The Duenna (opera)

The Duenna[1] (La Dueña) is an English/German-language opera in three acts composed by Robert Gerhard to libretto by the composer, after the 1775 comedy The Duenna by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Composed from 1945 to 1947, the opera was premiered on BBC radio in 1949, conducted by Stanford Robinson and was received well. It was revised in 1951 for performance at the ISCM Festival in Wiesbaden, but there the use of popular melodies did not go down well with critics.[2] The opera is in part atonal, following Gerhard's teacher Schoenberg.[3][4]

Later, Gerhard had showed remorse for having infused the music with serial elements.[5]

Performance

It was staged, in English, in 1992 at Teatro Lirico Nacional, Madrid, conducted by Antoni Ros-Marbà and Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona.[1] Shortly after, Opera North staged their own version although it was not recorded.[5]

The Bielefeld Opera, under conductor Geoffrey Moull, premiered the work in 1994.[6]

Roles
Role Voice 1992 Premiere 1996 Recording
Conductor Antoni Ros Marba Antoni Ros Marba
Don Jerome Bass Richard Van Allan Richard Van Allan
Don Ferdinand Baritone Adrian Clarke
Donna Luisa Soprano Susannah Glanville
The Duenna Mezzo-soprano Claire Powell
Don Antonio Tenor Neill Archer
Donna Clara D'almanza Mezzo-soprano Ann Taylor
Don Isaac Baritone Eric Roberts
Father Paul Tenor Paul Wade
Lopez Speaking role Jeremy Peaker
Brethren of Deadly Sin Tenor/high-baritone Stephen Briggs, Bruce Budd
Ladies and Gentlemen of Fashion,

Townspeople, Beggars

 SATB chorus
Gypsy Soprano Denise Mulholland
Don Antonio's servant Speaking role David Owen-Lewis
Donna Luisa's maid Speaking role
Strumpet, Cavalier, Bawd, 2 Beaux,

Friars, Wench, Cardinal and Priests, Lady in a Sedan Chair,

Dancers and Players, Gypsy Children

 Comprimario

Plot

Location: Seville, Spain[1]

Date: 18th century

Time: Between dawn and evening

Act 1

Merchant Don Jerome plans to marry his daughter Luisa to affluent Portuguese Jew Don Isaac, driving away her true love Don Antonio due to his meagre financial state. Donna Clara, the love of Luisa’s brother Ferdinand, has fled her home to escape her stepmother. Luisa conspires with her Duenna to fool her father. They trade clothes and push her father to get rid of the Duenna and imprison Luisa, thereby allowing the real Luisa to search for Ferdinand, allowing Duenna to capture Isaac as her lover.

Act 2

Luisa meets the runaway Clara on her search. She reaches out to Isaac for help by pretending to be Clara who is now in love with Antonio. Isaac agrees to bring Antonio to her. His relationship with the masked Luisa improves when she says that marriage is only possible if they elope. The real Luisa, now in the home of Isaac, meets Antonio and becomes ecstatic when he agrees to be in a relationship with her.

Act 3

Ferdinand believes that Antonio is giving up on Clara but soon both couples are happily married. All the plots are revealed before the duped Don Jerome.

Recording
  • La Dueña (The Duenna) (Chandos, 2013, CHAN9520-21)[7]

References
  1. "Roberto Gerhard Duenna - Opera". www.boosey.com. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  2. William Lacey, ‘The vocal music of Roberto Gerhard 1917-1947’, unpub. M.Mus. Diss. King’s College, Cambridge, 25 1996. p. 25. "[I]t was dismissed by almost everybody on the grounds of having tunes".
  3. Gerhard The Duenna - Review Gramophone "The music, Spanish no longer – indeed atonal – darkens under this, refuses to allow us to laugh at Jerome's “We were never fond enough to quarrel”, "
  4. Amanda Holden The New Penguin Opera Guide 2001 p293 "This is particularly true of his only opera, The Duenna."
  5. Oliver, Michael. "Gerhard: The Duenna".
  6. Theater in Bielefeld 1975–1998, Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld, Redaktion Heidi Wiese, Heiner Bruns, Alexander Gruber, Fritz Stockmeier 1998.
  7. "Gerhard: La Dueña (The Duenna)". Presto Music. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
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