''Chopin'' is a four-act

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

Giacomo Orefice Giacomo Orefice (27 August 1865 – 22 December 1922) was an Italian composer. He was born in Vicenza. He studied under Alessandro Busi and Luigi Mancinelli at the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, and later became professor of composition at the ...

(1865–1922) to a libretto by , premiered in Milan in 1901. The opera, which is "a wildly inaccurate account" of the life of Frédéric Chopin, is based entirely on his music, orchestrated by Orefice. The vocal score indicates the sources of the music, which include Chopin's sonatas, polonaises,

mazurkas The mazurka ( Polish: ''mazur'' Polish ball dance, one of the five Polish national dances and ''mazurek'' Polish folk dance') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character ...

and

nocturnes A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. History The term ''nocturne'' (from French ''nocturne'' 'of the night') was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensembl ...

Roles

Synopsis

The overture is based on Chopin's '' Fantasy on Polish Airs'', Op. 13. Act I is set in a village in Poland at Christmas time. Chopin declares his love to Stella (who is, like all the opera's characters except Chopin himself, entirely fictional). In Act II, set in Paris, Elio tells a group of children about the history and struggles of Poland, inspiring Chopin to fly to the piano and write a

nocturne A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. History The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' 'of the night') was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensembl ...

. Chopin's new love, Flora, is also present. Act III is set in Majorca, where the real Chopin spent the winter of 1838-9 with

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...

. In this version Chopin is there with Flora and their daughter, who dies after a thunderstorm and is mourned by the local population. In Act IV, Stella arrives in Paris from Poland just in time for Chopin to expire in her arms.

Reception

The opera was premiered in the Teatro Lirico, Milan, on 25 November 1901.

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer ...

reported that "this rather curious lyrical stage-work" was "a distinct success." A production in Paris in 1905 was not well received by the critic

Arthur Pougin Arthur Pougin ( 6 August 1834 – 8 August 1921) was a French musical and dramatic critic and writer. He was born at Châteauroux (Indre) and studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris under Alard (violin) and Reber (harmony). In 1855 he becam ...

, who commented "It is an idea, perhaps ingenious but certainly bizarre, to create an opera score by borrowing the elements of various works by a genius who, throughout his life, never dreamt of writing for the theatre", and concluded that Orifece had committed "a sacrilege". A modern assessment suggests that the opera is "in essence a

kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation wi ...

contribution to the last vestiges of late 19th-century romanticized bohemianism and to the Italian '

scapigliatura ''Scapigliatura'' () is the name of an artistic movement that developed in Italy after the Risorgimento period (1815–71). The movement included poets, writers, musicians, painters and sculptors. The term Scapigliatura is the Italian equivalent of ...

'". The opera was performed at the Opera Wrocławska in

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

, Poland, in 2010 as part of the Chopin bicentenary celebrations."Opera 'Chopin' by Giacomo Orefice"
on Chopin2010 website, accessed 5 August 2014

References

;Notes ;Sources * Anon (1902). "Foreign Notes" in '' The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular'', vol. 43, no. 707 (Jan. 1, 1902), pp. 50–52 * Ashbrook, William (n.d.).
Chopin
, in ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'' online, . Accessed 5 August 2014 * Lanza, Andrea (n.d.)
Orefice, Giacomo
, in '' Grove Music Online'', . Accessed 5 August 2014 * Orefice, Giacomo (1904).
Chopin: Opera in 4 atti
' (vocal score), Milan: Edoardo Sonzogno (

IMSLP The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), also known as the Petrucci Music Library after publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, is a subscription-based digital library of public-domain music scores. The project, which uses MediaWiki softwar ...

, accessed 5 August 2014). * Pougin, Arthur (1905)
"Semaine théatrale"
in ''

Le Ménestrel ''Le Ménestrel'' (The Minstrel) was an influential French music journal published weekly from 1833 until 1940. It was founded by Joseph-Hippolyte l'Henry and originally printed by Poussièlgue. In 1840 it was acquired by the music publishers Heug ...

'', 18 June 1905, pp. 195–6, accessed 6 August 2014. (In French). * Zamoyski, Adam (2010). ''Chopin: Prince of the Romantics''. London: HarperCollins.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chopin 1901 operas Fiction set in 1838 Fiction set in 1839 Italian-language operas Operas Operas set in Spain Operas set in France Operas set in Poland Operas by Giacomo Orefice Operas based on real people Operas set in the 19th century Cultural depictions of Frédéric Chopin