‘Opera cannot play the role of a casual visitor in the life of a nation. Wherever opera has flourished, it has been accepted as an important factor in the nation’s spiritual life. Every effort has been made to give it a permanent place among the activities of the human spirit, which are the justification of our civilization. The action on the stage in an opera must be intelligible to the public, or the music will fail to hold their interest. Opera in England therefore, must be sung in English. Only then will it be possible for the whole audience to be united… and to experience, as in the theatre, the emotions of the drama.’
Egon Wellesz: from three lectures on opera delivered at The Royal College of Music, London in 1950
ABRAHAMSEN
The Snow Queen
BERLIOZ
Beatrice and Benedict
BIZET
The Pearl Fishers
The Fair Maid of Perth
Carmen
CIMAROSA
The Italian Girl in London
DALLAPICCOLA
Volo di notte/Night Flight
DONIZETTI
L’elisir d’amore
Mary Stuart
Lucia di Lammermoor
DUSAPIN
Passion
GLANERT
Caligula
GLUCK
Armide
Orfeo ed Euridice (French, Berlioz version)
GOUNOD
Faust
H.K. GRUBER
Gloria, a pigtale
HANDEL
Agrippina
Alcina
Ariodante
Partenope
Rodelinda
HAYDN
Armida
LEONCAVALLO
Pagliacci
MASSENET
Werther
MONTEVERDI
L’incoronazione di Poppea
MOZART
La finta giardiniera
Il re pastore
Idomeneo
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
The Marriage of Figaro
Don Giovanni
Così fan tutte
La clemenza di Tito
The Magic Flute
PERGOLESI
La serva padrona
PUCCINI
La bohème (also alternative version with reduced chorus)
Tosca
Madam Butterfly, 1904 & 1907
Il Trittico: Il Tabarro; Suor Angelica; Gianni Schicchi
RAKHMANINOV
Francesca da Rimini
RAMEAU
Castor & Pollux
Les Boréades
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
Lullaby (from Sadko)
ROSSINI
L’occasione fa il ladro/Love’s Luggage Lost
Cinderella
The Barber of Seville
SMETANA
The Bartered Bride
SMYTH
The Wreckers (adaptation of original English text)
VERDI
Rigoletto
A Masked Ball
Aida
Falstaff
VON EINEM
Danton’s Death
WAGNER
Lohengrin
Rhinegold (reduced version for tv)
WOLF-FERRARI
Il campiello