Christophe Colomb
Template:Milhaud operasChristophe Colomb (Christopher Columbus) is an opera in two parts by the French composer Darius Milhaud. The libretto, by the poet Paul Claudel, is based on his own play Le livre de Christophe Colomb about the life of Christopher Columbus. The opera was first performed at the Staatsoper, Berlin on 5 May 1930 in a German translation by Rudolph Stephan Hoffmann. Milhaud thoroughly revised the work to produce a second version around 1955. The opera is on a large scale and requires many resources for its staging. As in many of his other works, Milhaud employs polytonality in parts of the score.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast Conductor: Erich Kleiber |
|---|---|---|
| Young Columbus | baritone | Theodor Scheidl |
| Old Columbus | bass | Emanuel List |
| Queen Isabella of Spain | soprano | Delia Reinhardt |
| The wife of Columbus | soprano | Margherita Perras |
| Majordomo | tenor | Fritz Soot |
| The King of Spain | bass | |
| Master of ceremonies | tenor | |
| Narrator | spoken role |
Synopsis
The opera tells the life of Christopher Columbus in a series of episodes which avoid chronological order and are sometimes allegorical.
Sources
- The Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)
- Del Teatro (in Italian)
- Amadeus Online