Peter Ibbetson is an opera in three companies by American composer Deems Taylor. He also wrote the libretto in collaboration with the English actress Constance Collier. The work is based on George D. Maurier's eponymous novel. The opera was ordered by the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where they hosted the world premiere on February 7, 1933, with Italian conductor Tullio Serafin. The work had only 16 performances.
Content First companyA party at an English country house in 1855. Colonel Ibbetson, a notoriously bad poet and almost everybody's old sire, surprised the attendants by reading an excellent French poem, and gives the impression that he wrote it himself . His cousin Peter, however, humiliates him by revealing that it was actually a poem by Alfred de Musset. His uncle is furious. Peter confesses to Mrs Deane, who is bothered by the colonel with unexpected avances that he hates his uncle. He remembers his childhood in Paris and his childhood love, Mimsey Seraskier. His uncle later reveals in a letter to Mrs Deane that he is actually Peter's father, something that Peter never suspects. Then Mimsey, now Mary, enters Duchess of Towers, and the two seem to recognize each other. Second company
Two years later in Paris. Peter sees Mary again in a dream. The two visit the garden from their youth, where Peter sees that the colonel admits that he is Peter's father. When he wakes up, he truly sees Mary, and they both realize who they are. They discover that they both had the same dream. Mary says, however, that she is not free and leaves him, saying she will never see each other again. Third company
Colonel Ibbetson's rooms in London. Madam has come to ask the colonel not to bother her anymore. Peter sees the letter of the colonel and confronts him with this. The two get hit and accidentally kills Peter his uncle. On the morning of his execution, Mrs Deane will tell him he has received grace; Mary has pleaded. She sends him a message: he has to go to sleep, and try to "dream". In his dreams he visits Mary with his parental home; she tells him that they will be together in their dreams every night. Thirty years later, Mrs Deane visits the dying Peter and tells him that Mary has died. He says he already knows because she did not get into his dreams tonight. The spirit of Mary appears and joins Peter when he dies; they embrace each other.
wiki
