First performance 30 July 2011 Librettist Alasdair Middleton | Composer Jonathan Dove Language English | |
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Similar The Adventures of Pinocc, Flight, Tobias and the Angel, Cendrillon, Albert Herring | ||
Mansfield Park is a 2011 chamber opera in two acts by Jonathan Dove with a libretto by Alasdair Middleton based on the novel by Jane Austen. It tells the story of poor relation Fanny Price, sent at age 10 to live with her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, at his family estate, Mansfield Park.
Contents
The opera was commissioned by Heritage Opera, and the world premiere performance was at Boughton House in Northamptonshire on July 30, 2011. The opera is scored for four handed piano (two pianists playing one piano) and was accompanied by Paul Greenhalgh and Jonathan Ellis, under the musical direction of Chris Gill. The world premiere tour comprised mainly heritage venues in the northwest of England, and one performance at the Arcola Theatre in Dalston, East London, as part of the Grimeborn Festival. Royal Academy Opera gave two performances of the opera in May 2012, and Hampstead Garden Opera gave ten performances in a new production directed by Bruno Ravella in April 2013.
In 2015 the opera made its American premiere in Baltimore, Maryland. It was performed by the Peabody Conservatory of Music at the local Theatre Project of Baltimore. Eileen Cornett served as music director, with Mark Streshinsky as artistic director. Johanna Kvam and Hanna Shin performed the score for four hands piano.
The opera was given its Australian premiere in April 2016 by Sydney-based independent opera company, Operantics.
Roles and Premiere Casts
World Premiere - 2011
American Premiere - 2015
Australian Premiere - 2016
Act One
In which we meet the inhabitants of Mansfield Park.
In which we discover that Miss Mary Crawford has twenty thousand pounds and that Mr Henry Crawford is not handsome.
In which Sir Thomas Bertram leaves for Antigua.
In which Mr Rushworth proposes a trip to Sotherton, his estate.
In which the estate is explored.
In which songs are sung and stars observed.
In which Amateur Theatricals are undertaken.
In which Edmund's resolution is tested.
In which Sir Thomas returns.
In which happiness is defined.
In which a wedding is celebrated, a honeymoon begun, a revelation made and plot hatched.
Act Two
In which Miss Fanny Price accepts a present from Miss Mary Crawford.
In which partners are chosen.
In which the Bertram family are variously surprised, delighted, disappointed, confused and outraged.
In which much ink is spilt.
In which the Rushworths meet an old acquaintance.
In which occurs a matrimonial fracas.
In which Mr Edmund Bertram declares his feelings to his future bride.