Taking Thomas Hardy's short story as its starting point, we are transported to the present for a contemporary take on the novella which explores the power the mind can have over that person's actions. A closed door sparks an obsession so strong that the boundaries between reality and fantasy begin to blur.Ella and her high-finance husband Stephen rent a room in a holiday home on the coast, owned by Susan. Ella discovers that a locked room in the house is rented by a poet - Ben Pascoe - whose work holds a deep fascination for her. The room is held for Pascoe, though he visits rarely.Ella's obsession with Pascoe grows in parallel with the progress of Stephen's biggest City deal. She begins by imagining the poet's voice as she reads his work, but this quickly grows to fantasised encounters with Pascoe in his locked room. Stephen returns from the City and makes love to Ella, but it is not him she wishes for. We see the real Pascoe only once, with Susan.As Stephen's financial dreams are realised and Ella's fantasy consumes her, she learns of Pascoe's death. Despite her changed circumstances, Ella chooses to stay in her new world. / Opéra

Premiered in Vienna in February 1892 under the direction of Hans Richter Massenet's Werther has proven an enduring work one of the composer's most tightly constructed and dramatically urgent. The libretto was fashioned bywriters Georges Hartmann Edouard Blau and Paul Millet after Goethe's 'Sorrows of Young Werther'. Charlotte the eldest daughter of a baliff is engaged to Albert. In his absence she is escorted to the local ball by ayoung visiting poet Werther. Albert returns unexpectedly disappointed at not finding Charlotte he promises her sister he will return in the morning. At the ball Werther falls in love with Charlotte but realises that Alberthas returned and urges Charlotte not to break her promise to marry Albert. Three months later Charlotte and Albert now married walk across the town square on their way to church followed by Werther who is stilldistraught. Albert realizes that Werther must be in love with his wife and Charlotte tells him he must leave town until Christmas. Werther rushes away contemplating suicide.Alone at home on Christmas Eve as Charlotterereads the dejected love letters written to her by Werther he appears and reads to her a passage from a poem where the poet foresees his own death. Charlotte begs him to stop and he realises she loves him too. But she runs fromhis embrace and Werther leaves resolved to die. Albert enters and a message arrives from Werther asking to borrow Albert's pistol. Her reaction convinces him of her love for Werther. The pistols are dispensed and when Albert hasgone she hurries off arriving at his quarters to find him dying. She declares her love and he begs forgiveness and dies.This is the Schirmer edition of the Libretto in French and English.

Operas in three acts Version of the premiere, London 1737. Par HAENDEL GEORG FRIEDRICH. “Charming Berenice” – the Earl of Shaftesbury attended a rehearsal of the opera on 12 May 1737 and went into raptures about this “inexpressible delight”. “Berenice” was premiered at Covent Garden Theatre in London just a few days later on 18 May 1737. “Berenice” is one of the “light” operas and offers a wealth of musical gems, the second movement of the overture having become famous as “The Minuet from Berenice”, for instance, as has Berenice’s extended aria in the third act, in which she reflects on the inconstancy of the god Amor in duet with the solo oboist. The musical imagery which Handel worked into the opera is likewise enchanting, such as the imitation of bees humming in Fabio’s “Vedi l’ape” and the sorrowful cooing of a dove in Selene’s “Tortorella che rimira”. The scholarly-critical new edition contains the musical text of the first performance together with pieces in the appendix which Handel excised or shortened in preparation for the premiere. As is customary with our editions, a preface provides a detailed introduction to the genesis of the work, the story’s historical context, the source material and reception. Furthermore, the edition includes a translation of the libretto and an exhaustive Critical Report./ Répertoire / Opéra

Menotti's 'The Medium' is something of a cautionary tale which had its genesis in a séance attended by the composer himself. The plot of the libretto (by Menotti himself) runs as follows: Living in conditions of near-squalor Baba poses as a medium with her daughter Monica posing as ghosts from the beyond. She takes in Toby a mute as a lodger but distrusts him. The business continues until during a séance she feels a 'cold hand' tightening abouther throat. When her customers return for another session she tells them that she is a fake and demonstrates her tricks but her clients protest that she must be real that it was not Monica's voice they heard. She drives themout and resolves to cast out Toby as well. When Toby returns she shoots and inadvertently kills him. At the conclusion she still wonders if it had been Toby. This Libretto is in English only.

A Fairytale Opera In Two Acts-The Thirteenth Child - A Fairytale Opera In Two Acts by Poul Ruders (2014-15). Libretto by Becky Starobin and David Starobin. Scenario by Becky Starobin. Suggested by 'The Twelve Brothers' by the Brothers Grimm. SYNOPSIS Act 1 Scene 1 The neighboring Kingdoms of Frohagord and Hauven are in crisis. Following a warning by his embittered cousin Drokan Regent of Hauven King Hjarne of Frohagord is convinced that his twelve sons are plotting to overthrow him. The twelve princes oblivious to their father's paranoia play in the courtyard. The enraged King threatensthe safety of his sons telling his pregnant wife Queen Gertrude that she must provide him with a female heir  as 'only she shall wear the crown'.  Gertrude calms Hjarne and they sing of the Lilies of Frohagord magical flowers that protect the kingdom.  When Benjamin the youngest prince innocently plucks a lily from the garden Hjarne flies into a mad rage and strikes Gertrude.  Drokan observing the encounter  admits his love for Gertrude and feels 'the trembling of the earth'. Act 1 Scene 2 Eighteen years have passed and King Hjarne has just died. At Hjarne's funeral Frederic Drokan and the mourners tell of the mysterious disappearance of the King's thirteen children and the shadows that haunt the kingdom. Queen Gertrude now mortally ill and her daughter Princess Lyra enter the Royal Chapel. Gertrude is repelled by the sight of Drokan  while Frederic is drawn to Lyra. Drokan plots to usurp the Kingdom of Frohagord and Frederic dreams of the day when Lyra will be his. Act 1 Scene 3 Queen Gertrude is on her deathbed attended by Princess Lyra.  Lyra asks her mother why she was sent away.  Gertrude has Lyra open a secret drawer where Lyra finds twelve shirts

Opera Full Score-The first opera written for television 'Amahl and the Night Visitors' has become the most frequently performed opera of all time with over five hundred performances annually across the world. Menotti's take on theChristmas story focuses on Amahl a young handicapped boy and his mother who are visited by three Kings -- Balthazar Melchior and Kaspar -- who are on their way to find Jesus. The Kings stay the night during which Amahl'smother tries to steal some of the Kings' gold and is caught in the act. Melchior suggests that she keep the gold because the child they are visiting will rule his kingdom with love not riches. Amahl's mother gives back the gold wishing she had something to give of her own. Amahl offers his crutch as a gift and suddenly is able to walk. He decides to follow the Kings so that he himself may give his crutch to the Christ child.The work is ideal foran amateur performance (for example a secondary school or a local dramatic society) since all the action takes place in one act and one place and the work calls for limited adaptable musical forces. It also gives each principala chance to shine either in a solo or an ensemble.This is the Schirmer hardback edition of the full score.

A pair of men take an oath of eternal friendship but their vow is threatened by their attraction to the same woman. The object of their rivalry faces her own dilemma, torn between worldly passion and her calling as a priestess. Their romantic triangle forms the heart of this 1863 opera, Les Pêcheurs De Perles (The Pearl Fishers) , in which the composer of Carmen, the world's most popular opera, made his first mark. Set in ancient Ceylon, this enchanting tale of friendship, love, and betrayal has been performed in Opera houses around the world. The famous Baritone/Tenor duet in the second act is among the most recorded of Opera highlights, and a copy of the full score is essential for conductors as well as for students of composition and orchestration. This large-format version of Bizet 's three-act Opera offers musicians an affordable alternative to high-priced, hard-to-find editions. / Conducteur Opéra

Pour Mezzo Soprano Ou Contralto-Born in Laval Françoise Semellaz studied in Le Mans and Paris before embarking on a successful teaching career. Currently a professor at the Lille Conservatoire she devotes herself to classical singing. As a vocalist herself this compilation of Decouvrir L'Opera Français is well-informed. Containing airs for Mezzo-Sopranos and Contraltos the accompaniment is helpfully recorded on the CD included. Airs include those by Boiëldieu Delibes Gounod Massenet Offenbach Saint-Saëns and Thomas. With a detailed preface and wide selection of Airs Semellaz's Decouvrir L'OperaFrançais is essential to all aspiring advanced Mezzo-Sopranos and Contraltos.

Poul Ruders' opera Tycho in 3 Acts was premiered May 15 1987 by Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and Kaare Hansen (conductor) at Helsingør Theater in Aarhus Denmark. Libretto in Danish by Henrik Bjelke. Vocal score: WH31457C Synopsis: In 1597 the famous Danish astronomer and astrologist the nobleman Tycho Brahe flees his castle cum observatory Uraniburg on one of the small islands off the Danish coast. The newly coronated King Christian the Fourth has a grudge against Tycho who in 1572 discovered a new star Stella Nova by using his naked eye only; the telescopewasn’t invented yet. This discovery gained Tycho tremendous fame among his contemporaries within the European scientific circles. The now weakened and embittered old man moves together with his wife Christina whom he raped when she was an adolescent and Jeppe the Dwarf his fool-servant whose life Tycho once saved to the plague-infested city of Prague. There at the Benatky Castle Tycho encounters the main reason for his departure from Denmark: the young German mathematician Johannes Kepler the only scientist among his contemporaries Tycho acknowledges - Tycho is in severe need of intelligent challenge. Which he gets and with a disastrous result for himself. The encouraging encounter with Kepler turns into Tycho's scientific and earthly death verdict. Slowly Tycho realizes that his own conception of the Earth as the indisputable axes of the Universe is shattered by Kepler s theory about Earth encircling the stationary Sun. The ancient picture of the Universe collapses Tycho feels deceived by Kepler who leaves the castle shaken by Tycho's wrath. But they meet again and reunite in a Romanza a Due at Tycho’s death bed. The opera hovers above immense sadness and extreme ridicule - the cast is most peculiar indeed - so in many ways 'TYCHO' may be described at the best as a'Tragic Operetta'

King Arthur (Arr. Laurie)-King Arthur was the only one of Purcell's professionally produced operas to have been designed as a semi-opera; the others were all adaptations of earlier plays. Dryden made a real attempt to integrate the music into the drama but since he ascribed to the dramatic conventions of the period which virtually confined music to allegorical or supernatural beings and thier worshippers or servants shepherds and similar characters the main action mostly occurs in the spoken sections and even the two singing characters Philidel and Grimbald speak more than they sing.

A ghost story telling of the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in the Hebrides. This is a mystery story in the form of a chamber opera. The prologue is set as a court of enquiry into the unexplaineddisappearance of the three keepers from a lighthouse. Questions are posed by a solo horn which may sound from among the audience and three officers give answer. Gradually they move from straight testimony into fantasticalimaginings of evil during a 'flashback' to the lighthouse; but then we snap back to the courtroom. In the main act the three singers become the vanished keepers. They have been together for months long enough to be fullyaware of each other's weaknesses; petty bickerings suggest a relationship which is stable but liable to become highly unstable at any moment. They sing songs to reduce the tension Blazes beginning with a rough ballad of streetviolence accompanied by violin and banjo. Sandy's song with cello and out-of-tune upright piano is a thinly disguised description of sexual bliss and Arthur's with brass and clarinet is a tub-thumping hymn. But the songsserve only to resurrect in their minds ghosts from the past and as the fog descends each of the keepers becomes convinced that he is being claimed by the Beast. They prepare to meet its dazzling eyes which become the lights ofthe relief vessel and the three men reappear as officers met at the lighthouse only by an infestation of rats. They leave and at the end the last hours of Blazes Sandy and Arthur begin to play over again.Vocal score withpiano reduction of the instrumental score. Duration c. 1h 25mins.

Libretto. New York's Metropolitan Opera ushers in the new millennium with the world premiere of John Harbison's splendid opera The Great Gatsby with a libretto based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece. Among the highlights ofthe production are the fourteen Gatsby Songs written in the energetic dance style of the 1920s with sparklingly witty lyrics by Murray Horwitz.

Cet ouvrage pratique et instructif contribuera à tout joueur de jazz ou de la vocaliste regarder de la musique avec des ' nouveaux yeux '-' une théorie de la pratique et l'improvisation bookwith une touche humaine. 'Métaphores pour le musicien 'donne des aperçus de presque tous les aspects de jazz musicp, y compris la théorie de l'échelle/chord, stratégies de pratique, qui composent les techniques, la psychologie de la performance et comment créer les Etats d'esprit qui produisent les meilleures improvisations. Les pianistes de jazz graves trouveront des renseignements précieux sur la corde voicings aning, tandis que les novices bénéficieront de nouvelles approches aux échelles et des inversions. Conçu pour tout niveau de joueur, sur n'importe quel instrument, ' Métaphores pour le musicien ' fournit des nombreux exercices tout au long de pour aider le lecteur à transformer ces concepts en musiclity. / Opéra Théorique/Didactique