Nicolai: Die Heimkehr des Verbannten

It was not too long ago that Otto Nicolai's name was known to pera audiences exclusively in association with his comic opera The Merry Wives of Windsor. Then the performance of his opera Il Templario changed our view of this composer's oeuvre. Il Templario, a work premiered in Turin in 1840, met with great international acclaim and recognition when it was produced on the stage. It's success has encouraged us to acquaint the music world with yet another Italian opera by Nicolai produced in Chemnitz: Die Heimkehr des Verbannten, which celebrated it's premiere as Il proscritto in Milan in 1841. Three years later it was presented as a German opera entitled Die Heimkehr des Verbannten in Vienna in a version revised by Nicolai that went on to be successfully performed about forty times over a period of three years at the Court Opera Theater.