About the work
Comic opera in two acts by Peter Cornelius, who also wrote the libretto after a tale from One Thousand and One Nights. It premiered on 15 December 1858 at the Weimar court theatre under Franz Liszt's direction, having grown from a planned one-act farce into two acts on Liszt's advice.
Plot
The garrulous Baghdad barber Abul Hassan Ali Ebn Bekar imposes himself on the young Nureddin, who is secretly trying to meet Margiana, the judge's daughter. Instead of helping, the barber delays him with endless chatter and self-admiring interludes, nearly wrecking the rendezvous before matters are resolved.
Cultural significance
The premiere was disrupted by a cabal directed against Liszt and turned into a scandal; Liszt resigned as Weimar court Kapellmeister, and Cornelius never saw the opera staged again in his lifetime. Only a version revised by Felix Mottl in 1884 secured the work lasting success on German stages.