Loreley is a three-act azione romantica opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 by Alfredo Catalani

Alfredo Catalani

Alfredo Catalani was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas Loreley and La Wally...

, composed to a 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...

 by Angelo Zanardini, Giuseppe Depanis, Carlo D'Ormeville and others.

The opera is an extensive reworking of Catalani's dramma fantastico Elda, originally with a text by Carlo D'Ormeville, first given in Turin in 1880 under Carlo Pedrotti

Carlo Pedrotti

Carlo Pedrotti was an Italian conductor, administrator and composer, principally of opera. An associate of Giuseppe Verdi's, he also taught two internationally renowned Italian operatic tenors, Francesco Tamagno and Alessandro Bonci.-Early life:Pedrotti was born in Verona, where he studied music...

, with Garbini, Boulicioff, Barbacini and Athos.

Performance history

Loreley was first performed at the Teatro Regio in Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

 on 16 February 1890 under Edoardo Mascheroni. It was subsequently given at Covent Garden

Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 on 12 July 1907. The first American performance was presented by the Chicago Opera Association

Chicago Opera Association

The Chicago Opera Association was a company that produced seven seasons of grand opera in Chicago’s Auditorium Theater from 1915 to 1921. The founding artistic director and principal conductor was Cleofonte Campanini, while the general manager and chief underwriter was Harold F. McCormick...

 at the Auditorium Building in Chicago on 17 January 1919 with Anna Fitziu

Anna Fitziu

Anna Fitziu was an American soprano who had a prolific international opera career during the early part of the 20th century. Her signature roles included Fiora in L'amore dei tre re, Mimi in La Boheme, Nedda in Pagliacci, and the title roles in Isabeau, Madama Butterfly, and Tosca...

 in the title role.

Roles and role creators

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 16 February 1890 (Conductor: Edoardo Mascheroni)
Loreley	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Virginia Ferni-Germano
Walter	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Eugenio (Eugène) Durot
Anna di Rehberg	soprano	Eleonora (Leonora) Dexter
Hermann	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Enrico Stinco-Palermini
Rodolfo	bass	Natale Pozzi

Synopsis

Loreley is an orphan unhappily in love with Walter who loves Anna. Loreley makes a pact with the Alberich, King of the Rhine to make her irresistible. Everything goes wrong, Walter drowns himself and Loreley is left eternally on her rock, calling young men to their doom.