Science fiction opera

Science-fiction opera is a subgenre of science fiction. It refers to operas whose subject-matter fits in the science fiction genre. It is an inverse of Space Opera, which is set mainly or entirely in outer space. Like science-fiction literature, science-fiction operas may be set in the future and involve intergalactic travel or alien invasion. Other science-fiction operas focus on a dystopian view of the future. Like Lorin Maazel's opera 1984, they may be based on a previously written science fiction book. Science-fiction operas provide opportunities for imaginative costume and scenic design.

Operas that parody well known science fiction tropes also exist, such as Space Opera^[1] and Opera Galactica.^[2]

List of science-fiction operas

The following is a partial list of science-fiction operas.

• Karl-Birger Blomdahl (1916–1968): Aniara (based on the long poem by Harry Martinson)
• Eef van Breen (born 1978) ’u’, the first opera in Klingon
• Gavin Bryars (born 1943): Doctor Ox's Experiment (based on the book by Jules Verne)
• Philip Glass (born 1937): The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 and The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (based on the books by Doris Lessing), and The Voyage
• Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) Il mondo della luna (The World of the Moon), 1777
• Leoš Janáček (1854–1928): The Makropulos Affair (based on the play by Karel Čapek), Premiered 1926 and The Excursions of Mr. Brouček to the Moon and to the 15th Century
• Lorin Maazel (born 1930) 1984 (based on the book by George Orwell)
• Tod Machover (born 1953) Valis (1987) (based on the novel VALIS by Philip K. Dick)
• Gian Carlo Menotti (1911–2007) A Bride from Pluto (1982) and Help, Help, the Globolinks! (1968)
• Poul Ruders (born 1949) The Handmaid's Tale (based on the book by Margaret Atwood)
• Howard Shore (born 1946): The Fly (based on David Cronenberg's 1986 film)
• Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007 ) Licht (based on The Urantia Book)
• Steven Andrew Taylor's Paradises Lost after a short story from Ursula K. Le Guin's collection The Birthday of the World
• Michael Tippett's New Year (1989), which features a spaceship and time travelers from the future.

See also

• Science fiction theatre
• Space opera

References