Sergei Prokofiev was commissioned to compose the music to this opera during his highly successful tour of the United States in 1918. Based upon an Italian play of the same name, The Love for Three Oranges is a surreal fairy tale about a witch who curses a prince to fall in love with three oranges. Although the initial US premier of the opera was a flop, Prokofiev's masterpiece has since reentered the operatic repertoire and is considered one of the composer's greatest works.
