L'abandon d'Ariane

L'abandon d'Ariane
Opera by Darius Milhaud
Milhaud in 1923
Librettist	Henri Hoppenot
Language	French
Based on	Ariadne myth
Premiere	20 April 1928 (1928-04-20) Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden

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

• Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "L'abandon d'Ariane, 20 April 1928". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).

External links

• Milhaud, his diplomat librettists, and the influence of Brazil, in The Boeuf chronicles, Pt. 30, by Daniella Thompson.