Zweimal Alexander

Lady Magnesia

One-act opera
Libretto by Vera Stanewitsch based on George Bernard Shaw’s play Passion, Poison and Petrifaction

Twice Alexander

Opera buffa in one act
Libretto by André Wurmser

Black comedies, crime plays, or operatic parodies?

The one-act operas Lady Magnesia (composed in 1975) and Alexandre Bis (Twice Alexander, composed in 1937) defy simple categorization—just like their versatile composers, Mieczysław Weinberg and Bohuslav Martinů.

The premise in both works is strikingly similar: A husband accuses his wife of infidelity and takes what he believes to be appropriate action. But things quickly spiral out of control. George plans to murder Magnesia, but ends up entangled in a conversation with her instead. Alexandre stages a comedy of mistaken identity to test his wife’s fidelity—only to plant the very idea of an affair in her mind.

Where Mozart’s Così fan tutte drops the curtain, these operas are just getting started: Does the men’s mistrust lead to a happy ending? Can a demand for proof of loyalty bring clarity or even redemption—or does it simply destroy the relationship?

Each opera arrives at a different conclusion—delivered with ironic twists, jazzy interludes, and wild imagination that are signature to both Weinberg and Martinů.