Seville, City Of Opera

By Author: Daniel Major
Total Articles: 24
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To many through out the world, even opera fans it may be difficult to think of Seville; the capital of Andalucía in Spain as a city of opera. After all, when it comes to great opera houses the cities that come to mind more readily are London, New York, Milan, Vienna, Paris and even Sydney; with its legendary opera house however Seville should not be ignored as a city of opera. For it is in this city where several of the greatest operas take place and I mean not in the sense that they are performed in Seville but the stories in their librettos were written about this most cultured city, also known for delightful Spanish folklore dancing and the pageantry of it religious ceremonious .

For instance the French opera Carmen by Bisset begins in Seville where we find the gypsy who lent her name to the opera working in a tobacco factory. It is in this factory that she meets Don Jose, the simple soldier who in a fit of jealousy would go on to kill the woman he claims to adore. Carmen however is not the only opera story that takes place in Seville, as it is in this city where two of Mozart's greatest operas; Figaro and ...
... Don Giovanni are also held. Figaro being about a faithful servant who fights off attempts by his master (count Almaviva) to steal away the woman (Susana) he is engaged to be married to while Don Giovanni is based on the story known as El Burlador De Sevilla.

Beethoven though more known as a composer of symphonies, did not leave Seville out of his works as his only opera; Fidelio takes place in a prison found in the same city as the above mentioned operas. Of course in this argument what could be a clearer example of an opera story based in Seville; then Rossini's Barber Of Seville which in fact is the story that precedes Figaro, in the trilogy that makes use of the same characters.

Verdi was without a doubt another great opera composer and he too felt the need to put a story about Seville in to music; which he did when he took the story of La Forza Del Destino, naturally based in Seville and made a grand opera out of it. In conclusion I would say that though Paris, Rome and other large cities are not excluded from having opera librettos based in them it is Seville; the city in which the most opera stories take place.

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