Monna Vanna (Russian: Монна Ванна) is an unfinished opera by Sergei Rachmaninoff after a play by Maurice Maeterlinck. Rachmaninoff had completed Act I in short vocal score, with piano accompaniment, and then he went to ask for permission to set the text in a full three-act treatment. However, another composer, Henry Février, had by then received the rights to an operatic setting of the text. Had Rachmaninoff proceeded to a complete operatic setting, such a work could not have been produced in European countries that were signatories to copyright laws that covered the work of Maeterlinck. This opera could only have been produced in countries that at the time were not signatories to European copyright law, such as Russia. Ultimately, Rachmaninoff abandoned further work on this opera and never wrote a complete setting.
Librettist | (Based on a play by Maurice Maeterlinck) |
Date of composition | 1908 (Unachieved) |
Premiered | 1984, August 11th |
Type | Opera |
Instruments |
Voice (Baritone)
- Guido, military commander
Voice (Tenor) - Guido's father Voice (Soprano) - Monna Vanna, wife of Guido Voice - Male ; Torello Voice - Male ; Vorso Chorus/Choir - off stage Orchestra |
Autotranslations beta |
Sergueï Rachmaninov: Monna Vanna Sergej Vasil'evič Rachmaninov: Monna Vanna Sergei Wassiljewitsch Rachmaninow: Monna Vanna |