Mona (opera)
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| Title: | Mona |
Title page of the piano reduction from 1911 |
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| Shape: | Opera in three acts |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Horatio Parker |
| Libretto : | Brian Hooker |
| Premiere: | March 14, 1912 |
| Place of premiere: | Metropolitan Opera , New York |
| Place and time of the action: | In the south-west of Britain at the end of the first century during the early years of Roman occupation |
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Mona is an opera in three acts by Horatio Parker (music) with a libretto by Brian Hooker. It bears the opus number 71. The premiere took place on March 14, 1912 in the New York Metropolitan Opera .
action
The opera takes place at the time of the Roman occupation of Britain in the first century. It is about the love of the British Mona for Quintus, the son of the Roman governor, who stays with the people of Monas as a bard under the name Gwynn. Mona's stepfather Arth and her stepbrother Gloom fight the Roman occupiers and plan an attack. Mona is seen as a liberator and made queen. Quintus tries in vain to prevent the attack by appealing to Mona's love.
The Roman governor promises his son to spare the British if, with Mona's support, he should succeed in stopping them from attacking. On the eve of the battle, Quintus makes one last attempt to change Mona, revealing his true identity as a Roman to her. However, Mona now considers him a traitor, has him arrested and accelerates the attack. The British are defeated by the prepared Romans. Quintus escaped and urges Mona to end the fight. He tells her about his father and asks her for support. Mona thinks he is guilty of her defeat. She kills him. After the governor's arrival, the truth is revealed. Mona is arrested by her own people for failing as a leader.
music
The opera requires a full orchestra with harp and celesta. The work is harmoniously influenced by Richard Wagner , the early Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy .
history
At the world premiere on March 14, 1912 in the New York Metropolitan Opera , Louise Homer (Mona), Rita Fornia (Enya), Herbert Witherspoon (Arth), William Hinshaw (Gloom), Albert Reiss (Nial), Lambert Murphy (Caradoc) sang , Putnam Griswold (governor), Riccardo Martin (Quintus), Basil Ruysdael (old man). Alfred Hertz was the musical director .
The opera was recognized by the Metropolitan Opera Company as the best great opera by an American composer and librettist, with a prize of $ 10,000.
On February 22, 1961 there was a concert performance of five excerpts in Carnegie Hall New York under the direction of Richard Korn.
literature
- Brian Hooker, Horatio W. Parker: Mona. An opera in three acts. Libretto. Dodd, Mead and Company, New York 1911 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Mona, Op. 71 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d Work information in the North American Works Directory , accessed February 8, 2016.
- ↑ Horatio Parker on usopera.com , accessed February 8, 2016.
- ↑ $ 10,000 OPERA PRIZE WON BY YALE MEN. The New York Times, May 3, 1911 , accessed February 8, 2016.
- ↑ Margaret Ross Griffel: Operas in English. A Dictionary. Scarecrow Press, Plymouth 2012, ISBN 978-0-8108-8272-0 , p. 326 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).