Fierrabras (2007)

The Frankish knight Roland captures Fierrabras, son of the Prince of the Moors, and out of chivalry has King Karl spare him. Karl remands Fierrabras to Roland's custody, and they become friends. Ronald is in love with Karl's daughter Emma, but as a simple knight, he is not of the status to marry Princess Emma, although she loves him. Emma is betrothed to Eginhard, King Karl's army commander. Roland and Emma decide to elope in the garden at night, but King Karl catches them. In the bad light, Fierrabras is able to take the fall for Roland, who spared his life, and gets put in prison. Eventually, King Karl learns the truth from Emma and sets Fierrabras free, and Fierrabras and Roland strike out together against the Moors. Fierrabaras will not strike his own father, however, and the opera ends in a happy reconciliation between the parties. In this production, Franz Schubert himself appears, taking bits of the spoken dialogue and manipulating the characters onstage, sometimes handing them sheet music from which to sing, as though he is composing the opera as it is being performed.