The Immortal Hour is a music drama in two acts by twentieth century British composer Rutland Boughton. The libretto is based on the play and poetry of Fiona MacLeod, whose text is filled with Celtic symbolism, and inspired attempts at Wagnerian symbolism on the part of the composer. The opera premiered in the Glastonbury Assembly Rooms in 1914, and was a considerable popular success in the early decades of the century. Although the score has Wagnerian aspirations in its symbolic use of themes, its modal basis and simple approach to its subject give it a popular appeal and accessibility reflective of the folk-like origins of the story. The tale itself includes several fantastic characters, one of which is Dalua, the Lord of the Shadow, a harbinger of death and madness who opens the opera with his chorus of laughing spirits. His realm is that of death and decay, forgotten dreams, and pale hopes. The heroine is a fairy princess named Etain who possesses eternal youth and beauty, and the hero king Eochaidh. The symbolic meaning of the tale is that of love lost, for eventually Eochaidh is parted from Etain, and touched by the hand of Dalua.

© Rita Laurance, Rovi