"An Enemy of the People" Becomes a Spanish Opera

"Opera landed in Spain in 1627, less than three decades after the art first arose, in Florence. That year, Italian expatriates in Madrid presented "La Selva sin Amor" ("The Forest Without Love"), with a libretto by the towering Spanish playwright Félix Lope de Vega and music by Filippo Piccinini and Bernardo Monanni. No one took much notice. At a time when Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca, and Cervantes were weaving verbal spells upon the stage, music must have seemed a superfluous addition-just as,"

"Despite endless controversy over the design-the building cost hundreds of millions of dollars and required extensive modifications to remain functional-the resident company has found a prominent place on the European scene. Its glory is its youthful orchestra, the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, which plays with greater fire and focus than many more venerable ensembles. Coll, a forty-year-old native of Valencia, began his education in Spain and completed it in England, studying there"

Opera arrived in Spain in 1627, introduced by Italian expatriates in Madrid with La Selva sin Amor, featuring a libretto by Félix Lope de Vega and music by Filippo Piccinini and Bernardo Monanni. Early Spanish dramatists like Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca, and Cervantes dominated the stage, and zarzuela later created a native song-and-spoken tradition that proved hard to export. Spanish opera lacked sustained international resonance, with the Metropolitan Opera staging only Granados's Goyescas (1916) and de Falla's La Vida Breve (1926). The world première of Francisco Coll's Enemigo del Pueblo took place in Valencia at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía. The resident company benefits from the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, noted for its youthful fire and focus. Coll is a forty-year-old native of Valencia who began his education in Spain and completed it in England.

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