The Tempest single work   musical theatre   opera   - Three acts
Adaptation of The Tempest William Shakespeare , 1610-1612 single work drama
Issue Details: First known date: 2004... 2004 The Tempest
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The Tempest is an opera by English composer Thomas Adès with a libretto in English by Meredith Oakes based on the play The Tempest by William Shakespeare.'

Production Details

  • Co-production with the Copenhagen Opera House and the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg. World premiere at the Royal Opera House in London on 10 February 2004.

    The BBC broadcast The Tempest on 23 June 2007 from the Covent Garden revival and a commercial recording featuring Bostridge, Keenlyside, Sieden and Royal was released by EMI Classics in June 2009.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Thomas Adès and Meredith Oakes : The Tempest Michael Ewans , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Musical Theatre , December vol. 9 no. 3 2015; (p. 231-250)
'This article analyses the opera The Tempest, composed by Thomas Adès to a text written for him by Meredith Oakes (after Shakespeare); it was first staged at The Royal Opera House in London in 2004. The text is first examined for its relationship with Shakespeare’s original play; the plot, cuts, transpositions and significant additions are all examined; then the relationship between the dramatic themes of the opera and those of the source text, and the ways in which direct quotations from Shakespeare are used and reworked, are also considered. In these last two sections the music of the opera begins to feature in the analysis, and text and music are examined as an integrated whole in the sections that follow, which discuss in turn the four principal characters Prospero, Caliban, Miranda and Ariel. Two closing sections consider aspects of the structure and style of the music that have not been explored earlier in the article. There are numerous quotations from the libretto, three plates and five music examples.' (Publication abstract)
Thomas Adès and Meredith Oakes : The Tempest Michael Ewans , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Musical Theatre , December vol. 9 no. 3 2015; (p. 231-250)
'This article analyses the opera The Tempest, composed by Thomas Adès to a text written for him by Meredith Oakes (after Shakespeare); it was first staged at The Royal Opera House in London in 2004. The text is first examined for its relationship with Shakespeare’s original play; the plot, cuts, transpositions and significant additions are all examined; then the relationship between the dramatic themes of the opera and those of the source text, and the ways in which direct quotations from Shakespeare are used and reworked, are also considered. In these last two sections the music of the opera begins to feature in the analysis, and text and music are examined as an integrated whole in the sections that follow, which discuss in turn the four principal characters Prospero, Caliban, Miranda and Ariel. Two closing sections consider aspects of the structure and style of the music that have not been explored earlier in the article. There are numerous quotations from the libretto, three plates and five music examples.' (Publication abstract)
Last amended 13 Jan 2017 08:04:51
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X