Opera in Arabic

The history of opera in the Arabic-speaking world is generally viewed to have started from the premiere of Verdi's Aida in Cairo at the Khedivial Opera House in 1871, though Verdi's opera was sung in Italian.

The Khedivial Opera House in 1869

Western operas sung in Arabic

Ratiba El-Hefny sung the title role in Cairo in Lehár's The Merry Widow in Arabic in 1961.^[1][2] This was followed by Verdi's La traviata in Arabic in 1964 and Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice in 1970. This era ended with the 1971 fire at the Khedivial Opera House.^[3]

On March 6, 2008, at the 8th Al-Ain Classical Music Festival at Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates, Polish opera director Ryszard Peryt directed Egyptian musicologist Aly Sadek's translation of Mozart's Don Giovanni, as performed by soloists, the choir of the Université Antonine, Baabda, Lebanon, and the Warsaw Philharmonic's Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Zbigniew Graca. The project planned to present other Mozart opera in the Arabic language, e.g. The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute and record on the Opera in Arabic label.^[4]

Original compositions in Arabic

The new Cairo Opera House, at the National Cultural Centre, Zamalek district

The first opera in Arabic may be that of the Lebanese composer Wadia Sabra, whose opera The Two Kings to a libretto by Father Marun Ghusn, was premiered in Beirut in 1927 but has since been lost.

Egyptian composer Aziz El-Shawan's Antar (1948, based on the life of Antarah ibn Shaddad) and Anas el-Wugood (1970) are on historical themes as are his countrymen Sayed Awad's The Death of Cleopatra, based on the epic poem by Ahmed Shawqi, and Kamel El-Remali's opera Hassan El-Basri, based on the life of Hassan El-Basri.

Modern Egyptian composer, conductor and Director of Damanhour Opera House in Cairo, Sherif Mohie El Din, has written a couple of operas. Miramar first opened in Cairo in 2005, with libretto by renowned poet Sayed Hegab after Naguib Mahfouz's novel of the same name.

Dutch composer Michiel Borstlap was commissioned by the Emir of Qatar to write the opera Ibn Sina, based on the life of Avicenna, performed in Qatar in 2003.^[5]

Dream She Is, an Arabic opera monodrama for woman's voice (sung by Fadia Tomb El Hage), has been composed in 2008 by Joelle Khoury, a Lebanese composer. First played in Beirut by the Belgian chamber orchestra "Fragments ensemble", it was also performed May 4, 2012, at Esterházy Palace, Eisenstadt, Austria, by Kremerata Baltica (founded by Gidon Kremer in 1997) and in Switzerland, by TaG ensemble.^[6]

Among composers of art song in Arabic, Hiba Al Kawas has not composed a full opera in Arabic, but her cycle of five instrumental and three song pieces Rou'ia Fi Maa received its première at the Opéra Bastille in Paris in 2007.

In July 2009, Daniel Barenboim's Youth Orchestra in Ramallah produced the opera The Sultana of Cadiz (later renamed to Die arabische Prinzessin), based on a pasticcio of music by Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga to a new libretto by Paula Fünfeck after an Arabic fairy tale at Ramallah's Cultural Palace. The opera was commissioned and conducted by Anne-Sophie Brüning of the Barenboim-Said Foundation.^[7]

Lebanese composer Iyad Kanaan (1971) composed an opera in three acts entitled Qadmus to an Arabic libretto by Said Akl.

Opera houses and venues

The new Cairo Opera House (1988), Damascus Opera House (2004), Dubai Opera (2016), and the Qatar Opera House are multipurpose arts venues. In April 2010, Reuters reported that China will spend $40 million to build a 1,400-seat opera house in Algiers.

References

1. The Scribe, vol. 3, Issues 2–3, Centre for Middle East Research, Washington, D.C. – 1961: "During the month of October, we presented for the first time an opera in Arabic, The Merry Widow. Ratiba Hefni performed the title role with great talent and a wide range of technique, even though this was the first time in which she [...]"
2. Egypt travel magazine United Arab Republic. Maṣlaḥat al-Siyāḥah, Egypt. – 1970: "Egyptian Operatic Presentations": The first attempt to present Grand Opera in Arabic took place in 1961 when The Merry Widow was staged. The protagonist, Ratiba El Hefni, had already performed in European [...]
3. The Opera Guide, F. M. Stockdale, M. R. Dreyer – 1990: "That year, however, The Merry Widow was presented in Arabic, as was La Traviata in 1964 and Gluck's Orfeo four years later. A glorious era ended with the 1971 fire."
4. Classic CD.: Issues 5–8, 1990: "Sadek has masterminded the whole operation, from doing the translation to organising the recording sessions in Poland. The next project will be Don Giovanni, with all three CDs available on the Opera in Arabic label. The Arab world seems to be taking to the operas of Mozart – the first ever performance of an opera sung in Arabic will take place at Cairo"
5. Lonely Planet Amsterdam – p. 36, Karla Zimmerman, Caroline Sieg, Ryan Ver Berkmoes – 2010: "pianist Michiel Borstlap, winner of the Thelonious Monk award. Borstlap was commissioned by the Emir of Qatar to write the world's first opera in Arabic. It was called Ibn Sina, and premiered in 2003.
6. Ich mache keine Konzessionen. Ich mache Musik. Zeitgenössische Musik im Libanon: Über die erste Oper in arabischer Sprache von Joëlle Khoury. Neue Muzikzeitung, Ausgabe: 10/2008 - 57. Jahrgang .
7. Boosey & Hawkes' page on Die arabische Prinzessin