Rumpelstiltskin, Op. 42
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Enjoy the audio samples below, as well as the videos from Opera Fairbanks' 2015 production.
See below for an interview with Baber and Gardner on NPR station WUHY Philadelphia. Complete recording available on request.
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Rumpelstiltskin, the second of Baber's collaborations with novelist and Medievalist John Gardner, is a comic opera in two acts, each lasting about one hour. It was premiered in January of 1977, as part of the opening of the newly-restored Opera House in Lexington, Kentucky. The importance of the chorus in this work makes it ideal for college opera workshops. Although the principal roles require professional-level singing, many of the other parts, including that of Rumpelstiltskin, can be taken by student performers. In fact, the role of Rumpelstiltskin can be performed by a talented singing actor. Typical of John Gardner's style, the libretto veers from low comedy to serious drama, in a context of Medieval pageantry.
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