Christophe Colomb
Christophe Colomb is an opera in two parts by the French composer Darius Milhaud. The poet Paul Claudel wrote the libretto based on his own play about the life of Christopher Columbus, Le Livre de Christophe Colomb. The opera was first performed at the Staatsoper, Berlin on 5 May 1930 in a German translation by Rudolph Stephan Hoffmann. Milhaud thoroughly revised the work and produced a second version around 1955. The opera is on a large scale and requires many resources for its staging. As in many of his other works, Milhaud employs polytonality in parts of the score.Roles
Synopsis
The opera tells the life of Christopher Columbus in a series of episodes which avoid chronological order and are sometimes allegorical.Recording
, Claudine Collart, Robert Massard, Xavier Depraz, Jean Giraudeau, Lucien Lovano, Orchestre Radio Lyrique, Chœurs de la RTF, conducted by Manuel Rosenthal. Disques Montaigne CE 8750, released 1987; recorded at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 31 May 1956.
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