Héléna (opera) Héléna (opera) Héléna is an opera in three acts by the French composer Étienne Méhul. It premiered at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on 1 March 1803. The libretto is by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly. It enjoyed 36 performances in the space of 20 months before disappearing from the theatre's repertoire. Bouilly was accused of basing the plot too closely on Cherubini's "Les deux journées". According to the musicologist Elizabeth Bartlet, "several scholars have pointed out [that] Beethoven's trumpet call in "Fidelio" was inspired by Méhul's "Héléna"". Constantin, Count of Arles, has been accused of killing his father. He flees with his wife Héléna
Det sjungande trädet (opera) Det sjungande trädet (opera) Det sjungande trädet ("The Singing Tree") Op.110 is an opera in two acts by the Finnish composer Erik Bergman. The Swedish-language libretto, based on a Swedish fairy tale, was written by Bo Carpelan. The opera premiered on 3 September 1995 at the Helsinki Opera House. "Det sjungande trädet" was Bergman's only full-length opera and was composed between 1986 and 1988 as a commission from the Finnish National Opera. Prior to that, the closest he had come to the operatic genre was his 1971 "Samothrake" Op. 69, a 12-minute "musico-dramatic tableau" for speaker, mixed choir, and dancers.