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Opera in the Repertoire · Romantic

Estrella de Soria

Music by Franz Berwald · libretto by Otto Prechtler · premiered 1862

Estrella de Soria is a three-act opera by Franz Berwald, to a libretto by Otto Prechtler translated into Swedish by Ernst Wallmark. It was first performed at the Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm on 9 April 1862 and had five performances in that run. It has never entered the repertory, although it was revived in Stockholm in 1898 and 1946. The overture, which makes use of Estrella’s first act aria, has occasionally been recorded, and a CD of extended excerpts was released by Musica Sveciae in 1994. An aria for Estrella was the first recording by Birgit Nilsson in 1947 (and has been since re-issued). A full score of the 1862 edition was published as Volume 17a-b of the complete Bärenreiter edition.

Text from the Wikipedia article "Estrella de Soria", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the Composer

Franz Adolf Berwald (23 July 1796 – 3 April 1868) was a Swedish Romantic composer and violinist. He made his living as an orthopedist and later as the manager of a saw mill and glass factory, and became more appreciated as a composer after his death than he had been in his lifetime. Prominent in his oeuvre are several operas, much chamber music and four symphonies.

Text from the Wikipedia article "Franz Berwald", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Other Operas by Franz Berwald