An incomplete opera by Franz Liszt will receive its world premiere this June after lying undiscovered in a German archive for 200 years. Cambridge University academic Dr David Trippett discovered the abandoned composition in Weimar over 10 years ago, and has spent the past two years restoring it.

Liszt began composing the opera in 1948, but abandoned the project halfway through. Scholars who have examined the work have concluded that it could not be performed due to insufficient material – much of the piece is written in shorthand, and only one act is complete. Trippett disagreed with his colleagues, devoting himself to the 111 page manuscript and adding a 16 bar finale. The result is a complete first act stretching to almost an hour in length. A ten minute scene from the opera will be performed at the final of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World contest in June.

Trippett, a musicologist and cultural historian, said of the work: “This project is about bringing it to life for the very first time. The music that survives is breathtaking – a unique blend of Italianate lyricism and harmonic innovation. There is nothing else quite like it...