Christopher Columbus (Zador)

Christopher Columbus on the Santa María as depicted in Emanuel Leutze's 1855 painting.

Christopher Columbus is an opera in one act by composer Eugene Zador with a German-language libretto by Archduke Joseph Francis of Austria.[1] Zador, a Hungarian-Jew, wrote the opera while voyaging across the Atlantic Ocean in 1939 to flee persecution from Nazi Germany.[2] The work depicts the first voyage of Christopher Columbus to America in 1492. Soprano Josepha Chekova wrote an English-language translation to the work for its world premiere on October 9, 1939.[1][3] Her translation has been used several times for performances of the work in the United States, including on a recording made by the American Symphony Orchestra in 1975.[3] The opera is approximately one hour in length.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Noel Straus (October 9, 1939). "COLUMBUS VOYAGE DEPICTED IN OPERA; Eugene Zador's One-Act Work Has World Premiere Here at the Center Theatre". The New York Times. p. 14.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Crawford was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Eugene Zador: Christopher Columbus, liner notes. Cambria. 1997.