Esmeralda (opera) 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 Royal
La Esmeralda (opera) Many of the characters were eliminated including Jehan Frollo, the dissolute younger brother of the chief antagonist Claude Frollo, although some aspects of his character were incorporated into Claude's. The main protagonist of the novel, Quasimodo, has a much reduced role in the opera, which concentrates more on the love story between Esmeralda and Phoebus. At Bertin's request, the ending of the novel was also changed with Esmeralda escaping execution. In 1834, "Notre-Dame de Paris" had been placed on the "Index Librorum Prohibitorum", the list of works condemned by the Catholic Church. The opera libretto was submitted to the censors