Performance History
The premiere took place on 7 October (O.S. 24 September), 1909, at Moscow's Solodovnikov Theatre in a performance by the Zimin Opera. Emil Cooper conducted; set designs were by Ivan Bilibin. The opera was given at the city's Bolshoi Theatre a month later, on 6 November, conducted by Vyacheslav Suk and with set designs by Konstantin Korovin. London and Paris premieres occurred in 1914; in Paris it was staged as an opera-ballet, guided by Mikhail Fokin (Michel Fokine) with set designs by Natalia Goncharova. The United States premiere took place at the Metropolitan Opera House on 6 March 1918, with Marie Sundelius in the title role, Adamo Didur and Maria Barrientos in the actual leads, and Pierre Monteux conducting.
The Met performed the work regularly through 1945. All Met performances before World War II were sung in French; during the work's final season in the Met repertory, the Golden Cockerel was sung in English. The work has not been performed at the Met since the war, but it was staged at neighboring New York City Opera from 1967 to 1971, always in English, with Beverly Sills singing the Queen of Shemakha opposite Norman Treigle's Dodon, and Julius Rudel conducting Tito Capobianco's production.
On 13th December 1975 the BBC broadcast a live performance in English from the Theatre Royal Glasgow with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Alexander Gibson. Don Garrard as King Dodon, John Angelo Messana as the Atrologer and Catherine Gayer as the Queen.
Read more about this topic: The Golden Cockerel
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