Jessonda is a grand opera

Grand Opera

Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...

 (Grosse Oper) in German by Louis Spohr

Louis Spohr

Louis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludewig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name. Described by Dorothy Mayer as "The Forgotten Master", Spohr was once as famous as Beethoven. As a violinist, his virtuoso playing was admired by Queen Victoria...

, written in 1822. The German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

  libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 was written by Eduard Gehe.

Spohr, who wrote the work in 1822, had been newly appointed Hofkapellmeister in Kassel

Kassel

Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...

. He had reservations about Weber

Carl Maria von Weber

Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....

's recently performed Der Freischütz

Der Freischütz

Der Freischütz is an opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind. It premiered on 18 June 1821 at the Schauspielhaus Berlin...

, and sought a subject that was poetic and uncomplicated, avoiding, in his setting, any spoken dialogue. He was opposed to the use of speech on mundane subjects in an operatic context. Ballets and spectacle were provided in set pieces that might also attract ordinary theatre-goers, in a German form of grand opera.

Performance history

The first performance was at the Kurfürstliches Hoftheater in Kassel on 28 July 1823

1823 in music

- Events :*Franz Liszt leaves Vienna for Paris.*Gioachino Rossini arrives in London and is presented to King George IV.*Hector Berlioz writes to the journal Le Corsaire defending Gaspare Spontini's opera La Vestale...

 under the direction of the composer.

This opera was performed regularly up to about 1860. While the overture

Overture

Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...

 to Jessonda may be heard today in concert performance, the opera itself no longer holds the place it once did in the operatic repertoire.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast 28 July 1823 (Conductor: Louis Spohr)
Jessonda, widow of a Rajah	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...	Katinka Braun / Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient
Amazili, her sister	soprano	Sophie Roland/Beltheim
Nadori, a young Brahmin	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...	Samuel Friedrich Gerstäcker
Pedro Lopez, Portuguese colonel	tenor	Johann Gottfried Bergmann
Tristan d'Acunha, Portuguese general	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Franz Hauser/Keller
Dandau, chief Brahmin	bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...	Eduard Berthold /€Friedrich Sebastian Mayer
Indian officer	tenor	Johann Ludwig Tourny
First dancer	soprano
Second dancer	soprano

Synopsis

In this opera the heroine, Jessonda, widow of the Rajah, must be burned to death on his funeral pyre. Before her marriage she had been in love with a Portuguese general. A young Brahmin, Nadori, is sent from the Hindu temple to bring Jessonda the order for her death, as dictated by their customs. However, he falls in love with her sister, Amazili.

The Portuguese forces that are camped outside the city are led by Tristan d'Acunha, who has sworn that Indian customs will be preserved. Nadori has vowed to save Jessonda and Tristan now discovers that she is his long lost love. The Indian breach of the truce allows Tristan to act and Jessonda is rescued in the nick of time, before Dandau, the chief Brahmin, can carry out the intended sacrifice.