The Canterbury Pilgrims is an opera by the American composer Reginald De Koven

Reginald de Koven

Henry Louis Reginald De Koven was an American music critic and prolific composer, particularly of comic operas.-Biography:...

. It premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House

Metropolitan Opera House (39th St)

The Metropolitan Opera House was an opera house located at 1411 Broadway in New York City. Opened in 1883 and demolished in 1967, it was the first home of the Metropolitan Opera Company.-History:...

 on March 8, 1917. The 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...

, written by Percy MacKaye

Percy MacKaye

Percy MacKaye was an American dramatist and poet.-Biography:MacKaye was born in New York City, New York. After graduating from Harvard in 1897, he traveled in Europe for three years, residing in Rome, Switzerland and London, studying at the University of Leipzig in 1899–1900...

, is loosely based on Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...

's The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. The tales are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at...

.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 8 March 1917 (Conductor: Bodanzky)
Chaucer	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...	Johannes Sembach
Alisoun, The Wife of Bath	contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...	Margaret Ober Margarethe Arndt-Ober Margarethe Arndt-Ober was an American opera singer of German descent who had an active international career during the first half of the twentieth century. A highly skilled contralto, Ober enjoyed a particularly long and fruitful association with the Berlin State Opera from 1907 to 1944...
The Prioress	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...	Edith Mason
The Squire	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...	Paul Althouse Paul Althouse Paul Shearer Althouse was an American opera singer. He began his career as a lyric tenor with a robust Italianate sound, excelling in roles like Cavaradossi, Pinkerton, and Turiddu. He later branched out into the dramatic tenor repertoire, finding particular success in portraying Wagnerian heroes...
King Richard II	tenor	Albert Reiss Albert Reiss Albert Reiss was a German operatic tenor who had a prolific career in Europe and the United States during the first third of the twentieth century. He spent much of his career performing at the Metropolitan Opera where he sang in more than 1,000 performances, including several premieres, between...
Johanna	soprano	Marie Sundelius Marie Sundelius Marie Sundelius was a Swedish-American classical soprano. She sang for many years with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and later embarked on a second career as a celebrated voice teacher in Boston....
The Friar	tenor	Max Block
Joannes	tenor	Pietro Audsio
Man of Law	baritone	Robert Leonhardt
The Miller	bass	Basil Ruysdael Basil Ruysdael Basil Ruysdael was an American film actor and opera singer.-Early life:He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and started as a bass-baritone in the Metropolitan Opera Company from 1910 to 1918...
The Host	bass	Giulio Rossi
The Herald	bass	Riccardo Tegani
Two Girls		Marie Tiffany Marie Tiffany Marie Tiffany was an American operatic soprano. She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1916-1928; making a total of 208 appearances at the Met during her career... , Minnie Egener Minnie Egener Minnie Egener was an American operatic mezzo-soprano. She made her professional opera debut in 1904 at the Metropolitan Opera as one of the flower maidens in Richard Wagner's Parsifal. In 1906 she moved to Italy and spent the next several years performing in operas with various theaters throughout...
The Pardoner	tenor	Julius Bayer
The Summoner	baritone	Carl Schlegel
The Shipman	baritone	Mario Laurenti
The Cook	bass	Pompilio Malatesta

Synopsis

Place: England.
Time: April, 1387.

The story has to do with the merry schemes of the Wife of Bath, who has fallen in love with Chaucer who in his turn loves the Prioress, and of her winning of a bet to gain possession of a certain brooch which carries with it Chaucer's promise of marriage He is finally rescued by Richard II who decides that the Wife may marry a sixth time only on condition that she marry a miller. A devoted miller joyfully accepts the opportunity and the Proiress and Chaucer are reconciled.

External links

• Libretto
• Vocal Score