Mer de glace (opera)

Mer de glace is an opera in two acts with a prologue composed by Australian composer Richard Meale from 1986 to 1991 to a libretto by David Malouf. It is an adaptation of, and commentary on, Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein. It presents a tableaux-like juxtaposition of some ideas of the novel alongside the real dealings of Mary Shelley with Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron.

While Voss, another collaboration between Malouf and Meale, is often considered the best Australian opera, some critics, including Andrew Ford, believe Mer de Glace may be superior. The opera was well-received at its initial performance.

Mer de Glace is a postmodernist opera of the order of John Adams's Nixon in China. The original Frankenstein is a novel about the creation of a human monster. Malouf enriches this by taking Mary Shelley, the novelist, her lover and friends into the narrative of the opera. She has a nightmare in which they assume the character of protagonists: scientist, monster, abandoned child, exploited lover, friendly observer. Meale's music refers to operas of Wagner (Tristan und Isolde) and Debussy (Pelléas et Mélisande) as commentary on the action; the conventional moral views of the 19th century public are shown in musical parodies of the era's choral writing.