Literaturoper (; "literature opera"; plural ), a term coined by the German music critic Edgar Istel, describes a genre of opera that emerged during the late 19th century. When an existing play for the legitimate theatre is set to music without major changes and without the intervention of a librettist, a Literaturoper is the result. Although the term is German, it can be applied to any kind of opera, irrespective of style or language. (In that sense it can be regarded as a term rather than a genre as such.)
The former, much broader usage of the term Literaturoper for opera libretti on the basis of dramas, novels and short stories of undoubted literary renown, which was still common until around 1980, has been made obsolete by recent research on the history of the opera libretto. Since opera libretti have relied on subject matter from the history of literature since the very origin of the genre of opera, a broader usage of the term would cover the entire history of opera, regardless of the underlying libretto structure.Albert Gier: Das Libretto. Theorie und Geschichte einer musikoliterarischen Gattung. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1998, . (Second edition: Insel, Frankfurt am Main 2000, )
Current definition According to a seminal publication by Peter Petersen, the term means "a special form of music theater in which the libretto is based on a literary work whose linguistic, semantic and aesthetic structure remains recognizable in the musical-dramatic work as a structural layer."Peter Petersen: Der Terminus "Literaturoper" – eine Begriffsbestimmung. In Archiv für Musikwissenschaft vol. 56, 1999, pp. 52–70.
History The tradition of literaturoper only became established in European opera culture when, with Richard Wagner and the "through-composed dramatic form" he developed, the conventions of verse metrics for the opera libretto had faded. At the same time, the personal union of libretto poet and composer appeared as the new norm of opera production. Especially in the area of the Romance languages, the alliterating verse in Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen was perceived as prose text, since the use of alliteration as basis for the poetry in the Ancient Germanic languages had always been alien the syllable-counting verse systems in the French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese poetic tradition.Jürgen Maehder, Erscheinungsformen des Wagnérisme in der italienischen Oper des Fin de siècle, in: Annegret Fauser/Manuela Schwartz (edd.), Von Wagner zum Wagnérisme. Musik, Literatur, Kunst, Politik, Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 1999, .
Since the production of literaturopern possessed the potential to make the function of the opera librettist redundant, the genre was first able to assert itself in those opera cultures in which professional libretto-writing had not been able to develop a centuries-long tradition (Russia, Germany). The first examples of this dramaturgical process can be found in the history of French and Russian music in the second half of the 19th century.Jürgen Maehder: »Salome« von Oscar Wilde und Richard Strauss ─ Die Entstehungsbedingungen der sinfonischen Literaturoper des Fin de siècle, in: Jürgen Kühnel, Ulrich Müller, Sigrid Schmidt (eds.), Richard Strauss, »Salome«: Stofftraditionen, Text und Musik, Müller-Speiser Anif, Salzburg 2013, pp. 55–107. Early Russian literaturopern include Alexander Dargomyzhsky’s opera The Stone Guest (after Alexander Pushkin) and Modest Mussorgsky’s opera fragment The Marriage and his Boris Godunov (also after Pushkin).Richard Taruskin: Realism as Preached and Practiced – The Russian Opera Dialogue. In: The Musical Quarterly vol. 56, 1970, pp. 431–454; Jürg Stenzl: Heinrich von Kleists Penthesilea in der Vertonung von Ottmar Schoeck. In Günter Schnitzler: Dichtung und Musik – Kaleidoskop ihrer Beziehungen. Klett-Cotta, 1979, p. 224 ff.
In French and Italian opera, which had possessed an established libretto tradition for centuries, the introduction of the literaturoper took place parallel to the discussions about the possibility of writing opera libretti in prose.Hugh Macdonald: The Prose Libretto, In: Cambridge Opera Journal 1, 1989, pp. 155–166. Since the Italian tradition of operatic verse proved to be particularly resistant to the introduction of prose libretti, the first Italian literaturopern were created on the basis of Gabriele d'Annunzio’s verse dramas (Alberto Franchetti, La figlia di Iorio (1906), Pietro Mascagni, Parisina (1913), Riccardo Zandonai, Francesca da Rimini (1914), Ildebrando Pizzetti, Fedra (1915).Jürgen Maehder: The Origins of Italian »Literaturoper« ─ »Guglielmo Ratcliff«, »La figlia di Iorio«, »Parisina« and »Francesca da Rimini«, in: Arthur Groos/Roger Parker (edd.), Reading Opera, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1988, pp. 92–128
The first composers to directly set plays include Charles Gounod,Hugh Macdonald: The Prose Libretto, In: Cambridge Opera Journal 1, 1989, pp. 155–166. Pietro Mascagni, Claude Debussy, Richard Strauss and Alban Berg. After the Second World War, the genre flourished, especially in Germany, and composers often resorted to setting plays from previous centuries or from Greek Antiquity. The production of literary operas continues to this day.
Literaturopern based on plays Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (all based on plays by Lev Mei) The Maid of Pskov (Псковитянка, 1873) The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga (Боярыня Вера Шелога, 1898) The Tsar's Bride (Царская невеста, 1899) Servilia (ервилия, 1902)
Modest Musorgsky The Marriage after Alexander Pushkin's play, 1868 (unfinished) Boris Godunov after Alexander Pushkin's play, 1874 Alexander Dargomyzhsky The Stone Guest (Каменный гость) after Alexander Pushkin's play of the same name, 1872 Charles Gounod: George Dandin, after the comedy George Dandin by Molière, unfinished (?), 1874 Pietro Mascagni: Guglielmo Ratcliff after Heinrich Heine in the Italian translation by Andrea Maffei, 1895 Parisina after Gabriele d’Annunzio, 1913 Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande after Maurice Maeterlinck, 1902 Richard Strauss: Salome after Oscar Wilde, 1905 Elektra after Hugo von Hofmannsthal, 1909 Alberto Franchetti: La figlia di Iorio after Gabriele d’Annunzio, 1906 Nadia Boulanger / Raoul Pugno, La ville morte after the drama La città morta by Gabriele d’Annunzio, composed 1914, first performance 2008 Riccardo Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini after Gabriele d’Annunzio, 1914 Ildebrando Pizzetti: Gigliola after Gabriele d’Annunzio’s drama La fiaccola sotto il moggio (1914, unfinished) Fedra after Gabriele d’Annunzio, 1915 La figlia di Iorio after Gabriele d’Annunzio, 1954 Assassinio nella cattedrale after Thomas Stearns Eliot in der Übersetzung von Alberto Castelli, 1958 Alexander von Zemlinsky: Eine florentinische Tragödie after Oscar Wilde, 1917 Italo Montemezzi: La nave after Gabriele d’Annunzio, 1918 Domenico Alaleona: after the tragedy by Vittorio Alfieri, 1920 Sergei Prokofiev: The Love for Three Oranges after Carlo Gozzi’s fiaba teatrale L'amore delle tre melarance, 1921 Darius Milhaud, Les Euménides after the drama The Eumenides by Aischylos, composed 1917–1922, performed 1949 Paul Hindemith Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen after the drama Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen (1907) by Oskar Kokoschka, 1921 Sancta Susanna after the drama Sancta Susanna (1913) by August Stramm, 1922 The Long Christmas Dinner after the play The Long Christmas Dinner (1931) by Thornton Wilder, 1963 Alban Berg: Wozzeck after Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck, 1925 Lulu after Frank Wedekind’s plays Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora, 1937 Manfred Gurlitt: Wozzeck after Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck, 1926 Soldaten after the drama Die Soldaten (Lenz) by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, 1930 Arthur Honegger Antigone (Honegger) after Jean Cocteau, 1927 Othmar Schoeck: Penthesilea after Heinrich von Kleist’s drama Penthesilea (Kleist) (1808), 1927 Franco Alfano Cyrano de Bergerac after Edmond Rostand, 1936 Bohuslav Martinů Julietta after the play Juliette, ou La clé des songes by Georges Neveux, 1935 Mirandolina after Carlo Goldoni's 1751 comedy La locandiera, 1959. Ariane after the play Le Voyage de Thésée ( 1943) by Georges Neveux, 1961 Francis Poulenc: Les mamelles de Tirésias after Guillaume Apollinaire, 1941 La voix humaine after Jean Cocteau, 1958 Carl Orff: Antigonae after the drama by Sophokles in the German translation by Friedrich Hölderlin (1804), 1949 Oedipus der Tyrann after the drama by Sophokles in the German translation by Friedrich Hölderlin (1804), 1959 Prometheus after the drama by Aischylos, 1968 Werner Egk: Irische Legende after The Countess Cathleen by William Butler Yeats, 1955 Der Revisor after the comedy The Government Inspector (Ревизор) by Nikolai Gogol, 1957 Siebzehn Tage und vier Minuten after the comedy El mayor encanto, amor by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, 1966 Wolfgang Fortner: Bluthochzeit after Bodas de sangre by Federico García Lorca, 1957 In seinem Garten liebt Don Perlimplin Belisa after Amor de don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín by Federico García Lorca, 1962 That Time after the play That Time by Samuel Beckett, 1967 Benjamin Britten: A Midsummer Night's Dream after William Shakespeare, 1960 Hans Werner Henze: Das Wundertheater after El retablo de las maravillas by Miguel de Cervantes, 1949 König Hirsch after the fiaba teatrale Il Re cervo (1762) by Carlo Gozzi, 1956 Der Prinz von Homburg after the drama Prinz Friedrich von Homburg oder die Schlacht bei Fehrbellin by Heinrich von Kleist, 1960 Die Bassariden after the drama Βάκχαι (The Bacchae) by Euripides, 1966 Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Die Soldaten after the drama Die Soldaten (Lenz) by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, 1965 Gottfried von Einem: Dantons Tod after the drama Dantons Tod by Georg Büchner, 1947 Der Besuch der alten Dame after the tragicomedy Der Besuch der alten Dame by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, 1971 Kabale und Liebe after the play Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich Schiller, 1976 Boris Blacher: Romeo und Julia after the tragedy by William Shakespeare, 1950 Preußisches Märchen after the comedy Der Hauptmann von Köpenick by Carl Zuckmayer, 1952 Yvonne, Prinzessin von Burgund after Witold Gombrowicz, 1973 Giselher Klebe: Die Räuber after the tragedy by Friedrich Schiller, 1957 Die Ermordung Cäsars after Julius Caesar (play) by William Shakespeare, 1959 Alkmene after by Heinrich von Kleist, 1961 Figaro lässt sich scheiden after the comedy Figaro lässt sich scheiden by Ödön von Horváth, 1963 Jacobowsky und der Oberst after the comedy by Franz Werfel, 1965 Ein wahrer Held after The Playboy of the Western World by John Millington Synge, 1975 Das Mädchen aus Domrémy after the drama Die Jungfrau von Orléans by Friedrich Schiller, 1976 Der Jüngste Tag after Ödön von Horváth, 1980 Hugo Weisgall: Six Characters in Search of an Author after the drama Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello, 1959 Sylvano Bussotti Lorenzaccio after the drama Lorenzaccio by Alfred de Musset, 1972 Le Racine after the drama Phèdre by Jean Racine, 1980 Fedra after the drama Phèdre by Jean Racine, 1988 Tieste after the drama Thyestes by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 2000 Aribert Reimann: Ein Traumspiel after August Strindberg’s drama Ett drömspel, 1964 Melusine after Yvan Goll, 1970 Lear after William Shakespeare’s drama King Lear, 1978 Die Gespenstersonate after August Strindberg’s drama Spöksonaten, 1983 Troades after the drama The Trojan Women by Euripides in the translation by Franz Werfel, 1985 Das Schloß after Franz Kafka’s novel Das Schloß and its theatre version by Max Brod, 1991 Bernarda Albas Haus after Federico García Lorca’s drama The House of Bernarda Alba, 2000 Medea after the third part of Franz Grillparzer's trilogy The Golden Fleece, 2010 L'Invisible (after Maurice Maeterlinck's L'Intruse, L'Intérieur and La Mort de Tintagiles), 2017 Wolfgang Rihm: Faust und Yorick nach Jean Tardieu, 1977