Alfonso und Estrella (Alfonso and Estrella) is an opera with music by Franz Schubert, set to a German libretto by Franz von Schober, written in 1822. Along with the later Fierrabras, composed in 1823, it marks Schubert's attempt to compose grand Romantic opera in German, departing from the Singspiel tradition.
In close collaboration with von Schober in the region of St. Pölten, Schubert wrote the music for Alfonse und Estrella between September 1...
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Alfonso und Estrella (Alfonso and Estrella) is an opera with music by Franz Schubert, set to a German libretto by Franz von Schober, written in 1822. Along with the later Fierrabras, composed in 1823, it marks Schubert's attempt to compose grand Romantic opera in German, departing from the Singspiel tradition.
In close collaboration with von Schober in the region of St. Pölten, Schubert wrote the music for Alfonse und Estrella between September 1821 and February 1822. Schober, only one year older than the young Schubert, and a dabbler in literature, music and theatre, was enthusiastic about the collaboration. Schubert and Schober shared an appreciation for the operatic theories of Ignaz von Mosel, a patron of Schubert's, who supported Gluck’s operatic ideals. This influence may have led to the omission of all spoken dialog, parting from the German Singspiel form followed in operas such as Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Beethoven's Fidelio, and Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz....
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