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In London in 1665, a group of people feast during a plague. A Young Man asks them to remember a friend who has died. Walsingham instead calls for silence and asks Mary to sing; Louisa doubts Mary’s sincerity. After the sound of a dead-cart frightens Louisa, the Young Man asks Walsingham to sing a hymn. A priest enters and condemns the group for disrespecting the dead, but Walsingham sends him away, and the feasters return to their meal.
In Padua in 1549, Tisbe loves Rodolfo, but he loves Catarina, who is secretly his lover. Tisbe recognizes Catarina’s crucifix as the one her mother gave years earlier to a Venetian noblewoman’s daughter and secretly helps Catarina and Rodolfo escape Angelo’s jealous control. Catarina takes a sleeping potion, allowing her to be carried to a sealed crypt. Rodolfo, thinking Tisbe poisoned her, stabs Tisbe; Catarina awakens, and Tisbe blesses the couple before she dies.
Ivan empties his wagon to feed birds and shelter freezing tree stumps, and his family scolds him for neglecting his work. A magical horse provides him with suitable clothes to attend the Tsar’s feast, where Ivan is found with the princess’s kerchief and welcomed as the Tsar’s son-in-law. His brothers reconcile with him.
At the end of the seventeenth century in Saint-Malo, old sailor Legoëz and his granddaughter Janik await the return of Pierre, who left home as a child. When Pierre’s former comrade Jacquemin arrives with some of his belongings, Legoëz mistakes him for Pierre. Jacquemin and Janik fall in love, but the real Pierre soon returns and rejects his friend as a traitor. After Pierre learns the misunderstanding was accidental, he reconciles with Jacquemin, and Legoëz agrees to Janik’s marriage.
Little Red Riding Hood sets out through the forest with cakes for her sick grandmother, despite her mother’s warning not to talk to strangers. The wolf misdirects her, reaches the cottage first, swallows the grandmother, and then swallows the girl. Hunters and woodcutters find the sleeping wolf, free both victims, and sew him up again. The wolf repents and is allowed to remain in the forest if he keeps his promise to behave.
In 1871, German soldiers occupying a château near Rouen summon women from the nearby town. During dinner and entertainment, Lieutenant von Eyrik, nicknamed “Mademoiselle Fifi,” taunts Rachel and boasts that Germany will conquer France and its women. Rachel sings a patriotic song, stabs him, and escapes; he dies as prayers are said and church bells toll.
In nineteenth-century Corsica, Fortunato is alone outside his family home when wounded smuggler Sanpiero asks him for refuge from the police. Fortunato hides him in exchange for money, but later reveals his hiding place after Sergeant Gamba offers him an enamel watch. When Mateo and Giuseppa return and learn of their son’s betrayal, Mateo takes Fortunato away, prays with him, and kills him to preserve the family’s honor.
Voyslava kills Mlada so she can have Yaromir, Mlada’s former fiancé. Morena helps Voyslava enchant him, but Mlada’s spirit leads Yaromir to the truth. Voyslava confesses and Yaromir kills her; Morena destroys the temple and city, and Yaromir is reunited with Mlada. This plot summary is partly conjectural and draws on later treatments of the libretto.
A three-act fairytale opera for children, closely following Charles Perrault’s story. It follows the Cat and Jean, the miller’s youngest son, who becomes the Marquis de Carabas; the characters also include a King, a Princess, an Ogre, and Jean’s two older brothers.
Petr Grinev leaves home for military service and falls in love with Masha, daughter of the commandant at Belogorsky Fortress. During a snowstorm, Petr gives his coat to a guide who is later revealed to be Pugachev, leader of an uprising. When Pugachev’s forces take the fortress, he spares Petr but executes the commandant and takes his wife. Pugachev frees Masha from Shvabrin and allows the couple to leave. After Petr is arrested, Masha petitions the Empress, who pardons him and blesses their future together.
At an inn in China, the innkeeper discovers that his daughter Iedi is interested in his servant Muri and orders Muri to leave. A Mandarin arrives looking for his long-lost son; Muri is revealed to be the son he seeks.
In a Caucasian mountain village, Fatima falls in love with a Russian prisoner brought to her as a wedding gift. Her father has chosen Abubeker as her bridegroom. The prisoner is condemned to death, but Fatima frees him and urges him to escape. He tells her that he loves another woman in his homeland and runs away. As the villagers prepare revenge, Fatima stabs herself.
In early fifteenth-century France, Count Savoisy’s marriage to Bérengère is dissolved by papal decree so he can marry again and provide an heir. Saracen Yaqoub, a former prisoner, is tried for killing Raymond and pardoned by King Charles VII. The king neglects the war to go hunting, until Agnès Sorel confronts him and he calls his court to battle. In Act IV, Bérengère urges Yaqoub to kill Savoisy before he marries Isabelle. After Savoisy is stabbed, Bérengère takes poison and dies, leaving Yaqoub in despair.
The Tsaritsa’s eleven daughters, the Princess-Swans, accidentally hit her in the eyes with a snowball. She wishes for a son and for a whirlwind to sweep her daughters away; a blizzard follows, and the Snow Bogatyr appears. He promises to find his new sisters. In a forest, he defeats a three-headed dragon and rescues the Princess-Swans from a hut on hen’s legs, then leads them home.
Dargomyzhsky sets Pushkin’s blank-verse play about Don Juan directly as an opera, retaining its text unchanged. The work consists principally of characters’ melodic recitative solos, with two small romances for Laura.
In seventeenth-century Scotland, Mary is being married to Douglas, although she loves William Ratcliff. Ratcliff’s father killed Mary’s mother after an affair, and their ghosts haunt him; he has already killed two men betrothed to Mary. After Douglas wounds Ratcliff in a duel, Ratcliff returns to Mary’s room. A song by her nurse Margaret drives him into a frenzy: he kills Mary and her father, then takes his own life. The ghosts of his parents appear and embrace.
In London in 1665, a group of people feast during a plague. A Young Man asks them to remember a friend who has died. Walsingham instead calls for silence and asks Mary to sing; Louisa doubts Mary’s sincerity. After the sound of a dead-cart frightens Louisa, the Young Man asks Walsingham to sing a hymn. A priest enters and condemns the group for disrespecting the dead, but Walsingham sends him away, and the feasters return to their meal.
In Padua in 1549, Tisbe loves Rodolfo, but he loves Catarina, who is secretly his lover. Tisbe recognizes Catarina’s crucifix as the one her mother gave years earlier to a Venetian noblewoman’s daughter and secretly helps Catarina and Rodolfo escape Angelo’s jealous control. Catarina takes a sleeping potion, allowing her to be carried to a sealed crypt. Rodolfo, thinking Tisbe poisoned her, stabs Tisbe; Catarina awakens, and Tisbe blesses the couple before she dies.
Ivan empties his wagon to feed birds and shelter freezing tree stumps, and his family scolds him for neglecting his work. A magical horse provides him with suitable clothes to attend the Tsar’s feast, where Ivan is found with the princess’s kerchief and welcomed as the Tsar’s son-in-law. His brothers reconcile with him.
At the end of the seventeenth century in Saint-Malo, old sailor Legoëz and his granddaughter Janik await the return of Pierre, who left home as a child. When Pierre’s former comrade Jacquemin arrives with some of his belongings, Legoëz mistakes him for Pierre. Jacquemin and Janik fall in love, but the real Pierre soon returns and rejects his friend as a traitor. After Pierre learns the misunderstanding was accidental, he reconciles with Jacquemin, and Legoëz agrees to Janik’s marriage.
Little Red Riding Hood sets out through the forest with cakes for her sick grandmother, despite her mother’s warning not to talk to strangers. The wolf misdirects her, reaches the cottage first, swallows the grandmother, and then swallows the girl. Hunters and woodcutters find the sleeping wolf, free both victims, and sew him up again. The wolf repents and is allowed to remain in the forest if he keeps his promise to behave.
In 1871, German soldiers occupying a château near Rouen summon women from the nearby town. During dinner and entertainment, Lieutenant von Eyrik, nicknamed “Mademoiselle Fifi,” taunts Rachel and boasts that Germany will conquer France and its women. Rachel sings a patriotic song, stabs him, and escapes; he dies as prayers are said and church bells toll.
In nineteenth-century Corsica, Fortunato is alone outside his family home when wounded smuggler Sanpiero asks him for refuge from the police. Fortunato hides him in exchange for money, but later reveals his hiding place after Sergeant Gamba offers him an enamel watch. When Mateo and Giuseppa return and learn of their son’s betrayal, Mateo takes Fortunato away, prays with him, and kills him to preserve the family’s honor.
Voyslava kills Mlada so she can have Yaromir, Mlada’s former fiancé. Morena helps Voyslava enchant him, but Mlada’s spirit leads Yaromir to the truth. Voyslava confesses and Yaromir kills her; Morena destroys the temple and city, and Yaromir is reunited with Mlada. This plot summary is partly conjectural and draws on later treatments of the libretto.
A three-act fairytale opera for children, closely following Charles Perrault’s story. It follows the Cat and Jean, the miller’s youngest son, who becomes the Marquis de Carabas; the characters also include a King, a Princess, an Ogre, and Jean’s two older brothers.
Petr Grinev leaves home for military service and falls in love with Masha, daughter of the commandant at Belogorsky Fortress. During a snowstorm, Petr gives his coat to a guide who is later revealed to be Pugachev, leader of an uprising. When Pugachev’s forces take the fortress, he spares Petr but executes the commandant and takes his wife. Pugachev frees Masha from Shvabrin and allows the couple to leave. After Petr is arrested, Masha petitions the Empress, who pardons him and blesses their future together.
At an inn in China, the innkeeper discovers that his daughter Iedi is interested in his servant Muri and orders Muri to leave. A Mandarin arrives looking for his long-lost son; Muri is revealed to be the son he seeks.
In a Caucasian mountain village, Fatima falls in love with a Russian prisoner brought to her as a wedding gift. Her father has chosen Abubeker as her bridegroom. The prisoner is condemned to death, but Fatima frees him and urges him to escape. He tells her that he loves another woman in his homeland and runs away. As the villagers prepare revenge, Fatima stabs herself.
In early fifteenth-century France, Count Savoisy’s marriage to Bérengère is dissolved by papal decree so he can marry again and provide an heir. Saracen Yaqoub, a former prisoner, is tried for killing Raymond and pardoned by King Charles VII. The king neglects the war to go hunting, until Agnès Sorel confronts him and he calls his court to battle. In Act IV, Bérengère urges Yaqoub to kill Savoisy before he marries Isabelle. After Savoisy is stabbed, Bérengère takes poison and dies, leaving Yaqoub in despair.
The Tsaritsa’s eleven daughters, the Princess-Swans, accidentally hit her in the eyes with a snowball. She wishes for a son and for a whirlwind to sweep her daughters away; a blizzard follows, and the Snow Bogatyr appears. He promises to find his new sisters. In a forest, he defeats a three-headed dragon and rescues the Princess-Swans from a hut on hen’s legs, then leads them home.
Dargomyzhsky sets Pushkin’s blank-verse play about Don Juan directly as an opera, retaining its text unchanged. The work consists principally of characters’ melodic recitative solos, with two small romances for Laura.
In seventeenth-century Scotland, Mary is being married to Douglas, although she loves William Ratcliff. Ratcliff’s father killed Mary’s mother after an affair, and their ghosts haunt him; he has already killed two men betrothed to Mary. After Douglas wounds Ratcliff in a duel, Ratcliff returns to Mary’s room. A song by her nurse Margaret drives him into a frenzy: he kills Mary and her father, then takes his own life. The ghosts of his parents appear and embrace.