''La leggenda di Sakùntala'' (titled ''Sakùntala'' in its revised version) is a three-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 ...

Franco Alfano Franco Alfano (8 March 1875 – 27 October 1954) was an Italian composer and pianist, best known today for his opera '' Risurrezione'' (1904) and for having completed Puccini's opera ''Turandot'' in 1926. He had considerable success with several ...

, who wrote his own libretto, basing his work on Kālidāsa's 5th-century BC drama '' Shakuntala''.

Première, loss, reconstruction, rediscovery

It was first performed at the

Teatro Comunale di Bologna The Teatro Comunale di Bologna is an opera house in Bologna, Italy. Typically, it presents eight operas with six performances during its November to April season. While there had been various theatres presenting opera in Bologna since the early 1 ...

on 10 December 1921. The full score and orchestral materials were believed to have been destroyed when an Allied bomb damaged the archives of Alfano's publisher

Ricordi Ricordi may refer to: People *Giovanni Ricordi (1785–1853), Italian violinist and publishing company founder * Giulio Ricordi (1840–1912), Italian publisher and musician Music *Casa Ricordi, an Italian music publishing company established i ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, so Alfano reconstructed the opera and it was performed at the Teatro dell'Opera in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

on 5 January 1952

Jürgen Maehder Jürgen Maehder (born 1950) is a German musicologist and opera director. He discovered Franco Alfano's original version of the finale for the third act of Puccini's ''Turandot''. He has lectured and staged opera internationally. Career Born in Du ...

in Grove gives 9 January, though the Casaglia has 5 January. with the shortened title of ''Sakùntala''. During preparations for a revival in Rome in April 2006, a copy of the original 1921 score was discovered in the Ricordi archives, and the opera was performed for the first time in its original form in modern times under its original name, ''La leggenda di Sakùntala''. Critically regarded as Alfano's best work, though seldom staged in recent years, the opera was performed seven times for Italian radio between its premiere and 1979. These broadcasts featured such sopranos as

Magda Olivero Magda Olivero (née Maria Maddalena Olivero) (25 March 1910 – 8 September 2014), was an Italian operatic soprano. Her career started in 1932 when she was 22, and spanned five decades, establishing her "as an important link between the era of th ...

, Anna de Cavalieri, and

Celestina Casapietra Celestina Casapietra (born 23 August 1938) is an Italian operatic soprano who was a member of the Berlin State Opera for decades. She made an international career, and recorded several operas and concerts. Life and career Born in Genoa, Casapi ...

in the title role. The opera was also revived at the Wexford Opera Festival in 1982, and in concert on November 19, 2013, by Teatro Grattacielo in New York.

Roles

Synopsis

Act 1

The King encounters Sakùntala while hunting with his men near the remote woodland monastery where she lives. The King woos her, and overcoming her initial fear, promises that he will return, giving her a ring by which to remember him.

Act 2

Daydreaming about the King, Sakùntala fails to hear the hermit Durvasas's entreaties to open the monastery's gate to admit him. Angered, he curses Sakùntala, proclaiming that the King would not remember her. Sakùntala begs a cloud to carry a message to the King. Harita returns to the monastery, and tells Sakùntala that she is with child.

Act 3

The King is restless, and not entertained by the dancing girls who perform for him. Sakùntala arrives with her entourage, but when she attempts to present her ring of remembrance to the King, she realizes that she has lost it. The curse is fulfilled, and Sakùntala rushes out of the palace to drown herself in a lake. However, belatedly, a fisherman arrives, having found the ring, and presents it to the King, who suddenly remembers Sakùntala. Servants enter, bearing Sakùntala's infant child, and the King cries out in anguish. But Sakùntala's voice descends from heaven (having been taken up into the heavens by a cloud of fire), and tells the King not to despair, for their child will become the hero of the future age. All the people kneel and worship the infant.

References

Notes Sources * * *

(1992), ''Sakùntala'' 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 ...

'', ed. Stanley Sadie (London)

External links

Synopsis

Libretto in Italian and English
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakuntala Operas by Franco Alfano Italian-language operas Verismo operas Operas 1921 operas 1952 operas Operas set in India Operas set in antiquity Operas based on plays Works based on Shakuntala (play)