera and the first act. Volume 2 contains the second and third acts. … more
Date: 1821
Creator: Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791.; Varesco, Giambattista. & Danchet, Antoine, 1671-1748.
Partner: UNT Music Library

Idomeneo : dramma eroico in tre atti, volume 2

Description: This score is special edition of Mozart's opera "Idomeneo" issued by subscription by J. Frey in ca. 1822. The cursive signature J. Frey appears in ink at the bottom of the t.p. This edition is in two volumes. Volume 1 lists the names of subscribers and has a table of contents for each of the three acts with the incipit of first lines of texts of arias, recitatives and choruses. Volume 1 also contains the overture of the opera and the first act. Volume 2 contains the second and third acts. … more
Date: 1821
Creator: Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791.
Partner: UNT Music Library

Didon; tragédie lyrique en trois actes

Description: With Didon, Piccinni demonstrated his ability to combine both Italian and French styles to create a compelling tragédie lyrique. The opera includes lyrical Italian melodies and a second-act finale, as well as French choruses and numbers that transition continuously without pauses. Didon was premiered at Fountainebleau on 16 October 1783, and it remained one of Piccinni’s most popular French operas, with performances through the first part of the nineteenth century. The story of Dido had been… more
Date: 1815
Creator: Piccinni, Niccolò, 1728-1800 & Marmontel, Jean François, 1723-1799
Partner: UNT Music Library

Iphigenie en Aulide; tragédie. Opera en trois actes

Description: Although he did not have a production planned, Gluck composed the music for Iphigénie en Aulide for Paris, with the intention (along with Roullet) of establishing himself at the Opéra. He initially had difficulties convincing the Academy of Music to arrange for the production, but with the support of Marie Antoinette, the opera was finally realized in 1773. Gluck revised Iphigénie for performances in 1775. The most significant change was the addition of Diana as a character, whose appearanc… more
Date: 1811
Creator: Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787 & Du Roullet, François Louis Gaud Lebland, marquis, 1716-1786
Partner: UNT Music Library

Iphigenie en Aulide; tragédie. Opera en trois actes

Description: Although he did not have a production planned, Gluck composed the music for Iphigénie en Aulide for Paris, with the intention (along with Roullet) of establishing himself at the Opéra. He initially had difficulties convincing the Academy of Music to arrange for the production, but with the support of Marie Antoinette, the opera was finally realized in 1773. Gluck revised Iphigénie for performances in 1775. The most significant change was the addition of Diana as a character, whose appearance… more
Date: 1811
Creator: Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787 & Du Roullet, François Louis Gaud Lebland, marquis, 1716-1786
Partner: UNT Music Library

Serva padrona : intermezzo

Description: The intermezzo La serva padrona first appeared between the acts of Pergolesi’s Il prigioniero superbo in 1733. This was the standard way in which to present an intermezzo. The work served as comic relief in the midst of more solemn opera serie, and incorporated elements of the improvisational commedia del’arte tradition. For instance, the few characters are drawn from stock types, such as the servant Serpina.
Date: [1804,1805]
Creator: Pergolesi, Giovanni Battista, 1710-1736
Partner: UNT Music Library

Don Juan, oder, Der Steinerne Gast : komische Oper in zwey Aufzügen, volume 1

Description: By the time of Mozart and Da Ponte’s collaboration on Don Giovanni, the Don Juan legend had been represented in musical entertainments and on the popular stage a number of times. Although it was an unusual topic for Viennese court opera, the retelling of the Don Juan story was immensely appealing for the Italian troupe in Prague. Don Giovanni did eventually make its way to Vienna, but the opera did not meet the same success it had received in Prague.
Date: 1801
Creator: Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791. & Da Ponte, Lorenzo, 1749-1838
Partner: UNT Music Library

Don Juan, oder, Der Steinerne Gast : komische Oper in zwey Aufzügen, volume 2

Description: By the time of Mozart and Da Ponte’s collaboration on Don Giovanni, the Don Juan legend had been represented in musical entertainments and on the popular stage a number of times. Although it was an unusual topic for Viennese court opera, the retelling of the Don Juan story was immensely appealing for the Italian troupe in Prague. Don Giovanni did eventually make its way to Vienna, but the opera did not meet the same success it had received in Prague.
Date: 1801
Creator: Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791. & Da Ponte, Lorenzo, 1749-1838
Partner: UNT Music Library

Matrimonio segreto : dramma giocoso in due atti = ou, Le mariage secret : opera comiLe mariage secret : opera comique en deux actesque en deux actes

Description: Domenico Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 7 February 1792, just two months after Mozart’s death. It received immediate accolades, particularly from Emperor Leopold II, and the opera was performed a second time that day for a private audience that included the Holy Roman ruler. Il matrimonio segreto enjoyed a successful run that lasted almost a hundred years, with revised versions appearing in the second half of the nineteenth century; in 1933, the w… more
Date: 1799
Creator: Cimarosa, Domenico, 1749-1801 & Bertati, Giovanni, 1735-1815
Partner: UNT Music Library

Romeo et Juliette, opera en trois actes, en prose

Description: This is the score of Daniel Steibelt's first opera "Roméo et Juliette" composed in 1793 to a libretto by Vicomte Alexandre de Ségur. According to Grove Music, Steibelt submitted this opera to the Académie Royale de Musique, but it was rejected. The work was performed as opéra comique at the Théâtre Feydeau on 9 October 1793, after Steibelt replaced the original recitatives with spoken dialog. The opera is in three acts and the orchestral forces comprise: woodwinds (flutes (2), oboes (2), … more
Date: 1793
Creator: Steibelt, Daniel, 1765-1823.
Partner: UNT Music Library

Tarare : opéra en cinq actes avec un prologue

Description: Antonio Salieri’s French debut Les Danaïdes (1784) led to additional commissions, Les Horaces (1786) and Tarare (1787). Although Les Horaces was not well-received, Tarare was popular both in Paris and Vienna. Beaumarchais supplied the libretto for Tarare, basing his plot on the third volume of the exotic English collection The Tales of the Genii, or The Delightful Lessons of Horam, the Son of Asmar (1764) by James Ridley, (pseudonym for Sir Charles Morell), who claimed the stories were tran… more
Date: 1790
Creator: Salieri, Antonio, 1750-1825 & Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de, 1732-1799
Partner: UNT Music Library

Barbe bleue : comédie en prose et en trois actes

Description: Although the story of Bluebeard was familiar to French readers from Charles Perrault’s 1698 collection of children’s tales, transferring it to the operatic stage was problematic due in large part to the gruesome nature of the plot. Other violent works had appeared in Paris, but in this instance, the drama was to be performed at the Comédie-Italienne, which typically featured lighter plots than that of Raoul and Isaure. Nevertheless, the opera had a successful run, receiving over a hundred per… more
Date: 1789
Creator: Grétry, André Ernest Modeste, 1741-1813 & Sedaine, 1719-1797
Partner: UNT Music Library

Barbier de Seville [Il barbiere di Siviglia] Opéra comique en quatre actes

Description: Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia was based on the first play, Le barbier de Séville, ou La precaution inutile (1772), of Beaumarchais’s famous trilogy. The controversial commentary on aristocracy caused the play to be banned from the stage for three years. The ban was lifted in 1775 and the work premiered that same year; Beaumarchais finally saw the work performed in 1780 when he was employed by Catherine II in St. Petersburg. Although Rossini’s later opera (of 1816) is more familiar tod… more
Date: 1789
Creator: Paisiello, Giovanni, 1740-1816; Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de, 1732-1799 & Framery, Nicolas Etienne, 1745-1810
Partner: UNT Music Library

Sosarme

Description: This item is a copy from [ca. 1790] of the score of Handel's opera Sosarme to a libretto by Matteo Noris. The performance forces include: oboe, horns, strings (violin, viola, bass), continuo, and soloist singers. A list of important musical numbers, solo arias and duets of each act appears on p.116. The names of the subscribers appear on pp.[119-120]. The title page contains an engraving showing two mythological figures [possibly, the god Apollo and the Muse Erato] and musical instrument… more
Date: 1788
Creator: Handel, George Frideric, 1685-1759
Partner: UNT Music Library

Le mariage d'Antonio. Divertissement en un acte et en prose

Description: Lucile Grétry’s opera Le mariage d’Antonio premiered in Paris when she was a mere fourteen years old. As the second daughter of André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry, she was afforded lessons at a young age in counterpoint and declamation. Her father supplied the orchestral parts for her comédie mêlée d’ariettes after Lucile had composed the vocal, bass, and harp parts. Although Le mariage d’Antonio was a modest success, Lucile’s second endeavor, a divertissement mêlée d’ariettes entitled Toinette et … more
Date: 1786
Creator: Grétry, Lucile
Partner: UNT Music Library

Le devin du village

Description: As with many French operas, Rousseau’s Le devin du village was first staged for the court, appearing at Fountainebleau on 18 October 1752. The work was then performed at the Paris Opéra on 1 March 1753. The historical importance of this short intermè is closely tied to its role in the famous Querelle de bouffons, a debate about the merits of French serious opera in comparison to Italian comic opera (especially Pergolesi’s La serva padrona).
Date: 1785
Creator: Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712-1778
Partner: UNT Music Library
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