John Corigliano & William M. Hoffman: The Ghosts of Versailles
Sheet Music

SKU: NX.PTC5186538

By Christopher Maltman, Frederick Ballentine, Joshua, Kristinn Sigmundsson, Lacey Jo Benter, Lucas Meachem, Lucy Schaufer, Patricia Racette, Patrick Blackwell, Peabody Southwell, Scott scully, So Young Park, Summer Hassan, Vanessa Becerra, and Victoria Livengood. By John Corigliano. Classical. 2 hybrid super audio listening CDs. Published by Naxos (NX.PTC5186538).

UPC: 827949053863.

Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera to celebrate its 100th anniversary, John Corigliano's The Ghost of Versailles received its premiere at the Met in 1991, twelve years after it had been commissioned and eight years past the centennial season for which it had first been envisioned. Nonetheless, it was an instant success. Because of the unique situation, a large cast and extravagant orchestral forces were made available, but aside from that specific context, both John Corigliano and librettist William Hoffman conceived of Ghosts as a work of music theater that celebrates and even takes as one of its principal themes the artistic power of opera: it puts into use lavish operatic resources precisely to introduce a contemporary audience to grand opera. More particularly, a "grand opera buffa" is what John Corigliano decided to create, to combine his love for opera buffa, with the requirements of a grand opera house, which is the Met. The success of Ghosts resulted in many performances throughout the North-American continent in the 25 years to follow, one of which took place in February 2015 at the LA Opera, to great critical acclaim.

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