About the work
One-act opera in three tableaux by Enrique Granados to a Spanish libretto by Fernando Periquet, which the composer developed from themes of his identically named piano suite (1911), itself inspired by Francisco Goya's paintings. It premiered on 28 January 1916 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the house's first opera performed in Spanish.
Plot
At a riverside gathering, a nocturnal ball and finally in a garden, the tragic triangle of the lovers Rosario and Fernando and their rival Paquiro unfolds, ending in a fatal duel between the two men.
Cultural significance
World War I forced the planned Paris premiere to move to New York; on the return crossing, Granados and his wife drowned when the cross-Channel steamer Sussex was torpedoed by a German U-boat. The opera has remained a rarity on stage, while the piano suite endures as a staple of the Romantic piano repertoire.