(''The Princess Girnara''), Op. 27, is an

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 ...

in two acts by

Egon Wellesz Egon Joseph Wellesz CBE (21 October 1885 – 9 November 1974) was an Austrian, later British composer, teacher and musicologist, notable particularly in the field of Byzantine music. Early life and education in Vienna Egon Joseph Wellesz was ...

to a libretto by

Jakob Wassermann __NOTOC__ Jakob Wassermann (10 March 1873 – 1 January 1934) was a German writer and novelist. Life Born in Fürth, Wassermann was the son of a shopkeeper and lost his mother at an early age. He showed literary interest early and published v ...

which he based on his own text. It was the composer's first opera. The world premiere was performed on 14 May 1921 simultaneously at the

Oper Frankfurt The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Shrek's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, '' Fennimore und Gerda'' by Frede ...

and the Opernhaus Hannover. A revised version was first performed at the

Nationaltheater Mannheim The Mannheim National Theatre (german: Nationaltheater Mannheim) is a theatre and opera company in Mannheim, Germany, with a variety of performance spaces. It was founded in 1779 and is one of the oldest theatres in Germany. History In the 18 ...

in 1928.

History

was prompted to compose his first opera by listening to a reading by

from his then unpublished ''Die Prinzessin Girnara: Weltspiel und Legende'' in summer 1918. Based on an Indian legend, it was a play not intended for the stage, but to be read. It was published by Ed. Strache in Warnsdorf in 1919,''Die Prinzessin Girnara''
zulu-ebooks.com as the conclusion of his novel ''Christian Wahnschaffe''. Wassermann supplied a libretto, which Wellesz described as two scenes to be played in parallel: a ''Weltspiel'' (world play) and a legend. The work was conceived as undramatic. Wellesz worked on the composition from 1918 to 1919. The opera was called a ''Mysterium in 2 Akten'', a

mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...

in two acts. The opera was published by

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-bas ...

in 1920. The duration is given as 120 minutes. The world premiere was on 14 May 1921 simultaneously at the

, conducted by Eugen Szenkar, and at the Opernhaus Hannover. A revised version was first performed at the

in 1928.

Roles

The leading roles and

voice type A voice type is a group of voices with similar vocal ranges, capable of singing in a similar tessitura, and with similar vocal transition points ('' passaggi''). Voice classification is most strongly associated with European classical music, ...

s are as follows, with performers of the Hannover premiere, conducted by Richard Lert,Dörte Schmidt, Brigitta Weber
Keine Experimentierkunst: Musikleben an Städtischen Theatern in der Weimarer Republik
Springer 2017, , pp. 111–114 and of a revised version at the

in 1928.Bindernagel Gertrud
operissimo.com

History

Roles

References

Further reading