Troilus and Cressida is the first of the two operas by William Walton. The libretto was by Christopher Hassall, his own first opera libretto, based on Chaucer's poem Troilus and Criseyde. Walton dedicated the score to his wife, Susana.
The genesis of the opera dated back to the mid-1940s, after the success of Benjamin Britten's first great operatic success, Peter Grimes. Walton intended to counter this work with an opera of his own, and Alice Wim...
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Troilus and Cressida is the first of the two operas by William Walton. The libretto was by Christopher Hassall, his own first opera libretto, based on Chaucer's poem Troilus and Criseyde. Walton dedicated the score to his wife, Susana.
The genesis of the opera dated back to the mid-1940s, after the success of Benjamin Britten's first great operatic success, Peter Grimes. Walton intended to counter this work with an opera of his own, and Alice Wimbourne, Walton's companion at the time, suggested the story of Troilus and Cressida as a subject. Wimbourne had suggested Hassell as librettist, in spite of the fact that he had never written an opera libretto. During the course of composition, Walton and Hassell carried out an extensive correspondence. Walton edited passages by Hassell from the libretto that he deemed inappropriate, or in his own coined term, "Novelloismo". The opera took seven years to complete.
The opera debuted at Covent Garden, London on 3 December 1954 conducted by Sir...
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