''Els Pirineus'' (in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
: ''Los Pirineos''; in
English: ''The Pyrenees'') is an
opera
Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
in three
acts
The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire.
Acts and the Gospel of Luke make up a two-par ...
and a prologue with music by
Felipe Pedrell
Felip Pedrell Sabaté (Spanish: Felipe) (19 February 1841 – 19 August 1922) was a Catalan composer, guitarist and musicologist.
Life
Pedrell was born in Tortosa (Catalonia), and sang as a boy soprano at Tortosa Cathedral from age 9, where ...
and
libretto
A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...
based on the trilogy ''Els Pirineus (The Pyrenees)'' by
Víctor Balaguer (1892).
It premiered, in
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
, on January 4, 1902, at the
Gran Teatro del Liceo.
In
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
,
musical nationalism
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
appeared during the 19th century as a reaction to German and Italian romanticism, which conditioned European opera. Felipe Pedrell led the efforts to achieve a Spanish opera, a task in which he was seconded by
Ruperto Chapí
Ruperto Chapí y Lorente (27 March 1851 – 25 March 1909) was a Spanish composer, and co-founder of the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores, Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers.
Biography
Chapí was born at Villena, the son of a loc ...
and
Tomás Bretón
Tomás Bretón y Hernández (29 December 1850 – 2 December 1923) was a Spanish Conducting, conductor and composer.
Biography
Tomás Bretón was born in Salamanca. He completed his musical studies at the School of Fine Arts in his hometown, w ...
, among others. After the success of the revival of his Italian-language work ''L'ultimo abenzeraggio'' (in English: ''The Last Abencerrage'') in 1889, the composer from
Tortosa
Tortosa (, ) is the capital of the '' comarca'' of Baix Ebre, in Catalonia, Spain.
Tortosa is located at above sea level, by the Ebro river, protected on its northern side by the mountains of the Cardó Massif, of which Buinaca, one of the hi ...
received numerous incentives to return to composing operas. Pedrell intended to reply to Bretón's opera ''Lovers of Teruel''.
The opera was conceived from the beginning as a tragedy that Balaguer wrote in the Casa de Santa Teresa, his residence, next to the current Víctor Balaguer Museum-Library in
Villanueva y Geltrú. Pedrell, for his part, began to work on the composition of the opera in 1890, and while he was shaping what would become the first two acts, Balaguer expanded his work on
Albigensians
Catharism ( ; from the , "the pure ones") was a Christian quasi-dualist and pseudo-Gnostic movement which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France, between the 12th and 14th centuries.
Denounced as a her ...
,
troubadours
A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''.
The tro ...
, and
inquisitors
The Medieval Inquisition was a series of Inquisitions (Catholic Church bodies charged with suppressing heresy) from around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisition (1184–1230s) and later the Papal Inquisition (1230s). The Medieval Inquisition ...
with what would become the prologue and third act of the opera.
Within months, Pedrell outlined the idea of the trilogy with a prologue, perhaps because of certain affinities with the
Wagnerian
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most ...
tetralogy ''
Der Ring des Nibelungen
(''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the . The compo ...
'' (in English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''), but with the intention of reforming lyric drama and creating a Hispanic lyric school. The Wagnerian character of the score is not so evident, or at least so exclusive, as one can also trace the influences of the Italian composers of the time as well as the French
grand opéra
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and Orchestra, orchestras. The original productions consisted of spectacular design and stage effects with plots normally based on o ...
.
[{{Cite journal , last=Cortés , first=Francesc , year=1996 , title=Ópera española: las obras de Pedrell , trans-title=Spanish Opera: Pedrell's Works , journal=Cuadernos de Música Iberoamericana , pages=187-216]
Interpretations
Balaguer had to content himself during his lifetime with hearing some fragments of the opera: the prologue composed by Pedrell was presented in
Venice
Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
in March 1897 (on the 12th, 14th and 17th), and it would not be until a year after his death, in January 1902, when the work would be premiered in its entirety at the Gran Teatro del Liceo in the Italian version, with figurines made by
Apel-les Mestres.
The Liceu recovered some fragments in the concert ''Els hereus de la Renaixença'' (in English: ''The Heirs of the Renaissance'') of the 1999-2000 season and re-released a complete version on February 17th and 19th of 2003, according to a revision by Edmon Colomer and Francesc Cortés, recovering the archaisms of the original libretto in Catalan, and that counted with Ofelia Sala, Ángeles Blancas, Vicente Ombuena, Marina Rodríguez Cusí, and Stefano Palatchi in the cast.
References
Operas
Opera in Spain
Spanish plays