Berwald: Stage Works

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Explore the complete catalog of Stage compositions by Berwald. This curated list includes composition years, historical Wikipedia context, and interactive audio to add specific tracks directly to your listening queue.

Title Year Actions
Estrella de Soria

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.

The Queen of Golconda

Drottningen av Golconda (The Queen of Golconda) is a three-act romantic opera by Franz Berwald, begun in 1863. The libretto was adapted by the composer from one by Jean-Baptiste-Charles Vial and Edmond de Favières, Aline, reine de Golconde (1803), intended for Henri-Montan Berton; this had been based on another opera of the same name (1766) by Michel-Jean Sedaine for Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny. Berwald may have known the Berton opera from when he played in the opera orchestra in Stockholm. Boieldieu's 1804 opera of the same name and Donizetti's Alina, regina di Golconda (1828) are based on the same material.