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''The Black Spider'' is an opera in three acts by Judith Weir with a libretto by the composer. The work is loosely based on the 1842 novella ''Die schwarze Spinne'' by Jeremias Gotthelf.〔Clements, Andrew. Judith Weir. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.〕 Norman Platt, director of Kent Opera, described how his finance director Robin Jessel lent him a recording of ''King Harald's Saga'' by Weir; Platt was much impressed by its originality and having listened to more of her music, met with her, and commissioned a young people's opera with funds from the Arts Council.〔Platt N. Making Music. Ashford, Pemble Productions, 2001; p79-80.〕 The work was first performed in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral on 6 March 1985, with tenor Armistead Wilkinson and children of the Frank Hooker School;〔 it lasts around one hour and a quarter.〔(World Cat entry for Black Spider opera ), accessed 14 August 2015.〕 Weir describes the opera's tone as “somewhere between a video nasty and an Ealing comedy”.〔(Programme Note by Judith Weir (1984) ) , accessed 14 August 2015.〕 ==Synopsis== The opera exploits the collision of two plots and switches back and forth between a Polish legend of the Middle Ages and a contemporary newspaper cutting about a curse on the opening of a tomb in Cracow Cathedral.〔 Villagers oppressed by a wicked landlord are given the task of carrying an entire beech forest to the mountain-top where he lives. A strange green man appears and says he will undertake the task provided the village girl, Christina, weds him. Christina is planning to marry Carl, but believes that she can the fix the matter later. The little green man fulfills his pledge as agreed, but Christina naturally breaks her word, wedding Carl. At the ceremony a spider crawls out from her hand, and this then proceeds to cause a plague in the village. Finally the disaster is stopped when Christina catches the spider and buries it in a grave outside the church. In the modern story excavations are taking place at the tomb of Casimir IV, in Wawel Cathedral, Cracow. More and more archaeologists are affected by a deadly virus with no clue to why it is happening.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Black Spider (opera)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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