Since our formation, Welsh National Opera has treated audiences to some of the most memorable stories of our time, many of which include fairy tales. From dragons and big bad wolves to imprisoned princesses and wicked witches, let’s journey back to Once Upon a Time to explore some of opera’s best-loved fairy tales that have graced the WNO stage…
Rossini’s opera La Cenerentola was first performed in Rome in 1817. Based on the classic fairy tale of Cinderella, a young, impoverished woman who reverses her fortunes by meeting and marrying a charming prince, Rossini’s version replaces the wicked stepmother for a stepfather and the fairy godmother for the prince’s tutor. It is also one of the few operas of the period with a leading role for a mezzo-soprano.
Immortalised in the Brothers Grimm’s Fairy Tale collection, the story of the siblings Hansel and Gretel was used as the basis for Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera of the same name, first performed in Weimar under the baton of Richard Strauss in 1893. When Hansel and Gretel are abandoned in a forest, they are enticed into the gingerbread home of a witch who traps them inside and plans to eat them. However, Gretel manages to push the witch into her own oven, and they escape with the witch’s treasure.
Written by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, Bluebeard’s Castle (first performed in 1918) is based on the French fairy tale Le Barbe bleue. The tale sees Bluebeard’s new bride, Judith, move into his castle where seven locked doors conceal his secrets. Handed the keys to each door, Judith opens them in turn revealing hidden horrors and joys, before being locked behind the final door where Bluebeard’s ex-wives are trapped. For soprano and baritone, the one-act opera is only around an hour in length and composed in the Modernist style of the early 20th century.
The Czech opera The Cunning Little Vixen was referred to by its composer Leoš Janáček as ‘a pantomime’, ‘a fable’ and an ‘opera-idyll’. First performed in 1924 in Brno, it was based on the serialised story Liška Bystrouška and plays out on stage in the form of a fairy tale. Its playful musical score brings to life the animal characters of the forest, following the journey of Sharp-Ears the Vixen in her dealings with humans and fellow wildlife creatures. It was among one of Janáček’s favourite of his compositions, so loved that at his request the opera’s final scene was performed at his funeral in 1928.
Jonathan Willcocks’s 2015 childrens’ opera is based on the legendary German fairy tale, The Pied Piper of Hamelin. The townspeople of Hamelin are suffering from an infestation of rats, however, luckily a Piper in bright clothing is able to lure away the rodents from the town with his music. When the Mayor refuses to pay the Piper for his work, he vows to take revenge and bewitches the local village children with his piping, taking them away into a mountain cave from which they are never seen again. Certainly in this tale, no one lives happily ever after…
Don’t miss the WNO Youth Opera David Seligman’s performance of The Pied Piper of Hamelin and The Crab That Played With The Sea, at Wales Millennium Centre’s Weston Studio on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 May.