Don Quixote (opera)
Don Quixote, Op. 50 is an opera in three acts by Wilhelm Kienzl. The libretto, written by the composer, is based on the novel by Miguel de Cervantes.
Composition history
Kienzl composed the opera in 1896, completing the full score on 9 October 1897, the 350th birthday of Cervantes. He dedicated the opera to "den Manen des grossen Cervantes". The score was published by Musikverlages Bote & G. Bock Berlin GmbH, now part of Boosey & Hawkes.Performance history
The opera was first performed at the Neues Königliches Opernhaus in Berlinon 18 November 1898 with Carl Muck conducting. It was not favourably received by the audience, nor by the Berlin press, and only four more performances followed. The fifth performance was the last fully staged one of the complete unabbreviated work, which takes over three hours. Kienzl abbreviated the work for a performance the same year at the Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague; again the reception was divided. Although a production run in Graz in 1905 met with greater success, the opera was not staged again for almost thirty years. A new abbreviated version was premiered in Graz on 1 May 1934, and then at the Vienna State Opera on 22 November 1936.
The only production in a non-German speaking country was in Moscow in 1911.
The opera was revived in a concert performance conducted by Gustav Kuhn at the Konzerthaus Berlin on 22 March 1998.
Instrumentation
The orchestral score requires:- 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon;
- 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba;
- timpani, percussion, 2 harps;
- strings.