Piece-Info

How terrible must life be if you can’t laugh? Sergei Prokofiev’s opera „The Love for Three Oranges“ is about a king who wishes to help his sick son. But only one thing can cure the malady of the heir to the throne: laughter. While the doctors are trying their luck, Truffaldino and Fata Morgana get into a fight, during which the latter is knocked over. When her mishap causes the Prince to laugh, she quickly places a curse on him: he is destined to fall in love with three oranges. The Prince and Truffaldino immediately set off on a hair-raising journey that finally takes them to a desert – a trip that can be seen as a balancing act between fantasy and reality. Here parody is tinged with tragedy and a touch of the grotesque.

Born at the end of the 19th century in the Donetsk Oblast, Sergei Prokofiev is famous as the composer of the ballet „Romeo and Juliet“ as well as for his many other works, such as the musical fairy tale for children „Peter and the Wolf“. The author of numerous operas, he enjoyed huge success with „The Love for Three Oranges“, based on the play of the same name by Carlo Gozzi. Prokofiev left Russia in the aftermath of the October Revolution of 1917 to settle in the USA. The world premiere of this opera – in French translation – took place in Chicago in 1921, with Prokofiev himself producing the libretto from the original play. Musically, the work is infused with a sense of wit, playfulness and humour. Fast rhythms, colourful instrumentation, ingenious fugal techniques and vibrant spontaneity set the tone for „The Love for Three Oranges“.