Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Ernst II

Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was born in Coburg on 21 June 1818 and died at Reinhardsbrunn Castle, near Friedrichroda, on 22 August 1893. He worked as a composer in mid-nineteenth-century Germany, at a time when the German courts maintained their own theatres and commissioned operas from members of their own households. He was taught by H. C. Breidenstein in Bonn and by Reissiger in Dresden.

His output embraces vocal, chamber and piano works, as well as five operas composed between 1846 and 1858. Zaire, based on Voltaire's tragedy, was premiered in 1846, followed by Tony, oder Die Vergeltung (1848) and Casilda (1851), all of which were staged in Coburg. His most successful work was Santa Chiara, conducted at its premiere by Liszt at the Hoftheater in Gotha on 2 April 1854. Within less than five years it had been mounted in most of the major German theatres and abroad too, and at the Paris Opéra it exceeded sixty performances.

Santa Chiara is, in essence, a grand opera, although it is through-composed; both the influence of Bellini and Donizetti and the tradition of the German lied can be detected in it. His last opera was Diana von Solange, in five acts (1858). Today his name is remembered above all for Santa Chiara, a testament to the operatic tastes of a German court of his era.