Christopher Columbus (Zador)

Christopher Columbus is an opera in one act by composer Eugene Zador with a German-language libretto by Archduke Joseph Francis of Austria.

[1] Zador, a Hungarian Jew, wrote the opera while voyaging across the Atlantic Ocean in 1939 to flee persecution from Nazi Germany.

Recognizing that his safety in Europe was likely only temporary due to the rise of Nazi Germany, he sought employment in the United States and was able to secure a position on the faculty of the New York College of Music.

[3] The premiere used an English-language translation of Archduke Joseph Francis of Austria's original German-language libretto by soprano Josepha Chekova.

[8] The New York Times was critical of the libretto and stated that the story had been shortened to the point that it prevented "dramatic action", and that its episodic construction made the work more akin to a cantata rather than opera.