L'abandon d'Ariane

L'abandon d'Ariane
Opera by Darius Milhaud
Milhaud in 1923
LibrettistHenri Hoppenot
LanguageFrench
Based onAriadne myth
Premiere
20 April 1928 (1928-04-20)
Dionysos and Ariadne, Sebastiano Ricci (c. 1713)

L'abandon d'Ariane (The Abandonment of Ariane or, in German, Die Verlassene Ariadne), Op. 98, is an opera in one act by Darius Milhaud to a French libretto by Henri Hoppenot, based on Greek mythology. It is the second of three Opéras-Minutes (Mini-Operas) that Milhaud composed. It came between L'Enlèvement d'Europe, Op. 94, and La Délivrance de Thésée, Op. 99, with librettos also by Henri Hoppenot (1891–1977), a French diplomat. The three operas together last about twenty-seven minutes.

Performance history

The first performance of the trilogy - L'Enlèvement d'Europe, L'Abandon d'Ariane and La Délivrance de Thésée - was at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Germany, on 20 April 1928. These performances were given in a German translation by Rudolph Stephan Hoffmann.

L'Abandon d'Ariane has been recorded several times; however, it is rarely performed live.

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere Cast, 20 April 1928
(Conductor: Joseph Rosenstock)
Ariadne, princess of Crete soprano
Dionysos, god of wine baritone
Phädra, Ariadne's younger sister soprano
Theseus, Greek hero tenor
Bacchantes, sailors chorus

References