Since it aspires to incorporate all the arts, traditionally opera has not presented musicians and painters on the stage, a device that would require adding to the work yet another artistic layer. Hence their rare appearances. However, it seems that, once opera made an interesting turn in the 1980s toward dramatizing historical figures, the turbulent lives of painters have become more attractive to composers. Following my earlier post on composers on the operatic stage, here is a list of operatic artists, with year of composition.
Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini (1837)
Puccini: Tosca (1899)
Hindemith: Mathis der Maler (1938)
Weinberg: The Portrait (1980)
Sondheim: Sunday in the Park with George (1983)
Andriessen: De Stijl (1985)
Menotti: Goya (1986)
Rautavaara: Vincent (1990)
Rodriguez: Frida (1991)
Harper: El Greco (1993)
Lang: Modern Painters (1995)
Wakhévitch: I, Dalí (2011)
Griglio: Camille Claudel (2013)
Schwendinger: Artemisia (2016)
Schapfl: Caravaggio (2018)
20 February 2022
Piano Poetry Pantelis Politics 