Esmeralda (opera) reunited. Esmeralda (opera) Esmeralda is an opera in four acts composed by Arthur Goring Thomas to an English-language libretto by Theo Marzials and Alberto Randegger based on Victor Hugo's novel "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame". It premiered in London on 26 March 1883 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane with Georgina Burns in the title role and Barton McGuckin as her lover, Phoebus. "Esmeralda" was Thomas's first opera to receive a full staging. It was commissioned by the Carl Rosa Opera Company following a very successful performance of excerpts from his opera "The Light of the Harem" in 1879 at the
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (musical) save herself; Esmeralda answers by spitting in his face. Angered, he orders her pyre to be lit. Quasimodo swings down on a rope from the bell tower down to the pyre and unties Esmeralda before taking her back to the bell tower and invoking Notre Dame's status as a sanctuary in an appeal for protection. Frollo orders the Cathedral Guard to retake the church by force if necessary. Clopin frees Phoebus; the two rally the people of Paris to fight against the guards, but the guards are still able to break in. To stop them, Quasimodo dumps molten lead used