Granados’ Opera Inspired by Goya

This coming Friday harmonia mundi will release a recording of Enrique Granados’ one-act opera in three tableaux, “Goyescas.” This opera was composed in 1915, drawing heavily on thematic material taken from the composer’s other Goyescas composition, a suite of seven pieces inspired by paintings of Francisco Goya. It was given its world premiere performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 28, 1916. (World War I prevented the premiere taking place at the Palais Garnier opera house for the Paris Opera.) As usual, Amazon.com has created a Web page for processing pre-orders.

courtesy of PIAS

Like the piano suite, the opera is based on six paintings from Goya’s early career. One of those is reproduced on the album cover, shown above; and this is the painting that inspires the beginning of the opera’s narrative. Goya had a keen eye for capturing subtleties of human nature on canvas, and the complexity of human nature finds its way into the libretto that Fernando Periquet y Zuaznabar prepared for Granados’ opera. Thus, the apparently frivolous frolicking encountered in the opening scene precedes the onset of tensions that will lead to a challenge to a duel in the second tableau and death at the conclusion.

On this new recording Josep Pons conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers. The vocal soloists are soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera, mezzo Lidia Vinyes Curtis, tenor Gustavo Peña, and baritone José Antonio López. I suspect that many, like myself, will find this a “first contact” experience with the opera but will have experienced past performances of at least some of the Goyescas piano pieces. (Some may even detect the presence of Consuelo Velázquez’ song “Bésame Mucho” in one of them.) However, those who know Granados only through his piano music are likely to be impressed with his vocal writing, both for individual voices and choral resources. If this recording motivates opera companies to bring this work back into repertoire, so much the better!