- Nielsen composed his comic opera Maskarade in 1904-6. It premiered in Copenhagen on Nov. 11, 1906.1
- Maskarade in Denmark’s best known national opera.2
- Maskarade is based on Ludvig Holberg’s 1724 play Mascarade (same Holberg honored in Grieg’s Holberg Suite). Nielsen wrote the libretto with help from Holberg expert Vilhelm Andersen.3
- Story: Leander and Leonora and fall in love at a masked ball – a problem because the fathers of each have already arranged marriages for them. With the help of Figaro-esque manservant Henrik, they scheme to stay together, and a variety of mistaken-identity hilarities ensue before everyone is unmasked and the lovers (and parents) find out that they were each others’ intended spouses all along.4
Sources
- David Fanning, “Nielsen, Carl,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed November 19, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000019930.
- Ibid.
- David Fanning, “Maskarade,” Grove Music Online (2002), accessed December 10, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000903078.
- Ibid.
Cut IDs
40846, 42594