Sigurd

Sigurd is an opera in four acts and nine scenes by the French composer Ernest Reyer on a libretto by Camille du Locle and Alfred Blau. Like Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung, the story is based on the Niebelungenlied and the Eddas, with some crucial differences from the more known Wagnerian version (role of the supernatural is limited and substituted rather by fate; initial version of libretto with prologue in heaven was later on cut off). The whole ... more

Sigurd is an opera in four acts and nine scenes by the French composer Ernest Reyer on a libretto by Camille du Locle and Alfred Blau. Like Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung, the story is based on the Niebelungenlied and the Eddas, with some crucial differences from the more known Wagnerian version (role of the supernatural is limited and substituted rather by fate; initial version of libretto with prologue in heaven was later on cut off). The whole opera can best be described as an epic with techniques of the grand opera. Initially sketched in 1862 (and virtually completed in draft by 1867), the work waited many years before it was performed in full. Orchestration of various fragments progressed much slower, and as they were completed, they were sometimes performed during various concerts. Original attempts in staging the work at the Paris Opéra failed, therefore the opera had its world premiere in the Théatre de la Monnaie in Brussels on January 7, 1884 (directed by Alexandre Lapissida)... less