About the work
Opera in three acts by Isaac Albéniz to an English libretto by his patron Francis Money-Coutts, composed between 1897 and 1902 as the first part of an intended, ultimately unfinished Arthurian trilogy. During Albéniz's lifetime only the prelude was heard, in concert; the first staged performance, heavily cut and translated into Spanish, did not take place until 18 December 1950, at the Teatro Tívoli in Barcelona.
Plot
The opera traces Arthur's rise to kingship, legitimised by his passing the test of the sword, and his initially merciful reign against the resistance of rival lords as well as the sorceress Morgan le Fay and Mordred; in the end the enchantress Nivian succeeds in beguiling Merlin with his own magic and holding him captive forever.
Cultural significance
Because the score was long believed lost, Merlin remained almost unknown for a century; only in the 1990s did conductor José de Eusebio reconstruct the complete original version from manuscripts and publisher's proofs, which received its staged premiere on 28 May 2003 at the Teatro Real in Madrid.