The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33, also known by its French language title L'amour des trois oranges (Russian: Любовь к трём апельсинам, Lyubov' k tryom apel'sinam), is a satirical opera by Sergei Prokofiev. Its French libretto was based on the Italian play L'amore delle tre melarance by Carlo Gozzi. The original Italian and French titles actually mean The love of the Three Oranges, which makes the word for in the English version of the title a slight corruption or mistranslation. The opera received its premiere performance on 30 December 1921 at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, conducted by Prokofiev. It received its first Russian production in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) in 1926 and has since entered the standard repertoire of many opera companies. Probably the best-known piece in the opera is the "March", which was used by CBS in the radio-drama series The FBI in Peace and War that was broadcast from 1944 to 1958. Prokofiev also quotes the march in act 2 of his ballet Cinderella (Op. 87).
Composition Background | Prokofiev Bio | Prokofiev on record
