Tobias and the Angel (opera)

Performance history

The opera Tobias and the Angel first reached the stage on 7 July 1999 at Christ Church Highbury in London, with Almeida Opera producing, David Parry conducting, and Kate Brown directing. The following year, a new staging at St Matthew’s Church in Birmingham again had Brown as director, this time with Brad Cohen conducting. It later became the first touring production for the Young Vic theatre while that venue was being renovated, and when the Young Vic reopened in 2006, it revived the opera as its very first production.

The North American premiere followed on 28 February 2008 at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Baltimore, presented by Opera Vivente, with countertenor David Walker singing the Angel. Walker is known for his frequent performances as the Refugee in Jonathan Dove’s opera Flight.

In October 2012, the piece served as the inaugural show for the new Highbury Opera Theatre at Union Chapel in London, conducted by Scott Stroman and directed by Louise Radinger. A recording featuring the 2006 Young Vic cast, conducted by David Charles Abell, was released by Chandos Records in August 2010. The score was published by Edition Peters in 2000.

Synopsis

Tobit, a Jewish man from Nineveh, buries a fellow Jew against the law and is blinded the next morning by sparrows who throw droppings in his eyes. He sends his son Tobias to reclaim money owed by Raguel in Ecbatana. A stranger guides Tobias, encouraging him to listen to the songs of the trees, mountains and river. In a river a giant fish attacks; Tobias hears its hidden song and overcomes it, and the stranger tells him to take its heart and gall.

In Ecbatana, Raguel's daughter Sara is under a spell of the devil Ashmodeus, who kills her husband on their wedding night. Tobias falls in love with Sara. The stranger instructs Tobias to use the fish's heart to break the spell, allowing Tobias to marry Sara without being killed. They return to Nineveh, where Tobias uses the gall to cure Tobit's blindness, and the stranger reveals himself as the angel Raphael.