The Little Prince (opera) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Little Prince |
|
|---|---|
| by Rachel Portman | |
| Librettist | Nicholas Wright |
| Language | English |
| Premiere | 31 May 2003: Houston Grand Opera |
The Little Prince, also known as A Magical Opera, is a special kind of musical play. It was created by Rachel Portman, who wrote the music, and Nicholas Wright, who wrote the words. This opera is based on the famous 1943 book called The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
The very first performance of The Little Prince opera happened at the Houston Grand Opera in the United States. This exciting event took place on May 31, 2003.
Characters in the Opera
An opera has different characters, just like a play or a movie. Each character sings their lines instead of speaking them. Here are the main characters in The Little Prince opera and the type of singing voice they have:
| Character | Voice Type | First Performance Singer (2003) |
|---|---|---|
| The Little Prince | boy soprano | Nathaniel Irvin |
| The Pilot | baritone | Teddy Tahu Rhodes |
| The Fox | mezzo-soprano | Marie Lenormand |
| The Rose | soprano | Kristin Reiersen |
| The Water | soprano | Laquita Mitchell |
| The Snake/Vain Man | tenor | Robert Mack |
| Lamplighter/Drunkard | tenor | Scott Scully |
| Businessman | baritone | Aaron Judisch |
| Geographer | baritone | Ethan Watermeier |
| The King | bass | Joshua Winograde |
| Children's choir (Stars and Birds) | ||
The Music and Instruments
The music for The Little Prince opera is played by an orchestra. An orchestra is a large group of musicians who play many different instruments together. For this opera, the orchestra includes:
- Two flutes (one can also play a piccolo, which is a small flute)
- One oboe (which can also play an English horn)
- Two clarinets (one can also play a bass clarinet)
- One bassoon (which can also play a contrabassoon, a very large bassoon)
- One trumpet
- One horn
- One trombone
- Two percussion players (who play drums, cymbals, and other instruments)
- A celesta (an instrument that looks like a small piano but sounds like bells)
- A harp
- A string section (violins, violas, cellos, and basses)
The entire opera usually lasts for about 1 hour and 35 minutes.
Recordings and Broadcasts
After the opera was shown on television, the BBC and Sony Classical worked together to release it. In November 2004, they released a double-CD and a DVD of the full opera. When the CD set came out, it became very popular on the classical music charts.
The CD set also came with a 74-page book. This book included all the words sung in the opera (the libretto). It also had photographs from the opera and drawings from the original Little Prince book. The music for the recording was made at the famous Abbey Road Studios.
