He also had been working with Gerard Kenny and Kristi Kane ( libretto ) in London on a musical version of the classic film My Man Godfrey.

The first, most important and successful was The Beggar's Opera of 1728, with a libretto by John Gay and music arranged by John Christopher Pepusch, both of whom probably influenced by Parisian vaudeville and the burlesques and musical plays of Thomas D ' Urfey ( 1653 – 1723 ), a number of whose collected ballads they used in their work.

* How Is This Going to Continue ?, a novel by James Chapman, presents itself as the libretto to a musical work by a composer whose ( fictional ) entry in The Grove Dictionary of Music is quoted at length.

Opera ( English plural: operas ; Italian plural: opere ) is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text ( called a libretto ) and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting.

* Opera – an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text ( called a libretto ) and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting.

It would seem that something along these lines did happen — that is, Mozart decided to play a major role in the shaping of the libretto, insisting that Stephanie make changes for dramatic and musical effect.

" had composed a brilliant new score ( his most subtle yet ) to a scintillating libretto .... Iolanthe is the work in which Sullivan's operetta style takes a definite step forward, and metamorphosis of musical themes is its characteristic new feature .... By recurrence and metamorphosis of themes Sullivan made the score more fluid ...." Much of Sullivan's " fairy " music pays deliberate homage to the incidental music written by Felix Mendelssohn for a production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

A libretto is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical.

The relationship of the librettist ( that is, the writer of a libretto ) to the composer in the creation of a musical work has varied over the centuries, as have the sources and the writing techniques employed.

In the context of a modern English-language musical theater piece, the libretto is often referred to as the book of the work.

The libretto of a musical, on the other hand, is almost always written in prose ( except for the song lyrics ).

Pages from an 1859 libretto for Ernani, with the original Italian lyrics, English translation, and musical notation for one of the arias Libretti have been made available in several formats, some more nearly complete than others.

In 1914, he contributed the libretto only to the Percy Wenrich musical The Crinoline Girl.

He wrote his own libretto, Horn et Riemenhild, but he composed only one act, " realising too late that the work's developments were more literary than musical ".

For example, there is a Zapata ( 1980 ) stage musical written by Harry Nilsson and Perry Botkin, libretto by Allan Katz, which ran for 16 weeks at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut.

After Lemaire finished the libretto, Saint-Saëns began actively composing act 2 of the opera, producing an aria for Dalila, a duet for Samson and Dalila, and some musical pieces for the chorus ( some of which were later assigned to act 1 ) during 1867 – 1869.

Comden and Green wrote the libretto for the 1970 musical Applause, an adaptation of the film All About Eve, and wrote the book and lyrics for 1978's On the Twentieth Century, with music by Cy Coleman.

The libretto of the musical play Pompey by Mrs. Philips, performed at Smock Alley in 1663, credits him as the composer of the tunes.

After the war, in 1946, she returned to her home in France, where she composed orchestral and chamber music, plus numerous other works including the ballets Paris-Magie ( with Lise Delarme ) and Parisiana ( for the Royal Ballet of Copenhaugen ), the operas Il était un petit navire ( with Henri Jeanson ), Dolores, La petite sirène ( with Philip Soupault, based on Hans Christian Andersen's story " The Little Mermaid ") and Le maître ( to a libretto by Ionesco ), the musical comedy Parfums, the Concerto des vaines paroles, for baritone voice, piano and orchestra, the Concerto for Soprano and Orchestra, the Concertino for Flute, Piano and Orchestra, the Second Piano Concerto, the Concerto for Two Guitars and Orchestra, her Second Sonata for Violin and Piano, the Sonata for Harp, as well as an impressive number of film and television scores.

He wrote a musical, Zapata, with Perry Botkin, Jr., libretto by Allan Katz, which was produced and directed by longtime friend Bert Convy.

When the legal issues were resolved within a few months, Verdi was free to present the libretto and musical outline of Gustave III ( which was basically Una vendetta with characters ' names and locations changed ) to the Rome Opera.

Recorded on a series of six 78 RPM gramophone records with a full libretto enclosed, the album was a first for musical theatre at that time.

The opera encountered some criticism from audiences at its opening on 22 January 1887, and one critic wondered if the libretto showed " signs of the failing powers of the author ".

Consequently, if he were to agree to create another opera after a decade of retirement, the libretto would need to be one that would capture his interest.

He adapted the libretto himself, retaining " the essential character of the play, with its many short scenes, its abrupt and sometimes brutal language, and its stark, if haunted, realism ..."

The time was tight and Guardasoni had a get-out clause: if he failed to secure a new text, he would resort to La clemenza di Tito, a libretto written more than half a century earlier by Pietro Metastasio ( 1698 – 1782 ).

Liner notes for classical music recordings often provide information in several languages ; if the piece includes vocal parts, they will often include a libretto, possibly also translated into several languages.

After rehearsals had been going on for six months, the school threatened to pull the children out of the production if changes were not made to the libretto.

Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny () is a political-satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht.

* Falstaff ( 1799 ), Antonio Salieri's opera, with a libretto by Carlo Prospero Defranceschi, which is also based upon The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Sullivan had been satisfied with the libretto, but two months after Ida opened, Sullivan told Carte that " it is impossible for me to do another piece of the character of those already written by Gilbert and myself.

In 1691, he wrote the music for what is sometimes considered his dramatic masterpiece, King Arthur, with the libretto by Dryden and first published by the Musical Antiquarian Society in 1843.

The story is the basis of an opera, The Judgment of Paris, with a libretto by William Congreve, that was set to music by four composers in London, 1700-1701.

Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata ( The Marriage of Figaro, or The Day of Madness ), K. 492, is an opera buffa ( comic opera ) composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with a libretto in Italian by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro ( 1784 ).

Topelius wrote the libretto in Swedish ( though it was translated later by others ), but its subject is emphatically Finnish.

* The opera Ormindo is first performed in Venice: music by Francesco Cavalli and libretto by Giovanni Faustini.

Aida (), sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette.

La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave.

Il trovatore ( The Troubadour ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador ( 1836 ) by Antonio García Gutiérrez.

Ernani is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Hernani by Victor Hugo.

Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien ( Don Carlos, Infante of Spain ) by Friedrich Schiller.

The Magic Flute (, K. 620 ) is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder.

The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution ( Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L ' inutile precauzione ) is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini.

La bohème is an opera in four acts, by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger.

According to its title page, the libretto of La bohème is based on Henri Murger's novel, Scènes de la vie de bohème, a collection of vignettes portraying young bohemians living in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the 1840s.

Much of the libretto is original.

Among Leoncavallo's libretti for other composers is his contribution to the libretto for Puccini's Manon Lescaut.

Rossini's opera, now known as Il barbiere di Siviglia, is now acknowledged as Rossini's greatest work, while Paisiello's opera is only infrequently produced — a strange instance of poetical vengeance, since Paisiello himself had many years previously endeavoured to eclipse the fame of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi by resetting the libretto of his famous intermezzo, La serva padrona.

The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie.