Goyescas

Goya's painting of girls tossing a mannequin. This inspired the opening scene of the opera

Goyescas is a Spanish opera with music by Enrique Granados and libretto by Fernando Periquet y Zuaznabar. It is based on the piano work by Granados which is also called Goyescas. As the melodies had already been created for the piano work, the words of the opera had to be chosen to fit them.

The opera was first performed in New York, on January 28, 1916. It is not performed as often as the piano version.

Story

Granados was inspired by the paintings of Francisco Goya.

Principal characters

Rosario - soprano
Fernando - tenor
Pepa - mezzo-soprano
Paquiro - baritone

Discography

1955: Consuelo Rubio (Rosario), Ginés Torrano (Fernando), Ana-María Iriarte (Pepa), Manuel Ausensi (Paquiro); Madrid Cantores, Orquesta Nacional de España, Ataúlfo Argenta - (Decca)
1996: Maria Bayo (Rosario), Ramón Vargas (Fernando), Lola Casariego (Pepa), Enrique Baquerizo (Paquiro); Orfeón Donostiarra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, Antoni Ros-Marbà - (Auvidis)
1997: Carmen González (Rosario), Josep Ruiz (Fernando), Maite Arruabarrena (Pepa), Alfonso Echevarría (Paquiro); Coral de Bilbao, Orquesta de Cadaqués, Gianandrea Noseda - (TRITÓ)
2001: Rafaella Angeletti (Rosario), Yikun Chung (Fernando), Francesca Franci (Pepa), Davide Damiani (Paquiro); Coro e Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos - (Dynamic)

Goyescas Media

Goya's painting of 1777 known as El Paseo de Andalucía or La Maja y los embozados.
Drawing for booklet cover, drawing for Goyescas (1954).

Sources

The Complete Dictionary of Opera & Operetta, James Anderson, Wings Books, 1993.