10 Facts about WNO’s 2023/2024 Season
Welsh National Opera’s 2023/2024 Season has recently been announced and we couldn’t be more thrilled to perform operas both brand new and old-time favourites. Let’s take a look at some fun facts about each of the shows and delve further into the unique worlds of each opera.
- La traviata’s first performance in 1853 was a great disaster largely owing to the casting of Violetta. Poor Fanny Salvini-Donatelli was the subject of laughter and mockery as many thought she was unsuitable for the role.
- At the beginning of the opera, you’ll hear one of the world’s most famous brindisi (drinking songs) – Libiamo Ne’ Lieti Calce (Let’s Drink from the Joyful Cups) – which is recognisable to audiences far and wide.
- Originally composed in 2003, Ainadamar is the first ever opera performed by WNO in Spanish. Its title is the Spanish pronunciation of the Arabic name ‘Ayn al-Dum’, which means ‘The Fountain of Tears’. The Fuente Grande (Great Fountain) is thought to be the location where the poet and playwright Federico García Lorca was executed by Nationalist militia in August 1936.
- Federico García Lorca and his life, the main subject of the opera, is performed by a woman, making it a ‘trouser role’ – harking back to a common 18th-century practice where women would sing male roles.
- Composed during the last stages of Benjamin Britten’s life, the main character, Gustav von Aschenbach, was written for his partner, Sir Peter Pears.
- During the time of the opera’s first performance in Venice in 1973, there was an outbreak of cholera in Italy (such as the opera describes), and many in the audience feared that it could spread to Venice.
- The fiancé swapping that occurs in the original opera is an age-old plot device, used in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.
- The opera was a huge hit when it was first performed in Vienna in 1790, however its run of performances was halted after only 5 shows – the Emperor Joseph II’s death forced the cancellation of all theatre performances.
- Verdi’s Il trittico is not one, not two, but three small operas: Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi, all linked together by the cover-up of a death in each one.
- During its first performance at The Metropolitan Opera, New York, Florence Easton was encouraged to repeat Lauretta’s aria O mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicchi, marking it as a classic showpiece for sopranos around the world.
Tickets to our 2023/2024 Season are on sale from Wednesday 1 March, with priority booking available for WNO Friends available now.
Don’t miss out – come and enjoy some WNODERFUL moments with us at Welsh National Opera.
