2016-2017 Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast Season Summary

Summary: The 2016-2017 Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast season summary notes the Met’s first staging of a female composer’s opera since 1903.

The 2016-2017 Met Opera season's staging of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin marks the Metropolitan Opera's second staging of a female composer's opera: NPR Classical @nprclassical, via Twitter Dec. 5, 2016

The 2016-2017 Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast season summary notes the Met’s premiere of L’Amour de Loin by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho as the Met’s first staging of a female composer’s opera since the company’s 1903 production of Der Wald by Ethel Smyth.

The Metropolitan Opera’s premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin (“Love From Afar”) happened Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016. The Met’s premiere of Saariaho’s five-act, medieval-themed opera took place about 16 years three and one-half months after the world premiere. On Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2000, northwestern Germany’s prestigious Salzburg Festival hosted the world premiere of L’Amour de Loin. The Salzburg premiere featured staging by American theatre director Peter Sellars.

The 2016-2017 Metropolitan Opera season’s production of L’Amour de Loin was presented over eight dates throughout December. The opera’s schedule included a performance for the Saturday matinee broadcast Dec. 10.

On Thursday, March 12, 1903, the Metropolitan Opera hosted the North American premiere of Der Wald (“The Forest”) by English composer Ethel Mary Smyth (April 23, 1858-May 8, 1944). A performance of Il Trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901) followed the Met’s premiere of Smyth’s one-act tragic opera.

Saariaho’s troubadour opera claims status as only the second female-composed opera to be staged by the Metropolitan Opera. The Met’s first female-composed opera preceded L’Amour de Loin by over 113 years 8 months.

Eight days later, on Friday, March 20, the Metropolitan Opera presented a second performance of Der Wald. For the second staging, the Met paired Der Wald with La Fille du Régiment by Gaetano Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848).

The world premiere of Smyth’s second opera preceded the Met’s premiere by almost one year. Der Wald’s world premiere took place Wednesday, April 2, 1902, at Königliches Opernhaus (“Royal Opera House”) in Berlin, northeastern Germany.

Kaija Saariaho numbers among 16 opera composers on the roster for 2016-2017 Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast season. The season’s Saturday martinee broadcasts present 24 operas, including L’Amour de Loin.

The 2016-2017 Saturday matinee broadcast roster includes 10 operas sung in Italian. Short-lived Vincenzo Bellini (Nov. 3, 1801-Sept. 23, 1835) is represented with I Puritani, the opera favored by Queen Victoria (May 24, 1819-Jan. 22, 1901). Idomeneo comes from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791). Two operas, La Bohème and Manon Lescaut, are by Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924). Gioachino Antonio Rossini (Feb. 29, 1792-Nov. 13, 1868) contributes two Italian-language operas to the Saturday matinee broadcasts: Il Barbiere di Siviglia and L’Italiana in Algeri. Four operas come from Giuseppe Verdi: Aida, Nabucco, Rigoletto and La Traviata.

In addition to Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin, five more operas are sung in French. Carmen comes from Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875). The Metropolitan Opera honors the original French libretto for Cyrano de Bergerac by Italian composer Franco Alfano (March 8, 1875-Oct. 27, 1954). Guillaume Tell comes from Gioachino Rossini. Roméo et Juliette is by Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893). Werther is by Jules Massenet (May 12, 1842-Aug. 13, 1912).

Five operas have German-language librettos. Fidelio appears as the only opera composed by German composer Ludwig von Beethoven (baptized Dec. 17, 1770-March 26, 1827). Richard Strauss (June 11, 1864-Sept. 8, 1949) is represented with two operas: Der Rosenkavalier and Salome. Two come from Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813-Feb. 13, 1883): Der Fliegende Holländer and Tristan und Isolde.

Two operas have Slavic-language librettos. Eugene Onegin by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (May 7, 1840-Nov. 6, 1893) is performed in Russian. Rusalka by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák (Sept. 8, 1841-May 1, 1904) is sung in Czech.

One opera is presented in English. The Christmas Eve Saturday matinee broadcast airs the Metropolitan Opera’s Jan. 1, 2008, staging of Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck (Sept. 1, 1854-Sept. 27, 1921). The performance follows British librettist and opera director David Pountney’s English translation of the original German libretto.

The takeaway for the 2016-2017 Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast season summary is the plentiful array of 24 operas from 16 composers and the Met’s historical staging of its second female-composed opera.

A gap of 113 year four and two-thirds months separates the Metropolitan Opera's first staging of an opera by a female composer, English composer Ethel Smyth's Der Wald during the 1902-1903 season, and the opera house's second staging of an opera by a female composer, Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin during the 2016-2017 season; Ethel Smyth with her dog Marco in the composer's Impressions That Remained: Memoirs (1946), opposite page 390: via Internet Archive

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

The 2016-2017 Met Opera season's staging of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin marks the Metropolitan Opera's second staging of a female composer's opera: NPR Classical @nprclassical, via Twitter Dec. 5, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/nprclassical/status/805758516619333632

A gap of 113 year four and two-thirds months separates the Metropolitan Opera's first staging of an opera by a female composer, English composer Ethel Smyth's Der Wald during the 1902-1903 season, and the opera house's second staging of an opera by a female composer, Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin during the 2016-2017 season; Ethel Smyth with her dog Marco in the composer's Impressions That Remained: Memoirs (1946), opposite page 390: via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/impressionsthatr010821mbp#page/n460/mode/1up

For further information:

Marriner, Derdriu. "L'Amour de Loin Is the Dec. 10, 2016, Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast." Earth and Space News. Monday, Dec. 5, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/12/lamour-de-loin-is-dec-10-2016.html

Metropolitan Opera. “The 2016-17 Live in HD Season.” YouTube. July 11, 2016.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEUgcdapvKg

NPR Classical @nprclassical. “After 113 years, @MetOpera New York stages another opera by a woman -- Kaija Saariaho’s ‘L’Amour de Loin.’” Twitter. Dec. 5, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/nprclassical/status/805758516619333632

Smyth, Ethel. Impressions That Remained: Memoirs. New York NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1946.
Available @ https://archive.org/details/impressionsthatr010821mbp

Woolfe, Zachary. “Your Guide to a Met Opera Milestone.” The New York Times > Arts > Music. Nov. 25, 2016.
Available @ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/arts/music/your-guide-to-a-met-opera-milestone-kaija-saariaho-lamour-de-loin.html?_r=0

Yohalem, John. “A Woman’s Opera at the Met: Ethel Smyth’s Der Wald in New York.” MetOpera Database > The Metropolitan Opera Archives.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/imgs/DerWald.htm