Composer of the month
401DutchOperas Anthology I
The first part of the 401DutchOperas Anthology covers the period from Sweelinck (1595) to the French Period 1814. The book will be published in 2023 by the Dato Fund in collaboration with the Netherlands Music Institute Foundation. Included are opera composers such as Vondel/Padbrué, Huygens and the Amsterdam Liedschool composers 1687-1715: Hacquart/Buysero, Petersen, Anders and Schenck. In the first half of the 18th century also Van Blankenburg, De Fesch and Zingoni. From the period of Stadtholder William V: Jacob Jan van Wassenaer Obdam, Josina van Boetzelaer, Gottfried van Swieten, Belle van Zuylen, Colizzi, JMeissner, Just, the Mulligen brothers, and Mozart in The Hague. In the French Period: Bartholomeus Ruloffs, Jean des Communes and Ludwig van Beethoven, of whom the story is examined that he was born in Zutphen. A biographical sketch is given for each composer, followed by the plot summaries of those operas by his or her hand of which music survived. These plots are followed by a discussion of the work and a discography. The CDs in and around the book contain highlights from almost all the works discussed.
Opera of the month
BEETHOVEN/NIEUWENHUIZEN: VESTAS FEUER
In June 2022, 401 Dutch Operas presented a try-out (with reduced orchestra) of the torso of Beethoven's first opera, Vestas Feuer, as reconstructed by Cees Nieuwenhuizen. Vestas Feuer was composed in 1803 on a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, librettist of Die Zauberflöte! It is an exciting adventure story full of miraculous escapes and with outstanding music. Including two world premieres of completely unknown Beethoven opera arias that Nieuwenhuizen reconstructed for us from the never before examined sketches for scenes 2 to 8. We are now looking into possibilities to have a staged world-premiere with full orchestra.
Karel Miry: Bouchard d'Avesnes
MIRY: BOUCHARD D'AVESNES (1864)
On March 2, 2014, Karel Miry's legendary Flemish grand opéra Bouchard d'Avesnes wasperformed in Koninklijk Muziekconsevatorium Gent, Belgium. Lyrica Gent braught an impressive ensemble with Placido Domingo adept tenor Daniel Astorga Fonseca, Jolien de Gendt, Paul Claus and many others. Now, in April 2015, we hope to soon be able to finally offer excerpts of this stunning opera as video/audio downloads. Bouchard d'Avesnes will also feature in our first ever 401DutchOperas concert of April 26, 2015, in Hoog-Keppel.
Karel Miry
KAREL MIRY
Flemish composer Karel Miry (1823-1889) played a crucial role in the rise of Flemish music. Except the Flemish hymn, he also composed a number of grand opéras operas, among them such legendary titles as Charles Quint en Bouchard d'Avesnes. Charles Quint was performed by Lyrica Gent in 2013. By 2014 they presented Bouchard d'Avesnes , which presented Miry at the peak of his art. Both operas will have a part in the first even 401DutchOperas live concert of April 26, 2015, in Hoog_keppel. In addition we will peform an excerpt of The poet and his Ideal. Miry's biography:
WAGENAAR: DE SCHIPBREUK
On February 8 and 9, 2014, Johan Wagenaar's De Schipbreuk was performed in Amsterdam, with Francis van Broekhuizen, Mark Omvlee, and Sinan Vural. We filmed the performance and published the entire performance on the pages devoted to this delightful little opera.
Monique Krüs
Floris van Bergeijk - Romeo en Julia
Romeo en Julia, het paradijs ligt onder de voeten van je moeder
(de)Composer: Floris van Bergeijk naar Berlioz, Bellini, Gounod, Rota, Bernstein, Tchaikovsky en Prokofjev.
Performance schedule: 31 juli (wereldpremière), 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10 , 11 augustus 2013
Donna Giovanna.
Meer hier.
RICHARD HAGEMAN
Richard Hageman
Composer of the Month is Richard Hageman, who had an amazing American career as a composer of songs and film music. he also wrote an opera, Caponsacchi. Hageman was arguably the most successful Dutch composer since Sweelinck, and yet... completely forgotten in The Netherlands. Find out why in his full English language biography.
Caponsacchi
Richard Hageman's opera Caponsacchi met with great success when premiered in Weimar, 1934. A broadcast of a German performance was broadcast in the USA, where the opera was finally premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1937. It was and is the only opera by a Dutch composer ever to be performed there.
Monique Krüs: Peter De Grote
August 2, 3, 2013
August 22, 2013
Hermitage Amsterdam
Hans Kox: Dorian GrayFALSTAFF RIVISTO
Opera Spanga and the Rosa ensemble give Verdi's opera a short hunderd and thirty years later a complete update: Falstaff becomes Falstaff Rivisto. Rosa's composers 'decomposed' Verdi's masterpiece. Acoustic sounds are mixed with electronics, The opera in set against a stage of four centuries of art history.
