Alfred
Music by Antonín Dvořák · libretto by Theodor Körner · premiered 1938
Alfred (B. 16) is a heroic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. It was Dvořák's first opera and the only one he composed to a German text. The libretto, by Carl Theodor Körner, was set by Friedrich von Flotow (as Alfred der Große), based on the story of the English king Alfred the Great. Composed in 1870, Alfred was not performed during Dvořák's lifetime. The opera premiered (in Czech translation) at the City Theatre, Olomouc on 10 December 1938. The opera was performed for the first time with the original German libretto on 17 September 2014, in Prague. The overture (Tragic Overture) is well known and often performed separately.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Alfred (Dvořák)", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Antonín Leopold Dvořák (8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic era nationalist example of his predecessor Bedřich Smetana. Dvořák's style has been described as "the fullest recreation of a national idiom with that of the symphonic tradition, absorbing folk influences and finding effective ways of using them", and Dvořák has been described as "arguably the most versatile... composer of his time". Dvořák displayed his musical gifts at an early age, being a talented violin student. The first public performances of his works were in Prague in 1872 and, with…
Text from the Wikipedia article "Antonín Dvořák", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other Operas by Antonín Dvořák
- King and Charcoal Burner
- Dimitrij (1882)
- Armida (1904)