A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)

  • Oberon, Fairy King ( countertenor )
  • Titania, his wife ( coloratura soprano)
  • Puck, Goblin ( voice)
  • Theseus, Duke of Athens ( bass)
  • Hippolyta, his bride (Alt )
  • Lysander (tenor )
  • Demetrius (baritone )
  • Hermia, in love with Lysander (mezzo- soprano)
  • Helena, in love with Demetrius (soprano )
  • List, Weber ( bass)
  • Five craftsmen
  • Elves, the king's retinue Theseus, children's voices

A Midsummer Night's Dream (English: A Midsummer Night's Dream) is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten based on the eponymous play by William Shakespeare. It was premiered in 1960 at the Aldeburgh Festival.

Action

Act I

Scene of action are Athens and a nearby forest to tell time. In the realm of the elves there is a family dispute. The royal couple Oberon and Titania is at loggerheads because of a human boy. Oberon granted the puck puck commissioned his wife to sprinkle a charm in the eyes, through its action it is to fall in love with the first creature you meet. In this way, he wants to make them docile. At the same time escape of two young couples who have been forbidden to marry, in the forest at Athens: Lysander and Hermia and Demetrius and Helena. Although Helena loves Demetrius, but which is in turn in love with Hermia. After Oberon will also Demetrius the love potion to be administered so that it finds his feelings for Helena. Puck but makes a terrible mistake, because he gives Lysander the potion, what this love with Helena. Affected by those events, rehearse six craftsmen in the forest a spectacle that they want to perform on the occasion of the wedding of Duke Theseus.

Second Act

While a sample of craftsmen Puck transforms the Weber List into a donkey. His comrades flee, but Titania flares up under the influence of magic potion in fervent passion for the animal. Meanwhile, there is jealousy among the young people. Oberon can force applications just prevent this by separating them from each other and confused.

Act Three

At dawn Oberon ensures order. First, he gives list back to human form. When the young people wake up, they keep the events prior bad dreams and find one another. Oberon and his wife Titania are reconciled. On the wedding of Theseus all enjoy the theatrical presentation of the craftsmen who perform the comic tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe. Theseus left the two lovers present his blessing.

Comments

This fairy-tale opera is one of the most successful pieces of Benjamin Britten. The text by William Shakespeare was indeed reduced from five to three acts, the text but hardly changed. Characteristic of the work are the unusual tones of voice in the cast: countertenor for Oberon, Titania for coloratura soprano. The rustic theater performance of the artisans in the third act is an artful parody of the genre of Italian opera. Impressive is the stressed unrealistic musical aspect of the Elven world with harps, celesta and harpsichord.

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