Loading credits…
Lachenmann’s two-part Musik mit Bildern reworks Andersen’s tale of the little match girl through added political and philosophical texts. The work explores icy cold and social indifference; Lachenmann described Gudrun Ensslin as a distorted variant of the girl, while Leonardo da Vinci’s text adds a wider perspective. Its two sopranos and choirs narrate and reflect on the story in an experimental musical form. The entry does not give a continuous plot.
A German-language children’s fairy-tale opera based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, written for soloists and a children’s chorus that also acts.
Alfred Bruneau’s four-act opera in eight tableaux adapts a story by Hans Christian Andersen.
A Danish opera by J. P. E. Hartmann to a libretto by Hans Christian Andersen, inspired by the medieval ballad Hr. Sverkel. The opera began as a one-act work and was revised into two acts for the 1858–59 season, after which it received a warmer response. The reviewed text describes its situation as romantic and poetic but says it has no real plot.
A Chinese emperor learns of a nightingale whose singing moves everyone who hears it and orders his courtiers to find the bird. After a mechanical bird arrives from Japan, the courtiers prefer it and the real nightingale disappears. When the mechanical bird breaks and the emperor falls gravely ill, a little girl brings the real nightingale back; its song helps him recover, and the people celebrate.
In a joyless kingdom ruled by Karl, a contest offers half the kingdom and the Princess’s hand to whoever invents the most incredible thing. Leo wins with a clock displaying twelve visions, but Karl smashes it; the judges award Karl the prize, and Leo is imprisoned. Three muses help Leo rebuild the clock, enabling creativity to overcome destruction and Leo and the Princess to reunite.
Lachenmann’s two-part Musik mit Bildern reworks Andersen’s tale of the little match girl through added political and philosophical texts. The work explores icy cold and social indifference; Lachenmann described Gudrun Ensslin as a distorted variant of the girl, while Leonardo da Vinci’s text adds a wider perspective. Its two sopranos and choirs narrate and reflect on the story in an experimental musical form. The entry does not give a continuous plot.
A German-language children’s fairy-tale opera based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, written for soloists and a children’s chorus that also acts.
Alfred Bruneau’s four-act opera in eight tableaux adapts a story by Hans Christian Andersen.
A Danish opera by J. P. E. Hartmann to a libretto by Hans Christian Andersen, inspired by the medieval ballad Hr. Sverkel. The opera began as a one-act work and was revised into two acts for the 1858–59 season, after which it received a warmer response. The reviewed text describes its situation as romantic and poetic but says it has no real plot.
A Chinese emperor learns of a nightingale whose singing moves everyone who hears it and orders his courtiers to find the bird. After a mechanical bird arrives from Japan, the courtiers prefer it and the real nightingale disappears. When the mechanical bird breaks and the emperor falls gravely ill, a little girl brings the real nightingale back; its song helps him recover, and the people celebrate.
In a joyless kingdom ruled by Karl, a contest offers half the kingdom and the Princess’s hand to whoever invents the most incredible thing. Leo wins with a clock displaying twelve visions, but Karl smashes it; the judges award Karl the prize, and Leo is imprisoned. Three muses help Leo rebuild the clock, enabling creativity to overcome destruction and Leo and the Princess to reunite.
Ballerina Victoria Page is discovered by impresario Boris Lermontov, who commissions Julian Craster to compose a ballet based on Andersen’s tale. Victoria takes the lead and falls in love with Craster, but faces a choice between love and her career. She returns to Lermontov’s company and, fleeing in confusion, is killed by an oncoming train.
One-act chamber opera based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Elf of the Rose. The cast includes the Elf, a Girl/Luna, a Beloved/Horus, and the Brother; no plot summary is supplied.
A hobgoblin’s mirror shatters, scattering fragments that make Kay cold-hearted. The Snow Queen abducts him, and his sister Gerda sets out to rescue him. After captivity in a witch’s garden, Gerda receives a golden coach from a prince and princess, is captured by robbers, and continues north with help from a reindeer. At the Snow Queen’s palace, Gerda sings the lullaby she and Kay shared; the ice splinter in his heart melts, and they return home. The Snow Queen remains alone and laments.
Kay is struck by splinters from a magic mirror and taken to the Snow Queen’s palace. His friend Gerda searches for him, meeting a series of helpers before reaching the frozen kingdom. Her tears free Kay from the mirror’s spell, and the children return home together.
An opera by Charles Villiers Stanford based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale of the same name. The entry does not summarize the plot.
A children’s play based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale addresses the rejection of children who are seen as different during the vulnerable years of childhood.
During the Spanish troops’ 1808 stay in Denmark, Hermania falls for Spanish officer Don Juan de Molina. When he loses a silver image of his mother, her Danish admirer Carl finds it; Don Juan ultimately betrays Hermania and returns to Spain.
Eliza's wicked stepmother turns her eleven brothers into swans. To break the spell and restore them, Eliza must knit magic shirts from stinging nettles.