Irmelin
Music by Frederick Delius · premiered 1953
Irmelin is an opera in three acts with music by Frederick Delius. Composed between 1890 and 1892, it was his first opera, and was not premiered until 1953, nearly twenty years after his death. The libretto was by the composer, and weaves together folk-lore stories. In 1931 Delius made a new Irmelin prelude, using themes from the opera, and this has entered the concert and recording repertoire. In the opera the heroine, Princess Irmelin, sits in her castle waiting for the dream lover promised to her by voices in the air. She infuriates her father the King by rejecting all her knightly suitors. Meanwhile, Nils, a prince enslaved as a swineherd by the robber chief Rolf, breaks free and finds his way to Irmelin just after her enforced betrothal to one of the suitors. The opera ends with the lovers disappearing together into the forest.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Irmelin", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius (born Fritz Theodor Albert Delius; ; 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934) was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce. He was sent to Florida in the United States in 1884 to manage an orange plantation. He soon neglected his managerial duties, and in 1886 returned to Europe. Having been influenced by African-American music during his short stay in Florida, he began composing. After a brief period of formal musical study in Germany beginning in 1886, he embarked on a full-time career as a composer in Paris and then in nearby Grez-sur-Loing, where he and his…
Text from the Wikipedia article "Frederick Delius", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.