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{{Short description|Opera genre using an existing literary work}}
'''Literaturoper''' (''literature opera'', plural Literaturopern) is [[opera]] with music composed for a pre-existing text, as opposed to an opera with a [[libretto]] written specifically for the work.
'''Literaturoper''' ({{IPA|de|lɪtəʁaˈtuːɐ̯ˌʔoːpɐ|lang|De-Literaturoper.ogg}}; ''literature opera'', plural “Literaturopern”), a term coined by the German music critic Edgar Istel, describes a genre of [[opera]] that emerged during the late 19th century. When an existing play for the legitimate theatre is set to music without major changes and without the intervention of a librettist, a “Literaturoper” is the result. Although the term is [[German language|German]], it can be applied to any kind of opera, irrespective of style or language. (In that sense it can be regarded as a term rather than a genre as such.)


The former, much broader usage of the term “Literaturoper” for opera libretti on the basis of dramas, novels and short stories of undoubted literary renown, which was still common until around 1980, has been made obsolete by recent research on the history of the opera libretto. Since opera libretti have relied on subject matter from the history of literature since the very origin of the genre of opera, a broader usage of the term would cover the entire history of opera, regardless of the underlying libretto structure.<ref>Albert Gier: ''Das Libretto. Theorie und Geschichte einer musikoliterarischen Gattung.'' Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1998, {{ISBN|3-534-12368-9}}. (Second edition: Insel, Frankfurt am Main 2000, {{ISBN|3-458-34366-0}})</ref>
Although the term is [[German language|German]], the term can be used for any kind of opera, irrespective of style or language. (In that sense it can be regarded as a term rather than a genre as such.)


== Current definition ==
== Some Literaturopern based on plays ==
According to a seminal publication by [[Peter Petersen (musicologist)|Peter Petersen]], the term means „a special form of music theater in which the libretto is based on a literary work whose linguistic, semantic and aesthetic structure remains recognizable in the musical-dramatic work as a structural layer.“<ref>Peter Petersen: ''Der Terminus "Literaturoper" – eine Begriffsbestimmung.'' In ''[[Archiv für Musikwissenschaft]]'' vol. 56, 1999, pp. 52–70.</ref>


== History ==
* [[Claude Debussy]]: [[Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)|''Pelléas et Mélisande'']] after [[Maurice Maeterlinck]], 1902
The tradition of literaturoper only became established in European opera culture when, with [[Richard Wagner]] and the "through-composed dramatic form" he developed, the conventions of verse metrics for the opera libretto had faded. At the same time, the personal union of libretto poet and composer appeared as the new norm of opera production. Especially in the area of the Romance languages, the alliterating verse in Wagner's ''[[Ring des Nibelungen]]'' was perceived as prose text, since the use of alliteration as basis for the poetry in the Ancient Germanic languages had always been alien the syllable-counting verse systems in the French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese poetic tradition.<ref>[[Jürgen Maehder]], ''Erscheinungsformen des Wagnérisme in der italienischen Oper des Fin de siècle'', in: Annegret Fauser/[[Manuela Schwartz]] (edd.), ''Von Wagner zum Wagnérisme. Musik, Literatur, Kunst, Politik'', Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 1999, {{pp.|575|621}}.</ref>

Since the production of literaturopern possessed the potential to make the function of the opera librettist redundant, the genre was first able to assert itself in those opera cultures in which professional libretto-writing had not been able to develop a centuries-long tradition (Russia, Germany). The first examples of this dramaturgical process can be found in the history of French and Russian music in the second half of the 19th century.<ref>[[Jürgen Maehder]]: ''»Salome« von Oscar Wilde und Richard Strauss ─ Die Entstehungsbedingungen der sinfonischen Literaturoper des Fin de siècle'', in: Jürgen Kühnel, Ulrich Müller, [[Sigrid Schmidt]] (eds.), ''Richard Strauss, »Salome«: Stofftraditionen, Text und Musik'', Müller-Speiser Anif, Salzburg 2013, pp. 55–107.</ref> Early Russian literaturopern include [[Alexander Dargomyzhsky]]’s opera '' [[The Stone Guest (Dargomyzhsky)|The Stone Guest]]'' (after [[Alexander Pushkin]]) and [[Modest Mussorgsky]]’s opera fragment ''[[Zhenitba|The Marriage]]'' and his '' [[Boris Godunov (opera)|Boris Godunov]]'' (also after Pushkin).<ref>[[Richard Taruskin]]: ''Realism as Preached and Practiced – The Russian Opera Dialogue.'' In: The Musical Quarterly vol. 56, 1970, pp. 431–454; [[Jürg Stenzl]]: ''Heinrich von Kleists Penthesilea in der Vertonung von Ottmar Schoeck.'' In Günter Schnitzler: ''Dichtung und Musik – Kaleidoskop ihrer Beziehungen.'' Klett-Cotta, 1979, p. 224 ff.</ref>

In French and Italian opera, which had possessed an established libretto tradition for centuries, the introduction of the literaturoper took place parallel to the discussions about the possibility of writing opera libretti in prose.<ref>[[Hugh Macdonald (musicologist)|Hugh Macdonald]]: ''The Prose Libretto'', In: Cambridge Opera Journal 1, 1989, pp. 155–166.</ref> Since the Italian tradition of operatic verse proved to be particularly resistant to the introduction of prose libretti, the first Italian literaturopern were created on the basis of [[Gabriele d'Annunzio]]’s verse dramas ([[Alberto Franchetti]], ''La figlia di Iorio'' (1906), [[Pietro Mascagni]], ''Parisina'' (1913), [[Riccardo Zandonai]], ''Francesca da Rimini'' (1914), [[Ildebrando Pizzetti]], ''Fedra'' (1915).<ref>[[Jürgen Maehder]]: ''The Origins of Italian »Literaturoper« ─ »Guglielmo Ratcliff«, »La figlia di Iorio«, »Parisina« and »Francesca da Rimini«'', in: Arthur Groos/Roger Parker (edd.), ''Reading Opera'', Princeton University Press, Princeton 1988, pp. 92–128</ref>

The first composers to directly set plays include [[Charles Gounod]],<ref>[[Hugh Macdonald (musicologist)|Hugh Macdonald]]: ''The Prose Libretto'', In: Cambridge Opera Journal 1, 1989, pp. 155–166.</ref> [[Pietro Mascagni]], [[Claude Debussy]], [[Richard Strauss]] and [[Alban Berg]]. After the [[Second World War]], the genre flourished, especially in Germany, and composers often resorted to setting plays from previous centuries or from Greek Antiquity. The production of literary operas continues to this day.

== Literaturopern based on plays ==
* [[Modest Musorgsky]]
** ''[[Zhenitba|The Marriage]]'' after [[Alexander Pushkin]]'s play, 1868 (unfinished)
** '' [[Boris Godunov (opera)|Boris Godunov]]'' after [[Alexander Pushkin]]'s play, 1874
* [[Alexander Dargomyzhsky]]
** '' [[The Stone Guest (Dargomyzhsky)|The Stone Guest]]'' (''Каменный гость'') after [[Alexander Pushkin]]'s [[The Stone Guest (play)|play of the same name]], 1872
* [[Charles Gounod]]:
** ''George Dandin'', after the comedy [[George Dandin]] by [[Molière]], unfinished (?), 1874
* [[Pietro Mascagni]]:
** ''[[Guglielmo Ratcliff]]'' after [[Heinrich Heine]] in the Italian translation by Andrea Maffei, 1895
** ''[[Parisina]]'' after [[Gabriele d’Annunzio]], 1913
* [[Claude Debussy]]: ''[[Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)|Pelléas et Mélisande]]'' after [[Maurice Maeterlinck]], 1902
* [[Richard Strauss]]:
* [[Richard Strauss]]:
** [[Salome (opera)|''Salome'']] after [[Oscar Wilde]], 1905
** ''[[Salome (opera)|Salome]]'' after [[Oscar Wilde]], 1905
** [[Elektra (opera)|''Elektra'']] after [[Hugo von Hofmannsthal]], 1909
** ''[[Elektra (opera)|Elektra]]'' after [[Hugo von Hofmannsthal]], 1909
* [[Alberto Franchetti]]:
** ''[[La figlia di Iorio]]'' after [[Gabriele d’Annunzio]], 1906
* [[Nadia Boulanger]] / [[Raoul Pugno]], ''[[La ville morte]]'' after the drama ''La città morta'' by [[Gabriele d’Annunzio]], composed 1914, first performance 2008
* [[Riccardo Zandonai]]:
** ''[[Francesca da Rimini (Zandonai)|Francesca da Rimini]]'' after [[Gabriele d’Annunzio]], 1914
* [[Ildebrando Pizzetti]]:
** ''Gigliola '' after Gabriele d’Annunzio’s drama ''La fiaccola sotto il moggio'' (1914, unfinished)
** ''[[Fedra (Pizzetti)|Fedra]]'' after [[Gabriele d’Annunzio]], 1915
** ''La figlia di Iorio'' after [[Gabriele d’Annunzio]], 1954
** ''[[Assassinio nella cattedrale]]'' after [[Thomas Stearns Eliot]] in der Übersetzung von Alberto Castelli, 1958
* [[Alexander von Zemlinsky]]: ''[[Eine florentinische Tragödie]]'' after Oscar Wilde, 1917
* [[Alexander von Zemlinsky]]: ''[[Eine florentinische Tragödie]]'' after Oscar Wilde, 1917
* [[Italo Montemezzi]]:
** ''[[La nave]]'' after [[Gabriele d’Annunzio]], 1918
* [[Domenico Alaleona]]:
** ''{{Interlanguage link|Mirra (Alaleona)|fr}}'' after the tragedy by [[Vittorio Alfieri]], 1920
* [[Sergei Prokofiev]]: ''[[The Love for Three Oranges]]'' after [[Carlo Gozzi]]’s fiaba teatrale [[L'amore delle tre melarance]], 1921
* [[Darius Milhaud]], ''Les Euménides'' after the drama ''[[Oresteia#The Eumenides|The Eumenides]]'' by [[Aischylos]], composed 1917–1922, performed 1949
* [[Paul Hindemith]]
** ''[[Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen]]'' after the drama ''[[Murderer, the Hope of Women|Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen]]'' (1907) by [[Oskar Kokoschka]], 1921
** ''[[Sancta Susanna]]'' after the drama ''Sancta Susanna'' (1913) by [[August Stramm]], 1922
** ''[[The Long Christmas Dinner (opera)|The Long Christmas Dinner]]'' after the play ''[[The Long Christmas Dinner]]'' (1931) by [[Thornton Wilder]], 1963
* [[Alban Berg]]:
* [[Alban Berg]]:
** ''[[Wozzeck]]'' after [[Georg Büchner]]'s ''[[Woyzeck]]'', 1925
** ''[[Wozzeck]]'' after [[Georg Büchner]]’s ''[[Woyzeck]]'', 1925
** ''[[Lulu (opera)|Lulu]]'' after [[Frank Wedekind]], 1937
** ''[[Lulu (opera)|Lulu]]'' after [[Frank Wedekind]]’s plays ''Erdgeist'' and ''Die Büchse der Pandora'', 1937
* [[Manfred Gurlitt]]:
* [[Francis Poulenc]]: ''[[Les mamelles de Tirésias]]'' after [[Guillaume Apollinaire]], 1941
** ''[[Wozzeck (Gurlitt)|Wozzeck]]'' after [[Georg Büchner]]’s ''[[Woyzeck]]'', 1926
* [[Carl Orff]]: ''[[Antigonae]]'' after [[Friedrich Hölderlin]], 1949
** ''[[Soldaten (Gurlitt)|Soldaten]]'' after the drama [[The Soldiers (play)|Die Soldaten (Lenz)]] by [[Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz]], 1930
* [[Arthur Honegger]]
** ''[[Antigone (Honegger)]]'' after [[Jean Cocteau]], 1927
* [[Othmar Schoeck]]:
** [[Penthesilea (opera)|Penthesilea]] after [[Heinrich von Kleist]]’s drama [[Penthesilea (Kleist)]] (1808), 1927
* [[Franco Alfano]]
** ''[[Cyrano de Bergerac (Alfano)|Cyrano de Bergerac]]'' after [[Edmond Rostand]], 1936
* [[Bohuslav Martinů]]
** ''[[Julietta]]'' after the play ''Juliette, ou La clé des songes'' by [[Georges Neveux]], 1935
** ''[[Mirandolina]]'' after [[Carlo Goldoni]]'s 1751 comedy ''[[The Mistress of the Inn|La locandiera]]'', 1959.
** ''[[Ariane (Martinů)|Ariane]]'' after the play ''Le Voyage de Thésée'' ( 1943) by [[Georges Neveux]], 1961
* [[Francis Poulenc]]:
** ''[[Les mamelles de Tirésias]]'' after [[Guillaume Apollinaire]], 1941
** ''[[La voix humaine]]'' after [[Jean Cocteau]], 1958
* [[Carl Orff]]:
** ''[[Antigonae]]'' after the drama by [[Sophokles]] in the German translation by [[Friedrich Hölderlin]] (1804), 1949
** ''{{Interlanguage link|Oedipus der Tyrann|de}}'' after the drama by [[Sophokles]] in the German translation by [[Friedrich Hölderlin]] (1804), 1959
** ''[[Prometheus (Orff)|Prometheus]]'' after the drama by [[Aischylos]], 1968
* [[Werner Egk]]:
** ''Irische Legende'' after ''[[The Countess Cathleen]]'' by [[William Butler Yeats]], 1955
** ''[[Der Revisor]]'' after the comedy ''[[The Government Inspector]]'' (''Ревизор'') by [[Nikolai Gogol]], 1957
** ''Siebzehn Tage und vier Minuten'' after the comedy ''El mayor encanto, amor'' by [[Pedro Calderón de la Barca]], 1966
* [[Wolfgang Fortner]]:
** ''[[Bluthochzeit]]'' after ''[[Blood Wedding|Bodas de sangre]]'' by [[Federico García Lorca]], 1957
** ''[[In seinem Garten liebt Don Perlimplin Belisa]]'' after ''[[The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in the Garden|Amor de don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín]]'' by [[Federico García Lorca]], 1962
** ''That Time'' after the play ''[[That Time]]'' by [[Samuel Beckett]], 1967
* [[Benjamin Britten]]: ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)|A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' after [[William Shakespeare]], 1960
* [[Benjamin Britten]]: ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)|A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' after [[William Shakespeare]], 1960
* [[Hans Werner Henze]]:
* [[Bernd Alois Zimmermann]]: ''[[Die Soldaten]]'' after [[Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz|Jakob Lenz]], 1965
** ''Das Wundertheater'' after ''El retablo de las maravillas'' by [[Miguel de Cervantes]], 1949
* [[Gottfried von Einem]]: ''[[Der Besuch der alten Dame]]'' after [[Friedrich Dürrenmatt]], 1971
* [[Aribert Reimann]]: ''Lear'' after Shakespeare's ''[[King Lear]]'', 1978
** ''[[König Hirsch]]'' after the „fiaba teatrale“ ''Il Re cervo'' (1762) by [[Carlo Gozzi]], 1956
** ''[[Der Prinz von Homburg (opera)|Der Prinz von Homburg]]'' after the drama ''[[The Prince of Homburg (play)|Prinz Friedrich von Homburg oder die Schlacht bei Fehrbellin]]'' by [[Heinrich von Kleist]], 1960
*[[Heinz Holliger]]: ''[[Schneewittchen (opera)|Schneewittchen]]'' after [[Robert Walser (writer)|Robert Walser]], 1998
** ''[[Die Bassariden]]'' after the drama Βάκχαι ''([[The Bacchae]])'' by [[Euripides]], 1966
* [[Bernd Alois Zimmermann]]: ''[[Die Soldaten]]'' after the drama [[The Soldiers (play)|Die Soldaten (Lenz)]] by [[Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz]], 1965
* [[Gottfried von Einem]]:
** ''[[Dantons Tod (opera)|Dantons Tod]]'' after the drama [[Danton's Death|Dantons Tod]] by [[Georg Büchner]], 1947
** ''[[Der Besuch der alten Dame (opera)|Der Besuch der alten Dame]]'' after the tragicomedy ''[[The Visit (play)|Der Besuch der alten Dame]]'' by [[Friedrich Dürrenmatt]], 1971
** ''Kabale und Liebe'' after the play ''[[Intrigue and Love|Kabale und Liebe]]'' by [[Friedrich Schiller]], 1976
* [[Boris Blacher]]:
** ''Romeo und Julia'' after the tragedy by [[William Shakespeare]], 1950
** ''Preußisches Märchen'' after the comedy ''[[The Captain of Köpenick (play)|Der Hauptmann von Köpenick]]'' by [[Carl Zuckmayer]], 1952
** ''Yvonne, Prinzessin von Burgund'' after [[Witold Gombrowicz]], 1973
* [[Giselher Klebe]]:
** ''[[Die Räuber (opera)|Die Räuber]]'' after the tragedy by [[Friedrich Schiller]], 1957
** ''[[Die Ermordung Cäsars]]'' after ''[[Julius Caesar (play)]]'' by [[William Shakespeare]], 1959
** ''Alkmene'' after ''{{ill|Amphitryon (Kleist)|de|3=Amphitryon (Kleist)|lt=Amphitryon}}'' by [[Heinrich von Kleist]], 1961
** ''[[Figaro lässt sich scheiden]]'' after the comedy ''Figaro lässt sich scheiden'' by [[Ödön von Horváth]], 1963
** ''[[Jacobowsky und der Oberst (opera)|Jacobowsky und der Oberst]]'' after the comedy ''{{ill|Jacobowsky und der Oberst|de|Jacobowsky und der Oberst (Bühnenstück)}}'' by [[Franz Werfel]], 1965
** ''Ein wahrer Held'' after ''[[The Playboy of the Western World]]'' by [[John Millington Synge]], 1975
** ''[[Das Mädchen aus Domrémy]]'' after the drama ''[[The Maid of Orleans (play)|Die Jungfrau von Orléans]]'' by [[Friedrich Schiller]], 1976
** ''[[Der Jüngste Tag]]'' after [[Ödön von Horváth]], 1980
* [[Hugo Weisgall]]:
** ''[[Six Characters in Search of an Author (opera)|Six Characters in Search of an Author]]'' after the drama ''[[Six Characters in Search of an Author]]'' by [[Luigi Pirandello]], 1959
* [[Sylvano Bussotti]]
** ''Lorenzaccio'' after the drama ''[[Lorenzaccio]]'' by [[Alfred de Musset]], 1972
** ''Le Racine'' after the drama ''[[Phèdre]]'' by [[Jean Racine]], 1980
** ''Fedra'' after the drama ''[[Phèdre]]'' by [[Jean Racine]], 1988
** ''Tieste'' after the drama ''[[Thyestes (Seneca)|Thyestes]]'' by [[Lucius Annaeus Seneca]], 2000
* [[Aribert Reimann]]:
** ''Ein Traumspiel'' after [[August Strindberg]]’s drama ''[[Ett drömspel]]'', 1964
** ''Melusine'' after [[Yvan Goll]], 1970
** ''[[Lear (opera)|Lear]]'' after William Shakespeare’s drama ''[[King Lear]]'', 1978
** ''[[Die Gespenstersonate]]'' after [[August Strindberg]]’s drama ''[[Spöksonaten]]'', 1983
** ''[[Troades (opera)|Troades]]'' after the drama ''[[The Trojan Women]]'' by [[Euripides]] in the translation by [[Franz Werfel]], 1985
** ''[[Das Schloß (opera)|Das Schloß]]'' after [[Franz Kafka]]’s novel [[The Castle (novel)|Das Schloß]] and its theatre version by [[Max Brod]], 1991
** ''[[Bernarda Albas Haus]]'' after [[Federico García Lorca]]’s drama [[The House of Bernarda Alba]], 2000
** ''[[Medea (Reimann)|Medea]]'' after the third part of [[Franz Grillparzer]]'s trilogy ''{{Interlanguage link|Das goldene Vlies|de}}'', 2010
** ''[[L'Invisible]]'' (after [[Maurice Maeterlinck]]'s ''L'Intruse'', ''L'Intérieur'' and ''La Mort de Tintagiles''), 2017
* [[Wolfgang Rihm]]:
** ''Faust und Yorick'' nach [[Jean Tardieu]], 1977
* [[Walter Steffens (composer)|Walter Steffens]]:
** [[Eli (opera)|Eli]] after the mystery play by [[Nelly Sachs]], 1967
** ''Unter dem Milchwald'' after ''[[Under Milk Wood]]'' by [[Dylan Thomas]], 1973
* [[Adriana Hölszky]]:
** ''Bremer Freiheit'' after [[Rainer Werner Fassbinder]], 1988
** ''Die Wände'' after the drama ''Les paravents'' by [[Jean Genet]], 1995
* [[Michèle Reverdy]], ''Le Précepteur'' after the play ''[[The Tutor|Der Hofmeister]]'' by [[Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz]], 1990
* [[Michael Denhoff]]: ''Der Pelikan'' after [[August Strindberg]], 1992
* [[Manfred Trojahn]]:
** ''Enrico'' after the drama ''Enrico IV'' by [[Luigi Pirandello]], 1991
** ''Was ihr wollt'' after Shakespeare’s ''[[Twelfth Night]],'' 1998
** ''Orest'' after the drama ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'' by [[Euripides]], 2011
* [[Toshio Hosokawa]]
** ''Hanjo'' after the Nô-drama 班女 (''Hanjo'', 1955) by [[Yukio Mishima]] (三島 由紀夫) in a translation by [[Donald Keene]], 2004
** ''Matsukaze'', after the Nô-drama 松風 (''[[Matsukaze]]'') by [[Zeami Motokiyo]] (世阿弥 元清), 2011
* [[Luca Francesconi]], ''Quartet'' after the drama ''[[Quartet (Müller)|Quartett]]'' by [[Heiner Müller]], 2011
* [[Marc-André Dalbavie]], ''Le Soulier de satin'' after the drama ''[[The Satin Slipper|Le Soulier de satin]]'' (1931) by [[Paul Claudel]], 2021


== Some Literaturopern based on novels==
== Literaturopern based on novels and short stories ==
* [[Frederick Delius]]: ''[[A Village Romeo and Juliet]]'' after [[Gottfried Keller]]'s ''Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe'', 1907
* [[Frederick Delius]]: ''[[A Village Romeo and Juliet]]'' after [[Gottfried Keller]]'s ''Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe'', 1907
* [[Leoš Janáček]]:
* [[Leoš Janáček]]:
Line 27: Line 150:
** ''[[From the House of the Dead]]'' (''Z mrtvého domu'') after [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]], 1930
** ''[[From the House of the Dead]]'' (''Z mrtvého domu'') after [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]], 1930
* [[Dmitri Shostakovich]]:
* [[Dmitri Shostakovich]]:
** ''[[The Nose (opera)|The Nose]]'' (''Nos'') after [[Nikolai Gogol]]
** ''Нос'' (''[[The Nose (opera)|The Nose]]'') after the comedy by [[Nikolai Gogol]]
** ''[[Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (opera)|Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk]]'' after [[Nikolai Leskov]]'s ''Ledy Macbeth Mtsenskovo uyezda'', 1934
** ''Леди Макбет Мценского уезда'' (''[[Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (opera)|Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk]]'') after [[Nikolai Leskov]]'s novel ''Ledy Macbeth Mtsenskovo uyezda'', 1934
* [[Benjamin Britten]]:
* [[Benjamin Britten]]:
** ''[[Billy Budd (opera)|Billy Budd]]'' after [[Herman Melville]], 1951
** ''[[Billy Budd (opera)|Billy Budd]]'' after [[Herman Melville]], 1951
** ''[[Death in Venice (opera)|Death in Venice]]'' after [[Thomas Mann]]'s ''[[Tod in Venedig]]'', 1973
** ''[[Death in Venice (opera)|Death in Venice]]'' after [[Thomas Mann]]'s novel ''[[Tod in Venedig]]'', 1973
* [[Gottfried von Einem]]: ''[[Der Prozess (opera)|Der Prozess]]'' based on the novel '' [[The Trial|Der Process]]'' by [[Franz Kafka]], 1953
* [[Giselher Klebe]]:
** ''[[Die tödlichen Wünsche]]'' after the novel ''[[La peau de chagrin]]'' von [[Honoré de Balzac]], 1959
** ''[[Das Märchen von der schönen Lilie]]'' after [[Goethe]], 1969
* [[Werner Egk]]: ''Die Verlobung in San Domingo'' after the novel ''{{ill|Die Verlobung in St. Domingo|de|}} von [[Heinrich von Kleist]], 1963
* [[Boris Blacher]]:
** ''Das Geheimnis des entwendeten Briefes'' after the novel ''[[The Purloined Letter]]'' by [[Edgar Allan Poe]], 1975
** ''[[Die Flut (opera)|Die Flut]]'' nach einer Erzählung von [[Guy de Maupassant]], 1947
* [[Hans Werner Henze]]:
* [[Hans Werner Henze]]:
** ''[[The Bassarids]]'' after [[Euripides]], 1966
** ''Ein Landarzt'', radio opera after [[Franz Kafka]], 1951
** ''Boulevard Solitude'' after the novel ''Histoire du Chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut'' by [[Abbé Prévost]], 1952
** ''[[Das verratene Meer]]'', after [[Yukio Mishima]]'s ''[[The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea]]'', 1986–89
** ''[[Der junge Lord]]'' based on the short story ''Der Affe als Mensch'' by [[Wilhelm Hauff]], 1965
** ''Pollicino'' based on a fairytale by [[Charles Perrault]], 1980
** ''[[Das verratene Meer]]'', after [[Yukio Mishima]]'s ''[[The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea]]'' (午後の曳航 – ''Gogo no Eiko''), 1986–89
* [[Wolfgang Rihm]]:
** ''[[Jakob Lenz (opera)|Jakob Lenz]]'' after the novella ''[[Lenz (fragment)|Lenz]]'' by [[Georg Büchner]], 1979
** ''[[Die Hamletmaschine (opera)|Die Hamletmaschine]]'' based on [[Heiner Müller]]'s text [[Hamletmachine|Die Hamletmaschine]] (1977), 1987
** ''[[Die Eroberung von Mexico]]'' based on [[Antonin Artaud]]'s 1932 texts ''La conquête du Mexique'' and ''Le théâtre de Séraphin'', 1992
** ''[[Dionysos (opera)|Dionysos]]'' based on [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]'s ''[[Dionysian-Dithyrambs]]'', 2010
* [[Aribert Reimann]]: ''[[Das Schloß (opera)|Das Schloß]]'' after [[Franz Kafka]]’s novel [[The Castle (novel)|Das Schloß]] and its theatre version by [[Max Brod]], 1991
* [[Hans Zender]]: ''Don Quijote de la Mancha'' after [[Miguel de Cervantes]], 1993
*[[Heinz Holliger]]: ''[[Schneewittchen (opera)|Schneewittchen]]'' after [[Robert Walser (writer)|Robert Walser]], 1998

==References==
{{Reflist}}


==Sources==
==Bibliography==
* Vincenzo Borghetti/Riccardo Pecci, ''Il bacio della sfinge. D'Annunzio, Pizzetti e »Fedra«'', EDT, Torino 1998.
* ''Literaturoper'' by [[Julian Budden]], in 'The [[New Grove Dictionary of Opera]]', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) {{ISBN|0-333-73432-7}}
* ''Literaturoper'' by [[Julian Budden]], in 'The [[New Grove Dictionary of Opera]]', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) {{ISBN|0-333-73432-7}}
* [[Carl Dahlhaus]]: ''Vom Musikdrama zur Literaturoper. Aufsätze zur neueren Operngeschichte.'' Überarbeitete Neuausgabe. Piper u. a., München u. a. 1989, {{ISBN|3-7957-8238-4}} (''Serie Piper'' 8238).
* Swantje Gostomzyk: ''Literaturoper am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts. Eine interdisziplinäre Studie am Beispiel der Opern von Detlev Glanert.'' Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2009.
* Adriana Guarnieri Corazzol, ''Musica e letteratura in Italia tra Ottocento e Novecento'', Sansoni, Milano 2000.
* [[Hugh Macdonald (musicologist)|Hugh Macdonald]]: ''The Prose Libretto'', In: Cambridge Opera Journal 1, 1989, pp.&nbsp;155–166.
* [[Jürgen Maehder]]: ''The Origins of Italian »Literaturoper« ─ »Guglielmo Ratcliff«, »La figlia di Iorio«, »Parisina« and »Francesca da Rimini«'', in: Arthur Groos/Roger Parker (edd.), ''Reading Opera'', Princeton University Press, Princeton 1988, pp.&nbsp;92–128.
* [[Jürgen Maehder]]: ''Drammaturgia musicale e strutture narrative nel teatro musicale italiano della generazaione dell'Ottanta'', in: Mila De Santis (ed.), ''Alfredo Casella e l'Europa. Atti del Convegno internazionale di Studi a Siena'', 7-9 giugno 2001, Olschki, Firenze 2003, pp.&nbsp;223–248.
* [[Jürgen Maehder]]: ''»Salome« von Oscar Wilde und Richard Strauss ─ Die Entstehungsbedingungen der sinfonischen Literaturoper des Fin de siècle'', in: Jürgen Kühnel/Ulrich Müller/Sigrid Schmidt (edd.), ''Richard Strauss, »Salome«: Stofftraditionen, Text und Musik'', Müller-Speiser Anif/Salzburg 2013, pp.&nbsp;55–107.
* Peter Petersen: ''Der Terminus „Literaturoper“ – eine Begriffsbestimmung.'' In: Archiv für Musikwissenschaft 56, 1999, pp.&nbsp;52–70.
* Olaf Roth: ''Die Opernlibretti nach Dramen d'Annunzios'', Peter Lang, Bern/Frankfurt/New York 1999.
* [[Richard Taruskin]]: ''Realism as Preached and Practiced – The Russian Opera Dialogue.'' In: Musical Quarterly, 56, 1970.
* [[Jürg Stenzl]]: ''Heinrich von Kleists Penthesilea in der Vertonung von Ottmar Schoeck.'' In Günter Schnitzler (Hrsg.): ''Dichtung und Musik – Kaleidoskop ihrer Beziehungen.'' Klett-Cotta, 1979, p.&nbsp;224 sqq.
* Almut Ullrich: ''Die „Literaturoper“ von 1970–1990. Texte und Tendenzen.'' Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 1991, {{ISBN|3-7959-0617-2}} (''Veröffentlichungen zur Musikforschung'' 11).
* Sigrid Wiesmann (ed.): ''Für und Wider die Literaturoper. Zur Situation nach 1945.'' Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 1982, {{ISBN|3-921518-67-9}} (''Thurnauer Schriften zum Musiktheater'' 6).


{{Opera terms}}
{{Opera terms}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:Opera genres]]
[[Category:Opera genres]]

Latest revision as of 19:47, 20 August 2024

Literaturoper (German: [lɪtəʁaˈtuːɐ̯ˌʔoːpɐ] ⓘ; literature opera, plural “Literaturopern”), a term coined by the German music critic Edgar Istel, describes a genre of opera that emerged during the late 19th century. When an existing play for the legitimate theatre is set to music without major changes and without the intervention of a librettist, a “Literaturoper” is the result. Although the term is German, it can be applied to any kind of opera, irrespective of style or language. (In that sense it can be regarded as a term rather than a genre as such.)

The former, much broader usage of the term “Literaturoper” for opera libretti on the basis of dramas, novels and short stories of undoubted literary renown, which was still common until around 1980, has been made obsolete by recent research on the history of the opera libretto. Since opera libretti have relied on subject matter from the history of literature since the very origin of the genre of opera, a broader usage of the term would cover the entire history of opera, regardless of the underlying libretto structure.[1]

Current definition

[edit]

According to a seminal publication by Peter Petersen, the term means „a special form of music theater in which the libretto is based on a literary work whose linguistic, semantic and aesthetic structure remains recognizable in the musical-dramatic work as a structural layer.“[2]

History

[edit]

The tradition of literaturoper only became established in European opera culture when, with Richard Wagner and the "through-composed dramatic form" he developed, the conventions of verse metrics for the opera libretto had faded. At the same time, the personal union of libretto poet and composer appeared as the new norm of opera production. Especially in the area of the Romance languages, the alliterating verse in Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen was perceived as prose text, since the use of alliteration as basis for the poetry in the Ancient Germanic languages had always been alien the syllable-counting verse systems in the French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese poetic tradition.[3]

Since the production of literaturopern possessed the potential to make the function of the opera librettist redundant, the genre was first able to assert itself in those opera cultures in which professional libretto-writing had not been able to develop a centuries-long tradition (Russia, Germany). The first examples of this dramaturgical process can be found in the history of French and Russian music in the second half of the 19th century.[4] Early Russian literaturopern include Alexander Dargomyzhsky’s opera The Stone Guest (after Alexander Pushkin) and Modest Mussorgsky’s opera fragment The Marriage and his Boris Godunov (also after Pushkin).[5]

In French and Italian opera, which had possessed an established libretto tradition for centuries, the introduction of the literaturoper took place parallel to the discussions about the possibility of writing opera libretti in prose.[6] Since the Italian tradition of operatic verse proved to be particularly resistant to the introduction of prose libretti, the first Italian literaturopern were created on the basis of Gabriele d'Annunzio’s verse dramas (Alberto Franchetti, La figlia di Iorio (1906), Pietro Mascagni, Parisina (1913), Riccardo Zandonai, Francesca da Rimini (1914), Ildebrando Pizzetti, Fedra (1915).[7]

The first composers to directly set plays include Charles Gounod,[8] Pietro Mascagni, Claude Debussy, Richard Strauss and Alban Berg. After the Second World War, the genre flourished, especially in Germany, and composers often resorted to setting plays from previous centuries or from Greek Antiquity. The production of literary operas continues to this day.

Literaturopern based on plays

[edit]

Literaturopern based on novels and short stories

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Albert Gier: Das Libretto. Theorie und Geschichte einer musikoliterarischen Gattung. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1998, ISBN 3-534-12368-9. (Second edition: Insel, Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-458-34366-0)
  2. ^ Peter Petersen: Der Terminus "Literaturoper" – eine Begriffsbestimmung. In Archiv für Musikwissenschaft vol. 56, 1999, pp. 52–70.
  3. ^ Jürgen Maehder, Erscheinungsformen des Wagnérisme in der italienischen Oper des Fin de siècle, in: Annegret Fauser/Manuela Schwartz (edd.), Von Wagner zum Wagnérisme. Musik, Literatur, Kunst, Politik, Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 1999, pp. 575–621.
  4. ^ Jürgen Maehder: »Salome« von Oscar Wilde und Richard Strauss ─ Die Entstehungsbedingungen der sinfonischen Literaturoper des Fin de siècle, in: Jürgen Kühnel, Ulrich Müller, Sigrid Schmidt (eds.), Richard Strauss, »Salome«: Stofftraditionen, Text und Musik, Müller-Speiser Anif, Salzburg 2013, pp. 55–107.
  5. ^ Richard Taruskin: Realism as Preached and Practiced – The Russian Opera Dialogue. In: The Musical Quarterly vol. 56, 1970, pp. 431–454; Jürg Stenzl: Heinrich von Kleists Penthesilea in der Vertonung von Ottmar Schoeck. In Günter Schnitzler: Dichtung und Musik – Kaleidoskop ihrer Beziehungen. Klett-Cotta, 1979, p. 224 ff.
  6. ^ Hugh Macdonald: The Prose Libretto, In: Cambridge Opera Journal 1, 1989, pp. 155–166.
  7. ^ Jürgen Maehder: The Origins of Italian »Literaturoper« ─ »Guglielmo Ratcliff«, »La figlia di Iorio«, »Parisina« and »Francesca da Rimini«, in: Arthur Groos/Roger Parker (edd.), Reading Opera, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1988, pp. 92–128
  8. ^ Hugh Macdonald: The Prose Libretto, In: Cambridge Opera Journal 1, 1989, pp. 155–166.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Vincenzo Borghetti/Riccardo Pecci, Il bacio della sfinge. D'Annunzio, Pizzetti e »Fedra«, EDT, Torino 1998.
  • Literaturoper by Julian Budden, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
  • Carl Dahlhaus: Vom Musikdrama zur Literaturoper. Aufsätze zur neueren Operngeschichte. Überarbeitete Neuausgabe. Piper u. a., München u. a. 1989, ISBN 3-7957-8238-4 (Serie Piper 8238).
  • Swantje Gostomzyk: Literaturoper am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts. Eine interdisziplinäre Studie am Beispiel der Opern von Detlev Glanert. Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2009.
  • Adriana Guarnieri Corazzol, Musica e letteratura in Italia tra Ottocento e Novecento, Sansoni, Milano 2000.
  • Hugh Macdonald: The Prose Libretto, In: Cambridge Opera Journal 1, 1989, pp. 155–166.
  • Jürgen Maehder: The Origins of Italian »Literaturoper« ─ »Guglielmo Ratcliff«, »La figlia di Iorio«, »Parisina« and »Francesca da Rimini«, in: Arthur Groos/Roger Parker (edd.), Reading Opera, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1988, pp. 92–128.
  • Jürgen Maehder: Drammaturgia musicale e strutture narrative nel teatro musicale italiano della generazaione dell'Ottanta, in: Mila De Santis (ed.), Alfredo Casella e l'Europa. Atti del Convegno internazionale di Studi a Siena, 7-9 giugno 2001, Olschki, Firenze 2003, pp. 223–248.
  • Jürgen Maehder: »Salome« von Oscar Wilde und Richard Strauss ─ Die Entstehungsbedingungen der sinfonischen Literaturoper des Fin de siècle, in: Jürgen Kühnel/Ulrich Müller/Sigrid Schmidt (edd.), Richard Strauss, »Salome«: Stofftraditionen, Text und Musik, Müller-Speiser Anif/Salzburg 2013, pp. 55–107.
  • Peter Petersen: Der Terminus „Literaturoper“ – eine Begriffsbestimmung. In: Archiv für Musikwissenschaft 56, 1999, pp. 52–70.
  • Olaf Roth: Die Opernlibretti nach Dramen d'Annunzios, Peter Lang, Bern/Frankfurt/New York 1999.
  • Richard Taruskin: Realism as Preached and Practiced – The Russian Opera Dialogue. In: Musical Quarterly, 56, 1970.
  • Jürg Stenzl: Heinrich von Kleists Penthesilea in der Vertonung von Ottmar Schoeck. In Günter Schnitzler (Hrsg.): Dichtung und Musik – Kaleidoskop ihrer Beziehungen. Klett-Cotta, 1979, p. 224 sqq.
  • Almut Ullrich: Die „Literaturoper“ von 1970–1990. Texte und Tendenzen. Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 1991, ISBN 3-7959-0617-2 (Veröffentlichungen zur Musikforschung 11).
  • Sigrid Wiesmann (ed.): Für und Wider die Literaturoper. Zur Situation nach 1945. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 1982, ISBN 3-921518-67-9 (Thurnauer Schriften zum Musiktheater 6).
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