A storm is breaking at Welsh National Opera as our new Autumn Season heads out on tour with an array of fantastic new opera productions. In a brief moment of calm before the storm of our 2025 Season opens, here are some of our favourite tempestuous moments in opera across the centuries.
Britten’s Peter Grimes (1945)
In a 18th century fishing village, a storm is brewing and Peter Grimes, a feared and deeply mistrusted local fisherman, refuses to take cover in the local pub with his fellow villagers. The tempest that breaks is ferocious, and an orchestral outpouring wails and screams out into the abyss, with the timpani roaring and the brass thundering.
The Storm orchestral interlude is famous as one of the many standout moments in Benjamin Britten’s 1945 opera Peter Grimes, a production that took the world by storm soon after the Second World War and was credited for revitalising British opera.
Rossini’s William Tell (1829)
Perhaps there’s no operatic storm more famous than that of the one in Rossini’s final opera, William Tell. Based on the Swiss folk legend and Friedrich Schiller’s play of the same name, Rossini’s opera was first performed at the Paris Opéra in 1829. The storm comes from the second part of the opera’s overture; from a relative calm there’s a sudden swelling of a dangerous storm, heralded by the entrance of the brass and bass drum.
Thomas Adès’s The Tempest (2004)
The Tempest was an early highlight in the career of contemporary British composer Thomas Adès. First performed at London’s Royal Opera House in 2004 when he was only 33 years old, Adès’s opera is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s tempestuous play that sees magic, betrayal and revenge play out on a remote island. Its opening scene takes place in the middle of a storm, conjured by the sorcerer Prospero, shipwrecking a nearby sailing vessel.
Wagner’s Die Walküre (1870)
Another opera to open in the middle of a storm is Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), the second of his four operas that make up his epic Ring cycle. The Prelude to Act I sets the scene: fleeing from his enemies, Siegmund finds shelter in an unfamiliar dwelling in the home of his sister, Sieglinde. The cellos and double basses come into their own in this orchestral introduction; the sudden swells of their jagged ascending and descending phrases paint a picture of a perilous storm befitting the Norse gods, before the danger is intensified further with the entrance of the horns and woodwinds.
Verdi’s Rigoletto(1851)
Italian opera great Verdi loved composing for a good storm in his opera and included them in some of his greatest works, such as the opening scene Otello and the Witches’ Chorus in Macbeth.
In Rigoletto, a storm provides an ominous backdrop to the plot’s sinister developments that has led to Gilda, Rigoletto’s daughter, preparing to sacrifice her life for her beloved Duke. The tremolo of the strings, male chorus’s a bocca chiusa ‘oooh’ sounds of the wind, and dramatic thunderclaps all contribute to the eerie foreshadowing of Gilda’s imminent demise.
Catch WNO’s new productions of Rigoletto from 21 September 2024 and Peter Grimes from 5 April 2025, available to book now. Will you weather the storm with us?
