About the work
A dramma lirico in four acts (five scenes) by Riccardo Zandonai to a libretto by Arturo Rossato, based on Selma Lagerlöf's novel "Gösta Berling's Saga" (1891). It was first performed on 7 March 1925 at La Scala in Milan, conducted by Arturo Toscanini.
Plot
Gösta Berling, a defrocked priest ruined by drink, is taken in on Christmas Eve at the Ekebù estate by the Majorin, who shelters outcasts there. He is reunited with his beloved Anna, whose father opposes the match. After a series of conflicts and an apparent betrayal by the Majorin, Gösta reforms; the gravely ill Majorin then returns, blesses the couple, hands over the estate to them, and dies.
Cultural significance
The Swedish-language version was premiered in Stockholm in 1928 to mark Lagerlöf's seventieth birthday, to great success. The work ranks among Zandonai's last major stage successes before his operas largely disappeared from the international repertoire after his death.