List of Mexican operas
Encyclopedia
This is a list of operas by Mexican
composers. Many, but not all, of them premiered in Mexico. Amongst the operas which had their first performances abroad are Melesio Morales' Ildegonda (Italy, 1868), Daniel Catán
's Florencia en el Amazonas
(USA, 1996), and Julio Estrada
's Murmullos del páramo (Spain, 2006). Many of the operas listed have libretto
s in Spanish
, the official language of Mexico. However, the practice of using French or Italian librettos was common in 19th and early 20th century Mexico when much of the opera in that country was performed by visiting troupes largely composed of European singers unaccustomed to singing in Spanish. Both Gustavo Campa's Le roi poete and Ricardo Castro Herrera's La légende de Rudel had French librettos, while Catalina de Guisa by Cenobio Paniagua
and several other notable operas of this period had Italian librettos. Although the vast majority of later Mexican operas have Spanish librettos, there have been 20th century works set to English texts, most notably The visitors
by Carlos Chávez
with a libretto by the American poet Chester Kallman
.
The first opera by a Mexican-born composer was Manuel de Zumaya
's La Parténope, performed in 1711 before a private audience in the Viceroy's Palace in Mexico City
. However, the first Mexican composer to have his operas publicly staged was Manuel Arenzana, the maestro de capilla
at Puebla Cathedral from 1792 to 1821. He is known to have written at least two works performed during the 1805/1806 season at the Teatro Coliseo in Mexico City — El extrangero and Los dos ribales en amore. Both were short comic pieces. The first Mexican opera seria
was Paniagua's Catalina de Guisa (composed in 1845 and premiered in 1859). With its story about the Huguenot
s in France and an Italian libretto by Felice Romani
, contemporary critics noted that the only thing Mexican about it was the composer. Although the traditions of European opera and especially Italian opera
had initially dominated the Mexican music conservatories and strongly influenced native opera composers (in both style and subject matter), elements of Mexican nationalism had already appeared by the latter part of the 19th century with operas such as Aniceto Ortega del Villar's 1871 Guatimotzin
, a romanticised account of the defense of Mexico by its last Aztec
ruler, Cuauhtémoc
. Later works such as Miguel Bernal Jiménez
's 1941 Tata Vasco
(based on the life of Vasco de Quiroga
, the first bishop
of Michoacán
) incorporated native melodies into the score.
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
composers. Many, but not all, of them premiered in Mexico. Amongst the operas which had their first performances abroad are Melesio Morales' Ildegonda (Italy, 1868), Daniel Catán
Daniel Catán
Daniel Catán was a Mexican composer of Russian Sephardic Jewish descent known particularly for his operas and his creative friendship with the tenor Plácido Domingo.-Career:...
's Florencia en el Amazonas
Florencia en el Amazonas
Florencia en el Amazonas is an opera in two acts composed by Daniel Catán. It contains elements of magical realism in the style of Gabriel García Márquez and uses a libretto by Marcela Fuentes-Berain, one of his pupils...
(USA, 1996), and Julio Estrada
Julio Estrada
Julio Estrada Velasco was born in Mexico City, April 10, 1943. His family was exiled from Spain in 1941. He is a composer, theoretician, historian, pedagogue, and interpreter.-Life:...
's Murmullos del páramo (Spain, 2006). Many of the operas listed have 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...
s in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, the official language of Mexico. However, the practice of using French or Italian librettos was common in 19th and early 20th century Mexico when much of the opera in that country was performed by visiting troupes largely composed of European singers unaccustomed to singing in Spanish. Both Gustavo Campa's Le roi poete and Ricardo Castro Herrera's La légende de Rudel had French librettos, while Catalina de Guisa by Cenobio Paniagua
Cenobio Paniagua
Cenobio Paniagua y Vásques was a Mexican composer.Paniagua completed his studies in violin and became the Second Conductor of the Cathedral Orchestra of Mexico City. He founded a music academy in the city...
and several other notable operas of this period had Italian librettos. Although the vast majority of later Mexican operas have Spanish librettos, there have been 20th century works set to English texts, most notably The visitors
The Visitors (opera)
The Visitors is an opera in three acts and a prologue composed by Carlos Chávez to an English libretto by the American poet Chester Kallman. The work was Chávez's only opera. Its first version, with the title Panfilo and Lauretta, premiered in New York City in 1957...
by Carlos Chávez
Carlos Chávez
Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his Symphony No...
with a libretto by the American poet Chester Kallman
Chester Kallman
Chester Simon Kallman was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with W. H. Auden and Igor Stravinsky.-Life:...
.
The first opera by a Mexican-born composer was Manuel de Zumaya
Manuel de Zumaya
Manuel de Zumaya or Manuel de Sumaya was perhaps the most famous Mexican composer of the colonial period of New Spain. His music was the culmination of the Baroque style in the New World; of Spanish, French, Dutch, British, and Portuguese colonial composers, none stand out as much as Zumaya did...
's La Parténope, performed in 1711 before a private audience in the Viceroy's Palace in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. However, the first Mexican composer to have his operas publicly staged was Manuel Arenzana, the maestro de capilla
Kapellmeister
Kapellmeister is a German word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister . The words Kapelle and Meister derive from the Latin: capella and magister...
at Puebla Cathedral from 1792 to 1821. He is known to have written at least two works performed during the 1805/1806 season at the Teatro Coliseo in Mexico City — El extrangero and Los dos ribales en amore. Both were short comic pieces. The first Mexican opera seria
Opera seria
Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to c. 1770...
was Paniagua's Catalina de Guisa (composed in 1845 and premiered in 1859). With its story about the Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
s in France and an Italian libretto by Felice Romani
Felice Romani
Felice Romani was an Italian poet and scholar of literature and mythology who wrote many librettos for the opera composers Donizetti and Bellini. Romani was considered the finest Italian librettist between Metastasio and Boito.-Biography:Born Giuseppe Felice Romani to a bourgeois family in Genoa,...
, contemporary critics noted that the only thing Mexican about it was the composer. Although the traditions of European opera and especially Italian opera
Italian opera
Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous operas in Italian were written by foreign composers,...
had initially dominated the Mexican music conservatories and strongly influenced native opera composers (in both style and subject matter), elements of Mexican nationalism had already appeared by the latter part of the 19th century with operas such as Aniceto Ortega del Villar's 1871 Guatimotzin
Guatimotzin
Guatimotzin is an opera in one act and nine scenes composed by Aniceto Ortega del Villar to a libretto in Spanish by José Tomás de Cuéllar. It premiered on 13 September 1871 at the Gran Teatro Nacional in Mexico City. Described as an episodio musical , its plot is based on the defense of Mexico by...
, a romanticised account of the defense of Mexico by its last Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
ruler, Cuauhtémoc
Cuauhtémoc
Cuauhtémoc was the Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521...
. Later works such as Miguel Bernal Jiménez
Miguel Bernal Jiménez
Miguel Bernal Jiménez was a Mexican composer, organist, pedagogist and musicologist.He is widely regarded as the best representative of 20th century Mexican religious music, in addition to his important contributions to the Mexican nationalist music movement...
's 1941 Tata Vasco
Tata Vasco (opera)
Tata Vasco is an opera in five scenes composed by Miguel Bernal Jiménez to a Spanish libretto with nationalistic and devoutly Roman Catholic themes by the Mexican priest and poet, Manuel Muñoz. It premiered in Pátzcuaro, Mexico on 15 February 1941. The opera is based on the life of Vasco de...
(based on the life of Vasco de Quiroga
Vasco de Quiroga
Vasco de Quiroga was the first bishop of Michoacán, Mexico and one of the judges in the second Audiencia that governed New Spain from January 10, 1531 to April 16, 1535....
, the first bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Michoacán
Michoacán
Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...
) incorporated native melodies into the score.
List
18th century
- La Parténope by Manuel de Sumaya – premiered 1711, Viceregal Palace, Mexico CityMexico CityMexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
(music lost)
19th century
- El extrangero by Manuel Arenzana – premiered 1805/1806 season, Teatro Coliseo, Mexico City (music and libretto lost)
- Los dos ribales en amore by Manuel Arenzana – premiered 1805/1806 season, Teatro Coliseo, Mexico City (music and libretto lost)
- Leonor by Luis Baca (1826–1855) – never staged
- Giovanna di Castiglia by Luis Baca – never staged
- Catalina de Guisa by Cenobio PaniaguaCenobio PaniaguaCenobio Paniagua y Vásques was a Mexican composer.Paniagua completed his studies in violin and became the Second Conductor of the Cathedral Orchestra of Mexico City. He founded a music academy in the city...
(1821–1882) – premiered 1859, Gran Teatro Nacional, Mexico City - Pietro d’Abano by Cenobio Paniagua – premiered 1863, Gran Teatro Nacional, Mexico City
- Ildegonda by Melesio Morales – premiered 1868, Teatro Pagliano, FlorenceFlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
- GuatimotzinGuatimotzinGuatimotzin is an opera in one act and nine scenes composed by Aniceto Ortega del Villar to a libretto in Spanish by José Tomás de Cuéllar. It premiered on 13 September 1871 at the Gran Teatro Nacional in Mexico City. Described as an episodio musical , its plot is based on the defense of Mexico by...
by Aniceto Ortega del Villar (1823–1875) – premiered 1871, Gran Teatro Nacional, Mexico City - JunoJuno- Astronomy and space exploration :* 3 Juno, an asteroid** Juno clump, a probable asteroid family in the vicinity of 3 Juno* Juno , a NASA mission to Jupiter* Juno I, a satellite launch vehicle* Project Juno, a private British space programme...
by Rafael J. Tello (1872–1947) – premiered 1896, Mexico City
20th century
- Atzimba by Ricardo Castro Herrera (1864–1907) – premiered 1900, Teatro Renacimiento, Mexico City)
- Le roi poete by Gustavo E. Campa (1863–1934) – premiered 1901, Teatro Principal, Mexico City
- La légende de Rudel by Ricardo Castro Herrera – premiered 1906, Teatro Arbeu, Mexico City
- Tata VascoTata Vasco (opera)Tata Vasco is an opera in five scenes composed by Miguel Bernal Jiménez to a Spanish libretto with nationalistic and devoutly Roman Catholic themes by the Mexican priest and poet, Manuel Muñoz. It premiered in Pátzcuaro, Mexico on 15 February 1941. The opera is based on the life of Vasco de...
by Miguel Bernal JiménezMiguel Bernal JiménezMiguel Bernal Jiménez was a Mexican composer, organist, pedagogist and musicologist.He is widely regarded as the best representative of 20th century Mexican religious music, in addition to his important contributions to the Mexican nationalist music movement...
– premiered 1941, Pátzcuaro, MexicoPátzcuaroPátzcuaro is a large town and municipality located in the state of Michoacán. The town was founded sometime in the 1320s, at first becoming the capital of the Tarascan state and later its ceremonial center... - La mulata de Córdoba by José Pablo MoncayoJosé Pablo MoncayoJosé Pablo Moncayo García was a Mexican pianist, percussionist, music teacher, composer and conductor. "As composer, José Pablo Moncayo represents one of the most important legacies of the Mexican nationalism in art music, after Silvestre Revueltas and Carlos Chávez." He produced some of the...
– premiered 1948, Palacio de Bellas ArtesPalacio de Bellas ArtesThe Palacio de Bellas Artes is the most important cultural center in Mexico City as well as the rest of the country of Mexico...
, Mexico City) - La encrucijada by Manuel EnríquezManuel EnríquezManuel Enríquez was a Mexican composer and violinist....
(unfinished opera in one act to a libretto by Guillermo SchmidhuberGuillermo SchmidhuberGuillermo Schmidhuber de la Mora is a Mexican author, playwright, and critic.Among his most notable works are: Obituary, The Useless Heroes, The Heirs of Segismund, The Secret Friendship of Juana and Dorothy, and Never Say Adiós to Columbus. His novel Women of the Tequila Volcano was published...
, composed sometime after 1949) - The visitorsThe Visitors (opera)The Visitors is an opera in three acts and a prologue composed by Carlos Chávez to an English libretto by the American poet Chester Kallman. The work was Chávez's only opera. Its first version, with the title Panfilo and Lauretta, premiered in New York City in 1957...
by Carlos ChávezCarlos ChávezCarlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his Symphony No...
– premiered incomplete 1957 as Panfilo and Lauretta, Brander Matthews Theatre, New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
; premiered in final version 1999, Teatro Juárez, Guanajuato, MexicoGuanajuato, GuanajuatoGuanajuato is a city and municipality in central Mexico and the capital of the state of the same name. It is located in a narrow valley, which makes the streets of the city narrow and winding. Most are alleys that cars cannot pass through, and some are long sets of stairs up the mountainsides.... - El romance de Doña Balada by Alicia UrretaAlicia UrretaAlicia Urreta was a Mexican pianist, music educator and composer.-Biography:Alicia Urreta was born in Veracruz, Veracruz. In 1952 she entered the Conservatorio National de Musica in Mexico City, studying harmony with Rodolfo Halffter, and other topics under Hernandez Moncada...
– premiered 1974, Centro Cultural El Ágora, Villahermosa, MexicoVillahermosaLike most of the Tabasco, Villahermosa has a tropical climate. The city specifically features a tropical monsoon climate. Temperatures during spring and summer seasons reach upwards of 40°C , with humidity levels hovering around 30% during the same period... - La mujer y su sombra by Miguel Alcázar – premiered 1981, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
- Leoncio y Lena by Federico Ibarra – premiered 1981, Teatro Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Mexico City
- La Güera by Carlos Jiménez MabarakCarlos Jiménez MabarakCarlos Jiménez Mabarak Was a Mexican composer, one of the most prolific Mexican composers of the 20th century....
1982, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City - Orestes parte by Federico Ibarra – premiered 1984, Sala Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico City
- Aura by Mario LavistaMario LavistaMario Lavista is a Mexican composer and writer. He has had numerous pieces published, especially chamber music, but also incidental music for plays, film scores, orchestral pieces, and vocal music....
– premiered 1988, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City - Ambrosio o la fábula del amor by José Antonio Guzmán - premiered 1990, Sala Miguel Covarrubias, Mexico City
- La hija de RapacciniRappaccini's Daughter (opera)La hija de Rappaccini is an opera in two acts composed by Daniel Catán to a libretto by Juan Tovar based on the play by Octavio Paz and the short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne...
by Daniel CatánDaniel CatánDaniel Catán was a Mexican composer of Russian Sephardic Jewish descent known particularly for his operas and his creative friendship with the tenor Plácido Domingo.-Career:...
– premiered 1991, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City - La sunamita by Marcela RodríguezMarcela Rodríguez (composer)-Biography:Marcela Rodríguez was born in Mexico City.] Leo Brouwer of Cuba. She studied for a while in London, and then returned to Mexico City to study with Julio Estrada . Rodríguez works have been performed internationally, including the USA, Venezuela, Spain, and Greece...
– premiered 1991, Teatro de la CiudadTeatro de la CiudadThe Teatro de la Ciudad was built as the "Teatro Esperanza Iris" in 1918 and is now one of Mexico City’s public venues for cultural events...
, Mexico City - Madre Juana by Federico Ibarra - premiered 1993, Teatro Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Mexico City
- The Seventh Seed by Hilda ParedesHilda ParedesHilda Paredes is one of Mexico's leading contemporary composers, and has received many prestigious awards for her work...
– premiered 1993 (in concert version), UNAMUnamUNAM or UNaM may refer to:* National University of Misiones, a National University in Posadas, Argentina*National Autonomous University of Mexico , the large public autonomous university based in Mexico City...
, Mexico City - Anacleto Morones by Victor RasgadoVictor RasgadoVíctor Rasgado is a Mexican pianist and classical composer, whose works have been performed in Mexico, the United States, Italy and the Netherlands.-Biography:...
- premiered 1994, Teatro Lirico Sperimentale "A. Belli", Spoleto, ItalySpoletoSpoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.-History:... - Alicia by Federico Ibarra – premiered 1995 (complete version), Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
- Florencia en el AmazonasFlorencia en el AmazonasFlorencia en el Amazonas is an opera in two acts composed by Daniel Catán. It contains elements of magical realism in the style of Gabriel García Márquez and uses a libretto by Marcela Fuentes-Berain, one of his pupils...
by Daniel Catán – premiered 1996, Houston Grand OperaHouston Grand OperaHouston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
, Houston, TexasHouston, TexasHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ... - La tentación de San Antonio by Luis Jaime Cortez – premiered 1998, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
- De cachetito raspado by Juan TrigosJuan TrigosJuan Trigos, is a Mexican Composer and Conductor, born February 26, 1965, in Mexico City.- Biography :Composer and conductor, creator of the concept Abstract Folklore. This concept is based on principles such as the primary pulsation, the resonance and the obsessive use of polyrhythmic and...
– premiered 1999, Teatro Helénico, Mexico City
21st century
- Murmullos del páramo by Julio EstradaJulio EstradaJulio Estrada Velasco was born in Mexico City, April 10, 1943. His family was exiled from Spain in 1941. He is a composer, theoretician, historian, pedagogue, and interpreter.-Life:...
– premiered 2006, El Teatro Español, MadridMadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan... - El juego de los insectos (Spanish Wikipedia article) by Federico Ibarra – premiered 2009, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
See also
- Music of MexicoMusic of MexicoThe music of Mexico is very diverse and features a wide range of different musical styles. It has been influenced by a variety of cultures, most notably indigenous Mexican and European, since the Late Middle Ages...
- Opera in Latin AmericaOpera in Latin AmericaThe history of opera in Latin America dates back to at least the early 18th century when the earliest known opera performances were performed in the country of Mexico. It is within that nation that the first indigenous opera composers of Latin America emerged, with Manuel de Zumaya being...
- Operas set in Mexico
Further reading
- Cortés, Eladio, Dictionary of Mexican Literature, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1992. ISBN 0313262713
- Saavedra, Leonora, "Staging the Nation: Race, Religion, and History in Mexican Opera of the 1940s", Opera Quarterly, Vol. 23, 2007, pp. 1–21
- Stevenson, Robert Murrell, Music in Mexico: A Historical Survey, Crowell, 1952
- Sturman, Janet Lynn, Zarzuela: Spanish operetta, American stage, University of Illinois Press, 2000. ISBN 0252025962
- Vogeley, Nancy, "Italian Opera in Early National Mexico", in Doris Sommer (ed.), The Places of History: Regionalism Revisited in Latin America, Duke University Press, 1999. ISBN 0822323443
External links
- José Octavio Sosa, La Ópera Mexicana 1708-2000 on weblaopera.com (in Spanish)
- www.operacalli.com – website devoted to Mexican opera (in Spanish)