Sarrasine (opera)
| Sarrasine (opera pastiche) | |
|---|---|
| Opera by George Petrou and Laurence Dale combining the never performed opera music by George Frideric Handel with the story and dialogues by Honoré de Balzac | |
Samuel Mariño created the role of Zambinella | |
| Librettist | spoken text and dialogues created by Laurence Dale on the basis of the original French text of Honoré de Balzac's novella Sarrasine; the texts of arias and duets are by various librettists of the works, for which they were originally written |
| Language | Italian for arias and duets, French for spoken text and dialogues |
| Based on | novella Sarrasine (1831) by Honoré de Balzac |
| Premiere | 10 May 2024 Deutsches Theater, Göttingen |
Sarrasine is an opera pastiche conceived and created by George Petrou and Laurence Dale and premiered on 10 May 2024 at the Göttingen International Handel Festival. The overall story and the dialogues of the opera are based on the eponymous novella by Honoré de Balzac published in 1830. The music consists of arias, duets, and other pieces that George Frideric Handel composed for specific operas but then either cut entirely or replaced with significantly modified versions. The opera sets Handel's unperformed music within the narrative from the Romantic era that is itself preoccupied and inspired by the issues of voice, gender, and art that emerged during Handel's time. According to its co-creators, the opera engages the issues of "identity, gender, sexuality and love."