About the work
Ghismonda is a three-act opera by Eugen d’Albert based on Karl Immermann’s dramatic poem „Die Opfer des Schweigens,“ for which the composer also wrote the libretto himself. Composed during d’Albert’s Dresden years as the successor to his first opera „Der Rubin,“ it premiered on 28 November 1895 at the Dresden Court Theatre under conductor Ernst von Schuch.
Plot
At the pleasure palace of Prince Tankred, his daughter Ghismonda rejects the courtship of Count Manfred and secretly falls in love with Guiscardo, the son of a vassal. When Tankred discovers the pair, he has Guiscardo killed. Before the assembled court, Ghismonda then openly confesses her love, crowns the corpse with a wreath, drinks poison, and sinks lifeless beside him.
Cultural significance
The score audibly follows Wagnerian models and belongs to the early stage works with which d’Albert established himself as an opera composer after his debut; the Dresden publisher Breitkopf & Härtel issued the work in its premiere year.