Abu Hassan is a comic opera in one act by Carl Maria von Weber to a German libretto by Franz Hiemer, based on a story in One Thousand and One Nights. It was composed between 11 August 1810 and 12 January 1811 and has set numbers with recitative and spoken dialogue.
Abu Hassan was first performed at the Residenz Theater in Munich on 4 June 1811, under Peter Winter. In London it was produced in English at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1835, and in I...
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Abu Hassan is a comic opera in one act by Carl Maria von Weber to a German libretto by Franz Hiemer, based on a story in One Thousand and One Nights. It was composed between 11 August 1810 and 12 January 1811 and has set numbers with recitative and spoken dialogue.
Abu Hassan was first performed at the Residenz Theater in Munich on 4 June 1811, under Peter Winter. In London it was produced in English at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1835, and in Italian at Drury Lane on 12 May 1870 (at the same time as Mozart's L'oca del Cairo), the translation being made by Marchesi, and the dialogue set to recitative by Arditi.
Abu Hassan is not now part of the commonly performed operatic repertory, though it is sometimes staged. The overture is, however, well known and has been recorded separately many times.
Abu Hassan, a favorite of the Caliph of Baghdad, is heavily in debt. To retrieve his fortunes, he sends his wife Fatima to the Caliph's wife, Zobeide, to announce his (Hassan's) death, for...
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