Asrael is a leggenda or opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in four acts by composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 Alberto Franchetti

Alberto Franchetti

Alberto Franchetti was an Italian opera composer.-Biography:Alberto Franchetti was born in Turin, a Jewish nobleman of independent means. He studied first in Venice, then in Dresden under Felix Draeseke, and finally at the Munich Conservatory under Josef Rheinberger. His first major success...

 and librettist Ferdinando Fontana

Ferdinando Fontana

Ferdinando Fontana was an Italian journalist, dramatist, and poet. He is best known today for having written the libretti of the first two operas by Giacomo Puccini – Le Villi and Edgar.-Biography:...

. The plot, based on German fairy tale and folklore, displays the conflict between the spirit of evil and the spirit of Christian love, represented by Asrael and Nefta respectively. The work is Franchetti's first opera and displays strong influences of Meyerbeer and Wagner, mixed with late 19th century Italian idioms. The opera premiered at the Teatro Municipale di Reggio

Teatro Municipale di Reggio

The Teatro Municipale is a theatre in Reggio Emilia, Northern Italy. Following the destruction by fire of the 1741 Teatro Cittadella in April 1851, the new theatre was designed by the architect Cesare Costa and connstructed in the neoclassic style between 1852 and 1857...

 on February 11, 1888. The opera made its United States debut at the Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

 on November 26, 1890 with Andreas Dippel

Andreas Dippel

Andreas Dippel was a German-born operatic tenor and impressario who from 1908 to 1910 was the joint manager of the New York Metropolitan Opera.-Biography:...

 in the title role.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 11 February 1888 (Conductor:)
Nefta/Suor Clotilde	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Virginia Damerini
Asrael	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Ladislao Mierzwinski
Loretta	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Giulia Novelli Giulia Novelli Giulia Novelli was an Italian operatic mezzo-soprano. She was married to the famous Spanish dramatic tenor Francisco Viñas ....
Lucifero/re di Brabante	bass	Lodovico Contini
Liboria	soprano	Maria Pia
Contadino	bass	Francesco Carmignani
Araldo	bass	Ulisse Peroni