Opéra comique (plural: opéras comiques) is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged out of the popular opéra comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a lesser extent the Comédie-Italienne),^[1] which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections. Associated with the Paris theatre of the same name, the Opéra-Comique, opéra comique is not always comic or light in nature — indeed, Carmen, perhaps the most famous opéra comique, is a tragedy.

Poster for Carmen, probably the most famous opéra comique.

Use of the term[link]

The term opéra comique is complex in meaning and cannot simply be translated as "comic opera". It originated in the early 18th century when it was applied to humorous and satirical plays performed at the theatres of the Paris fairs which contained songs with new words set to already existing music (vaudevilles). In the middle of the 18th century, composers began to write original music to replace the vaudevilles, under the influence of the lighter types of Italian opera (especially Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's La serva padrona). This form of opéra comique was often known as comédie mêlée d'ariettes, but the range of subject matter it covered expanded far beyond the merely comic. By the 19th century, opéra comique often meant little more than works with spoken dialogue performed at the Opéra-Comique theatre, as opposed to works with recitative which appeared at the Paris Opéra. Thus the most famous of all opéras comiques, Georges Bizet's Carmen, is on a tragic subject. As Elizabeth Bartlet and Richard Langham Smith note in their Grove article on the subject, composers and librettists frequently rejected the use of the umbrella term opéra comique in favour of more precise labels.^[1][2]

History[link]

Beginnings[link]

Opéra comique began in the early eighteenth century in the theatres of the two annual Paris fairs, the Foire Saint Germain and the Foire Saint Laurent. Here plays began to include musical numbers called vaudevilles, which were existing popular tunes refitted with new words. The plays were humorous and often contained satirical attacks on the official theatres such as the Comédie Française. In 1715 the two fair theatres were brought under the aegis of an institution called the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique. In spite of fierce opposition from rival theatres the venture flourished and leading playwrights of the time, including Alain René Lesage and Alexis Piron, contributed works in the new form.^[1][3][4]

The late 18th century[link]

André Ernest Modeste Grétry, the most famous composer of opéra comique before the French Revolution

The Querelle des Bouffons (1752–54), a quarrel between advocates of French and Italian music, was a major turning-point for opéra comique. Members of the pro-Italian faction, such as the philosopher and musician Jean-Jacques Rousseau, attacked serious French opera, represented by the tragédies en musique of Jean-Philippe Rameau, in favour of what they saw as the simplicity and "naturalness" of Italian comic opera (opera buffa), exemplified by Pergolesi's La serva padrona, which had recently been performed in Paris by a travelling Italian troupe. In 1752, Rousseau produced a short opera influenced by Pergolesi, Le devin du village, in an attempt to introduce his ideals of musical simplicity and naturalness to France. Its success attracted the attention of the Foire theatres. The next year, the head of the Saint Laurent theatre, Jean Monnet, commissioned the composer Antoine Dauvergne to produce a French opera in the style of La serva padrona. The result was Les troqueurs, which Monnet passed off as the work of an Italian composer living in Vienna who was fluent in French, thus fooling the partisans of Italian music into giving it a warm welcome. Dauvergne's opera, with its simple plot, everyday characters and Italianate melodies, had a huge influence on subsequent opéra comique, setting a fashion for composing new music rather than recycling old tunes. Where it differed from later opéras comiques, however, was that it contained no spoken dialogue. In this, Dauvergne was following the example of Pergolesi's La serva padrona.^[1][5]

The short, catchy melodies which replaced the vaudevilles were known as ariettes and many opéras comiques in the late 18th century were styled comédies mêlées d'ariettes. Their librettists were often playwrights, skilled at keeping up with the latest trends in the theatre. Louis Anseaume, Michel-Jean Sedaine and Charles Simon Favart were among the most famous of these dramatists.^[4] Notable composers of opéras comiques in the 1750s and 1760s include Egidio Duni, Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny and François-André Danican Philidor. Duni, an Italian working at the francophile court of Parma, set Anseaume's libretto Le peintre amoureux amoureux de son modèle in 1757. Its success encouraged the composer to move to Paris permanently and he wrote 20 or so more works for the French stage.^[6] Monsigny collaborated with Sedaine in works which mixed comedy with a serious social and political element. Le roi et le fermier (1762) contains Enlightenment themes such as the virtues of the common people and the need for liberty and equality. Their biggest success, Le déserteur (1769), concerns the story of a soldier who has been condemned to death for deserting the army.^[7] Philidor's most famous opéra comique was Tom Jones (1765), based on Henry Fielding's novel of the same name. It is notable for its realistic characters and its many ensembles.^[8][9]

The most important and popular composer of opéra comique in the late 18th century was André Ernest Modeste Grétry. Grétry successfully blended Italian tunefulness with a careful setting of the French language. He was a versatile composer who expanded the range of opéra comique to cover a wide variety of subjects from the Oriental fairy tale Zémire et Azor (1772) to the musical satire of Le jugement de Midas (1778) and the domestic farce of L'amant jaloux (also 1778). His most famous work was the historical "rescue opera", Richard Coeur-de-lion (1784), which achieved international popularity, reaching London in 1786 and Boston in 1797.^[10]

Between 1724 and 1762 the Opéra-Comique theatre was located at the Foire Saint Germain. In 1762 the company was merged with the Comédie-Italienne and moved to the Hôtel de Bourgogne. In 1783 a new, larger home was created for it at the Théâtre Italien (later renamed the Salle Favart).^[11]

The Revolution and the 19th century[link]

Title page of the first edition of the full score of Médée by Cherubini, 1797.

The French Revolution brought many changes to musical life in Paris. In 1793 the name of the Comédie-Italienne was changed to the Opéra-Comique, but it no longer had a monopoly on performing operas with spoken dialogue and faced serious rivalry from the Théâtre Feydeau, which also produced works in the opéra comique style. Opéra comique generally became more dramatic and less comic and began to show the influence of musical Romanticism.^[4] The chief composers at the Opéra-Comique during the Revolutionary era were Étienne Méhul, Nicolas Dalayrac, Rodolphe Kreutzer and Henri Montan Berton. Those at the Feydeau included Luigi Cherubini, Pierre Gaveaux, Jean-François Le Sueur and François Devienne.^[12] The works of Méhul (for example Stratonice, 1792; Ariodant, 1799), Cherubini (Lodoiska, 1791; Médée, 1797; Les deux journées, 1800) and Le Sueur (La caverne, 1793) in particular show the influence of serious French opera, especially Gluck, and a willingness to take on previously taboo subjects (e.g. incest in Méhul's Mélidore et Phrosine, 1794; infanticide in Cherubini's famous Médée). Orchestration and harmony are more complex than in the music of the previous generation; attempts are made to reduce the amount of spoken dialogue; and unity is provided by techniques such as the "reminiscence motif" (recurring musical themes representing a character or idea).^[4]

In 1801 the Opéra-Comique and the Feydeau merged for financial reasons. The changing political climate - more stable under the rule of Napoleon - was reflected in musical fashion as comedy began to creep back into opéra-comique. The lighter new offerings of Boieldieu (such as Le calife de Bagdad, 1800) and Isouard (Cendrillon, 1810) were a great success.^[4] Parisian audiences of the time also loved Italian opera, visiting the Théâtre Italien to see opera buffa and works in the newly fashionable bel canto style, especially those by Rossini, whose fame was sweeping across Europe. Rossini's influence began to pervade French opéra comique. Its presence is felt in Boieldieu's greatest success, La dame blanche (1825) as well as later works by Auber (Fra Diavolo, 1830; Le domino noir, 1837), Hérold (Zampa, 1831) and Adolphe Adam (Le postillon de Longjumeau, 1836).^[13]

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c d} M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet and Richard Langham Smith. "Opéra comique." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 19 Nov. 2009 http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/43715
2. ^ Oxford Companion to Music pages 862 and 889
3. ^ Oxford Illustrated pp.91-94
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} Grove
5. ^ Oxford Illustrated pp.93-94
6. ^ Viking article on Duni (p.294)
7. ^ Viking: article on Monsigny p.674
8. ^ Viking: article on Philidor, pp.775-777
9. ^ Oxford Illustrated pp.94-95
10. ^ Oxford Illustrated pp.91-94,114-118; Viking article on Grétry.
11. ^ Oxford Illustrated pages 91 and 114
12. ^ Oxford Illustrated p.127
13. ^ Oxford Illustrated pp.135-137

Sources[link]

• The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera ed. Roger Parker (OUP, 1994)
• The Viking Opera Guide ed. Amanda Holden (Viking, 1993)
• John Warrack, Nicholas Temperley in The Oxford Companion to Music, ed. Alison Latham (Oxford University Press, 2002)

See also[link]

Category:Opéras comiques

Interior of the present-day Opéra-Comique

Coordinates: 48°52′15″N 2°20′16″E / 48.870962°N 2.337703°E / 48.870962; 2.337703

The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the Théâtre-Italien up to about 1793, when it again became most commonly known as the Opéra-Comique. Today the company's official name is Théâtre national de l'Opéra-Comique, and its theatre, with a capacity of around 1,248 seats, sometimes referred to as the Salle Favart (the third on this site), is located in Place Boïeldieu, in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, not far from the Palais Garnier, one of the theatres of the Paris Opéra. The musicians and others associated with the Opéra-Comique have made important contributions to operatic history and tradition in France, and to French opera. Its current mission is to reconnect with its history, and discover its unique repertoire, to ensure production and dissemination of operas for the wider public.^[1] Mainstays of the repertory at the Opéra-Comique during its history have included the following works which have each been performed more than 1,000 times by the company: Cavalleria Rusticana, Le chalet, La dame blanche, Le domino noir, La fille du régiment, Lakmé, Manon, Mignon, Les noces de Jeannette, Le pré aux clercs, Tosca, La bohème, Werther and Carmen, the last having been performed more than 2,500 times.^[2]

Origins[link]

The Muse of Comedy assembles Poetry, Music, and Dance to form Opéra Comique

Since the Middle Ages popular light theatrical entertainments had been a part of the seasonal Parisian fairs, especially the Foire Saint-Germain and the Foire Saint-Laurent. They included farces, tightrope acts, acrobatics, and marionettes, and also included music, such as vaudevilles and popular songs. The audiences were diverse, from all levels of society, and the presentations were given on makeshift stages. However, with the establishment in 1672 of King Louis XIV's Académie royale de Musique (popularly known as the Opéra) under Jean-Baptiste Lully, the use of music by fair troupes was significantly curtailed.^[3][4]

When the Italian players at the Hôtel de Bourgogne were banished from Paris in 1697 for performing their comedy La fausse prude ("The False Prude"), which satirized the King's mistress, Madame de Maintenon, the fair theatres were quick to adopt much of the Italians' repertory, which included parodies of operas and tragedies. The fair theatres were soon viewed as competition by the Opéra and the Comédie-Française, and restrictions were again more strictly enforced. The troupes at the Foire Saint-Germain and the Foire Saint-Laurent received warnings from the police in 1699 and 1706. Although in 1708 the fairground entrepreneurs Charles Alard and Maurice were able to purchase from the Opéra's director Pierre Guyenet the right to use singers, dancers, musicians, and sets, this did not last as Guyenet died in 1712, leaving the Opéra with a debt in the neighborhood of 400,000 livres. Alard resorted to giving silent performances with the actors' speeches displayed to the audience on large cue cards. The players next tried including vaudeville airs via audience participation: the musicians would play a popular tune, and the spectators would sing, while the actors remained silent. This was further enhanced when the words began to be displayed to the audience on a large banner.^[3][4][5][6]

Foundation and early history[link]

Favart

In 1713 and 1714 several of the fair troupes were able to conclude a new series of agreements with the creditors of the deceased Guyenet, who at this point had become the managers of the rather expensive Opéra. For an annual fee the troupes obtained the right to perform light comedies interspersed with songs and dances and to use sets and theatre machines.^[5] They were also given the right to use the name "Opéra-Comique". The first work officially given that designation was Télémaque (a parody of the opera by André Cardinal Destouches), which was first performed by the Théâtre de la Foire Saint-Germain in 1715. The words were by Alain-René Lesage, the music was arranged by Jean-Claude Gillier, and the orchestra consisted of 15 players. Lesage authored many of the early opéras comiques, and composers like Gillier worked primarily as arrangers of existing music.^[3][7] In 1716 one of the troupes' leaders, Catherine Vanderberg purchased additional rights and began to present more original works by authors, such as Jacques-Philippe d'Orneval, Alexis Piron, and Louis Fuzelier.^[4] In these early days the role of librettist for the theatre was more important than that of the composer – and pre-eminent among them for more than forty years was Charles-Simon Favart, who made his first contribution in 1734 and achieved his first important success with La chercheuse d'esprit in 1741.^[8]

In 1743 the impresario Jean Monnet paid 12,000 livres to the Opéra for the right to run the Opéra-Comique, He renovated the theatre and brought together a group of highly talented creative artists, including, besides Favart, who also worked as a stage director, the comedian Préville, the stage designer François Boucher, and the ballet master Dupré and his pupil Jean-Georges Noverre. Jean-Philippe Rameau may also have been the leader of the orchestra. The company was, however, too successful, and the Opéra refused to renew Monnet's privilege in 1745. After working briefly in Lyon, and mounting unsuccessful productions in Dijon (1746) and London (1749), he was able to repurchase the Opéra-Comique privilège in December 1751 and remained its director until 1757.^[9]

A scene from Le diable à quatre with text by Michel-Jean Sedaine

During his second period as director, Monnet continued to work with Favart and Noverre, and Boucher designed and built a substantial new theatre for the company of the Foire Saint-Laurent in 1752. The theatre was later installed in a wing of the Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs on the rue Bergère, where it was used by the Opéra in 1781,^[10], and then as the first concert hall of the Paris Conservatory, which was founded on the same site in 1795.^[11] The new theatre was especially important, as it enabled the company to perform at times when the fair was not in operation. Monnet's friend Jean Joseph Vadé wrote the libretto for Les troqueurs, first staged in July 1753 and advertised as a translation of an Italian work. The music was actually original, composed by Antoine Dauvergne, and began a period of new works in a more Italian style in which music played a much more significant role. Composers for the company during this period included Egidio Duni, François-André Danican Philidor and Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny.^[8][9]

The dramatist Michel-Jean Sedaine wrote the text of his first opera for the company, Le diable à quatre, in 1756. It premiered at the Fair Saint-Laurent on 19 August with verses for the ariettes provided by Pierre Baurans and with music parodying a variety of composers including Vincenzo Ciampi, Duni, Baldassare Galuppi, and Giuseppe Scarlatti, and also included music attributed to the French composers Jean-Louis Laurette and Philidor. Christoph Willibald Gluck was later to compose his own music for the work. His version was first given in Laxenburg, Austria, on 28 May 1759. Other settings were later composed for the Opéra-Comique by Bernardo Porta (14 February 1790)^[12] and Jean-Pierre Solié (30 November 1809).^[13]

1762 to 1807[link]

On 3 February 1762 the Opéra-Comique was merged into the Comédie-Italienne and occupied the Hôtel de Bourgogne,^[14] gaining in respectability what it lost in independence. The company was renamed to Opéra-Comique by an edict of the king in 1780, although the names Comédie-Italienne and Théâtre Italien were still used frequently by the press and public for many years thereafter. In 1783 the company moved again, into the Salle Favart (architect Jean-François Heurtier; ca. 1,100 seats) on the site where the current theatre stands. Around that time the works of Grétry featured strongly.^[8][15]

With the proliferation of opera houses after the Law of 1791 which removed restrictions on the opening of theatres, there was competition with the Théâtre Feydeau, which was resolved in 1801 by merger. By 1807 Napoleon had reduced theatrical freedoms, and the Opéra-Comique was named one of four primary theatres in Paris.

The 19th century[link]

Lithograph of the second Salle Favart which housed the company between 1840 and 1887

Fire at the second Salle Favart on 25 May 1887 (engraving).

French opéra comique, in the 19th century at least, was not necessarily comic; the term covered a much wider category of work. Notable composers in the history of the Opéra-Comique include Auber, Halévy, Berlioz and Bizet.

In 1840, the Opéra-Comique company settled in the second Salle Favart (architect Louis Charpentier; 1,500 seats), built on the site of the first theatre, destroyed by fire in 1838. The new house was inaugurated with a revival of Hérold's Le Pré aux clercs. During the 1850s and 1860s the Théâtre Lyrique offered competition in the type of repertoire staged, being particularly strong in its policy of new commissions.

Performances took place on most evenings of the week except for major festivals. Boxes could be hired for a year at a time, and many subscribers were wealthy. Before 1848 a third of subscribers were of the aristocracy, but after then it became an especially middle class theatre. After 1848 Émile Perrin sought to revive the repertoire with more literary and ambitious works. Until 1864 its repertoire was still prescribed, by statute, to have spoken dialogue between musical numbers.^[16]

The Opéra-Comique staged the first performances of such important French works as Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust (1846), Thomas' Mignon (1866), and Bizet's Carmen (1875). In the latter part of the century the theatre revived works it had made its own, restaged works from the repertoire of the Théâtre Lyrique (which had closed in 1872) and premiered new pieces, such as Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann (1881); Delibes' Lakmé (1883); Massenet's Manon (1884), Esclarmonde (1889), and Werther (French premiere in 1893); and Charpentier's Louise (1900).

A fire at the Salle Favart on 25 May 1887 resulted in the death of 84 people by asphyxiation. The building was destroyed and the director Léon Carvalho was forced to resign, although later he was acquitted of blame and resumed the helm at the company from 1891 to 1897. The third Salle Favart (architect Louis Bernier) was officially opened in the presence of President Félix Faure on 7 December 1898.

The 20th century[link]

As the differences between opéra and opéra comique faded, the two main houses in Paris came more into competition, although the Salle Favart saw the premieres of more innovative works: Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande (1902), Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-bleue (1907), Ravel's L'heure espagnole (1911), and French premieres of works by Puccini and Falla. Between 1900 and 1950, 401 works by 206 different composers were performed at the Opéra-Comique, of which 222 were either world premieres (136) or the first performance in Paris (86).^[2]

In June 1936 a broadcast of Les Contes d'Hoffmann was disrupted by the start of a company sit-in demanding the director's resignation.^[17] In 1939 financial problems resulted in the Opéra-Comique being merged with the Opéra to become the 'Réunion des Théatres Lyriques Nationaux'.^[18] Notable premieres during this period included Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1947) and La Voix humaine (1959). In 1972 the Opéra-Comique company was closed (although the theatre itself received visiting productions) and its government grant added to that of the Opéra.

The company regained its autonomy and returned to the Salle Favart in 1990. It currently mounts 7 or 8 operas or opéra comiques (some of them co-productions), with complementary concerts, recitals and exhibitions, each season. In common with many other opera houses the Opéra-Comique also offers relayed performances to cinemas (around France and in Europe); Carmen in June 2009 and Béatrice et Bénédict in March 2010.

Theatres used by the Opéra-Comique company[link]

Theatre	Dates used	Notes
at fairs, seasonally	1714 – 1762	operated at the St Germain and St Laurent fairs
Hôtel de Bourgogne	3 February 1762 – 4 April 1783	merged into Comédie-Italienne; theatre was built in the late 16th century
Salle Favart (1st)	28 April 1783 – 20 July 1801	first Salle Favart destroyed by fire on 13–14 January 1838[19]
Salle Feydeau	16 September 1801 – 22 July 1804	merger with Théâtre Feydeau; kept company name Opéra-Comique
Salle Favart (1st)	23 July 1804 – 4 July 1805	except Salle Olympique (3–23 October 1804)
Salle Feydeau	2 September 1805 – 12 April 1829
Salle Ventadour	20 April 1829 – 22 March 1832	on the rue Neuve-Ventadour, it was built for the Opéra-Comique
Salle de la Bourse	24 September 1832 – 30 April 1840	built in 1827 also called the Théâtre des Nouveautés
Salle Favart (2nd)	16 May 1840 – 25 May 1887	except Salle Ventadour (26 June – 4 July 1853); second Salle Favart destroyed by fire on 25 May 1887
Salle du Théâtre Lyrique	15 October 1887 – 30 June 1898	Place du Châtelet
Théatre du Château-d'Eau	26 October – 30 November 1898
Salle Favart (3rd)	7 December 1898 – present	declared a historic monument in 1977[20]
Sources: "Opéra-Comique"[21] and "Paris"[16] in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera; Wild and Charlton 2005.[22]
Theatres of the Opéra-Comique (engraving for the centenary of the first Salle Favart on 28 April 1883): 1. Salle de la Foire St Laurent; 2. Hôtel de Bourgogne; 3. Salle Favart (1st); 4. Salle Feydeau; 5. Salle Ventadour; 6. Salle de la Bourse; 7. Salle Favart (2nd)

Notable premieres[link]

Directors[link]

The information in the following list is compiled from Levin^[28] and Wolff.^[29]

Music Directors[link]

See also[link]

Frédéric Blasius

References[link]

Notes

Cited sources

• Charlton, David (1986). Grétry and the Growth of Opéra-Comique. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-25129-7.
• Cook, Elisabeth (1992). "Monnet [Monet], Jean" in Sadie 1992, vol. 3, p. 436.
• Fauser, Annegret; Everist, Mark, editors (2009). Music, Theater, and Cultural Transfer: Paris, 1830–1914. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-23926-2.
• Gourret, Jean (1985). Histoire des salles de l'Opéra de Paris, p. 83. Paris: Guy Trédaniel. ISBN 978-2-85707-180-8.
• Harris-Warrick, Rebecca; Charlton, David; Johnson, Janet; Langham Smith, Richard; Pitt, Charles (1992). "Paris" in Sadie 1992, vol. 3, pp. 855–879.
• Johnson, Victoria (2008). Backstage at the Revolution: How the Royal Paris Opera Survived the End of the Old Regime. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-40195-9.
• Levin, Alicia (2009). "Appendix: A Documentary Overview of Musical Theaters in Paris, 1830–1900" in Fauser and Everist 2009, pp. 379–402.
• Pitou, Spire (1983). The Paris Opéra: an encyclopedia of operas, ballets, composers, and performers (3 volumes). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwod Press. ISBN 978-0-686-46036-7.
• Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1992). The new Grove dictionary of opera (4 volumes). London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-56159-228-9.
• Simeone, Nigel (2000). Paris – A Musical Gazetteer. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-08053-7.
• Warrack, John; West, Ewan (1992). The Oxford Dictionary of Opera. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-869164-8.
• Warrack, John; West, Ewan (1996). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280028-2.
• Wild, Nicole (1992). "Guyenet, Pierre" in Sadie 1992, vol. 2, p. 586.
• Wild, Nicole; Charlton, David (2005). Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique Paris: répertoire 1762-1972. Sprimont, Belgium: Editions Mardaga. ISBN 978-2-87009-898-1.
• Wolff, Stéphane (1953). Un demi-siècle d'Opéra-Comique (1900-1950). Paris: André Bonne. OCLC 44733987, 2174128 and 78755097

Additional sources

• Élart, Joann (2004). Catalogue des fonds musicaux conservés en Haute-Normandie. Tome I : Bibliothèque municipale de Rouen. Volume 1 : Fonds du Théâtre des Arts (XVIIIe et XIXe siècles), coll. Patrimoine musical régional (in French). Rouen: PURH. ISBN 978-2-87775-333-3.

External links[link]

• Opéra-Comique website

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2009)

Anna Caterina Antonacci, born 5 April 1961 in Ferrara, is an Italian soprano known for roles in the bel canto and Baroque repertories. She possesses a dark, flexible voice that has been put to great use in the Rossini canon, and indeed for many years she performed as a mezzo-soprano. Antonacci studied in Bologna and made her debut as Rosina in 1986 at Arezzo. She was profiled at length by the New York Times in March 2012.^[1]

Repertory[link]

• Bellini: Adalgisa (Norma), Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi)
• Berlioz: Cassandre (Les Troyens), Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust)
• Bizet: Carmen (Carmen)
• Cherubini: Medea (Medea)
• Cimarosa: Horatia (Gli Orazi ed i Curiazi)
• Donizetti: Elisabetta (Maria Stuarda)
• Gluck: Alceste (Alceste), Armide (Armide)
• Halévy: Rachel (La Juive)
• Handel: Rodelinda (Rodelinda), Agrippina (Agrippina)
• Manfroce: Polyxena (Ecuba)
• Massenet: Charlotte (Werther)
• Mayr: Clotilde (La rosa bianca e la rosa rossa)
• Monteverdi: Poppea (L'incoronazione di Poppea), Nerone (L'incoronazione di Poppea)
• Mozart: Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Vitellia (La Clemenza di Tito), Elettra (Idomeneo)
• Paisiello: Elfrida (Elfrida), Nina (Nina)
• Puccini: Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly)
• Rossini: Rosina (Il barbiere di siviglia), Dorliska (Torvaldo e Dorliska), Ninetta (La gazza ladra), Semiramide (Semiramide), Ermione (Ermione), Elisabetta (Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra), Elena (La donna del lago), Zelmira (Zelmira), Elcia (Mosè in Egitto), Anaï (Moïse), Angelina (La Cenerentola)
• Verdi: Flora (La traviata), Nannetta (Falstaff), Alice Ford (Falstaff)

Discography[link]

Operas

• Berlioz: Les Troyens/Gardiner, Théâtre du Châtelet
• Bizet: Carmen/Pappano, Covent Garden
• Handel: Rodelinda/Christie, Glyndebourne Opera
• Marschner: Hans Heiling/Palumbo, Cagliari Opera
• Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea/Bolton, Bavarian State Opera
• Mozart: Così fan tutte/Kuhn, Marchigiana Philharmonic
• Mozart: Don Giovanni/Muti, Vienna State Opera
• Rossini: Ermione/Davis, Glyndebourne
• Verdi: Falstaff/Muti, La Scala

Solo

• Era La Notte/Anna Caterina Antonacci (Monteverdi, Strozzi, Giramo)

References[link]

• Jessica Duchen, Prima Donna Autentica, Opera News, June 2011 — VOL. 75, NO. 12.
• Christiansen, Rupert, The Callas of our time?, Daily Telegraph, 20 October 2006. Accessed 26 February 2009.
• Fisher, Neil, Anna Caterina Antonacci: the riddle of the sphinx, The Times, 16 January 2009. Accessed 26 February 2009.
• Grove Music Dictionary. Accessed via subscription 25 February 2009.

External links[link]

• Anna Caterina Antonacci, Askonas Holt Artists' Management

Yvonne Printemps (Ermont, 25 July 1894 – 19 January 1977 in Paris) was a French singer and actress.

Biography[link]

Born Yvonne Wigniolle, she made her debut at the age of 12 in a revue at La Cigale in Paris. She was dancing at the Folies Bergère at age 13. Nicknamed Printemps (springtime) by her fellow chorus members because of her sunny disposition, she started in operetta, appearing in such works as Les Contes de Perrault (1913) and Le Poilu (1916). Her voice and stage presence made her a great star at a young age, appearing as a teenager with the greatest stars of the day, Maurice Chevalier and Mistinguett.

In 1919, she married actor-playwright Sacha Guitry. Together they performed in a number of his plays, bringing the extremely popular 1925 production of Mozart to cities in North America, including New York City, Montreal, and Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1934 she received international acclaim for her performance in the Noël Coward play, Conversation Piece. She performed in Paris and at London's West End before going to the United States to star on Broadway. She appeared in nine motion pictures, including the starring role in both the stage and screen versions of Trois Valses.

While married to Sacha Guitry, she fell in love with French film star Pierre Fresnay. She divorced Guitry for Fresnay, whom she did not marry, but with whom she remained for life. Loving the spotlight, she would be seen draped with jewels and wearing enormous hats. Personifying the grand diva, she made a great spectacle wherever she went with her pet dogs on a leash.

She continued to perform on stage until she was well into her sixties and remained active with Pierre Fresnay, co-directing the Théâtre de la Michodière in Paris with him until his death in 1975.

Yvonne Printemps died in the Paris suburb of Neuilly in 1977. She is interred with Fresnay in the Neuilly-sur-Seine community cemetery.

In 1994, the government of France placed her image on a postage stamp.

Films[link]

Yvonne Printemps (center)

• Un roman d'amour et d'aventures (1918) (dir. René Hervil and Louis Mercanton)
• Camille (1926)
• La dame aux camélias (1934) (dir. Abel Gance) (as Marguerite Gautier)
• Les trois valses (1938) (dir. Ludwig Berger and Albert Willemetz) (as Fanny, Yvette and Irène Grandpré)
• Adrienne Lecouvreur (1938) (dir. Marcel L'Herbier) (in the title role)
• Le Duel (1939) (dir. Pierre Fresnay) (as Thérèse Jaillon)
• Je suis avec toi (1943) (dir. Henri Decoin) (as Élisabeth and Irène)
• Les Condamnés (1948) (dir. Georges Lacombe)
• La Valse de Paris (1949) (dir. Marcel Achard) (as Hortense Schneider)
• Le Voyage en Amérique (1951) (dir. Henri Lavorel) (as Clotilde Fournier)

Sources[link]

• Steane, J B (1992), 'Printemps, Yvonne' in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7

External links[link]

• Yvonne Printemps at the Internet Movie Database
• Listen 1931 recording by Yvonne Printemps of Au clair de la lune. Webpage includes lyrics.

Jules Massenet

Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (French pronunciation: [ʒyl emil fʁedeʁik masnɛ]) (May 12, 1842 – August 13, 1912) was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas fell into almost total oblivion. Apart from Manon and Werther, his works were rarely performed. However, since the mid-1970s, many operas of his such as Thaïs and Esclarmonde have undergone periodic revivals.

Biography[link]

Massenet was born in Montaud, then an outlying hamlet and now a part of the city of Saint-Étienne, in the Loire. When he was six, his family moved to Paris due to his father's ill-health. There his mother (Adélaïde Massenet, née Royer; her husband's second wife) started taking piano pupils. She also taught Jules so well that at the age of 11 he was able to enter the Paris Conservatoire. He was still a student when his family moved from Paris to Chambéry, but Jules returned to Paris after a few months, living with a married member of his father's family by his first wife. To support himself during his studies, he worked as timpanist for six years at the Théâtre Lyrique, playing also other percussion instruments in other theatres, and working as a pianist in the Café de Belleville.

Although at first some of his teachers had not predicted for him any career in music, this changed in 1862 when he won the Grand Prix de Rome with his cantata David Rizzio and spent three years in Rome. There he met Franz Liszt, at whose request he gave piano lessons to Louise-Constance "Ninon" de Gressy, the daughter of a wealthy lady named Mme Sainte-Marie. Ninon became Massenet's wife in 1866.

Massenet early in his career

His first opera, La grand' tante, was a one-act production at the Opéra-Comique in 1867. Nevertheless it was his dramatic oratorio Marie-Magdeleine (first performed in 1873) that won him praise from the likes of Tchaikovsky, d'Indy (who afterwards turned against him), and Gounod. His real mentor, though, was the composer Ambroise Thomas, a man with important contacts in theatrical milieux. Another important early patron was his publisher, Georges Hartmann, whose connections with journalistic circles aided him in becoming better known during the difficult initial years of his composing activity. Even Massenet's marriage to Ninon helped him a great deal in securing commissions and garnering fame in important social circles.

Massenet took a break from his composing to serve as a soldier in the Franco-Prussian War, but returned to his art following the end of the conflict in 1871. From 1878 he worked as professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory where his pupils included André Bloch, Gustave Charpentier, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn, Georges Enesco, and Charles Koechlin. His greatest successes were Manon in 1884, Werther in 1892, and Thaïs in 1894. Notable later operas were Le jongleur de Notre-Dame, produced in 1902, and Don Quichotte, produced in Monte Carlo 1910, with the legendary Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin in the title-role.

In 1876 he received the Légion d'honneur, and was appointed a Grand Officer in 1899. In 1878 he was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, to the exclusion of Camille Saint-Saëns. He was only 36, the youngest member ever elected to the Académie.

In addition to his operas, Massenet composed concert suites, ballet music, oratorios and cantatas and about two hundred songs. Some of his non-vocal output has achieved widespread popularity, and is commonly performed: for example the Méditation from Thaïs, which is a violin solo with orchestra, as well as the Aragonaise, from his opera Le Cid and the Élégie for cello and orchestra (from his incidental music to Les Érinnyes). The latter two pieces are commonly played by piano students, and the Élégie became world-famous in many arrangements.

There have been periodic performances and recordings of Massenet's orchestral music, especially the seven suites. Naxos has issued the complete suites, as well as ballet music from Herodiade, as performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jean-Yves Ossonce.^[1]

Massenet died in Paris at the age of 70, after suffering from a long illness (cancer).^{[2] [3]}

Being a very prolific, hard-working composer (over 25 extant operas, with his daily schedule starting frequently from as early as 4 am), he created his pieces not "at the piano" (as so many other composers do), but entirely from his imagination. That ability greatly helped him to achieve his high standards as an orchestrator. Even in his loudest passages, the instrumental texture is always lucid. It is curious that he was also known to avoid all public dress rehearsals and performances of his works; often he would have to be informed by others of his own operatic successes.

The only known recording by Massenet is a scene from Sapho where he accompanies the soprano Georgette Leblanc on the piano; never published, it is in the Historical Sound Recordings collection of Yale University.^[4]

Compositions[link]

	"Manon! avez-vous peur...On l'appelle Manon" From Manon (1884), performed by Enrico Caruso and Geraldine Farrar in 1912. "Ah! fuyez, douce image" From Manon (1884). Recorded in 1910 by Aristodemo Giorgini for Edison Records. "Notre Père" Performed by l'Atelier Vocal des Herbiers
Problems listening to these files? See media help.

Operas[link]

Oratorios and cantatas[link]

• David Rizzio – 1863
• Marie-Magdeleine – 1873
• Ève – 1875
• Narcisse – 1877
• La Vierge – 1880
• Biblis – 1886
• La Terre Promise – 1900

Ballets[link]

• Le carillon – 1892
• Cigale – 1904
• Espada – 1908
• L'histoire de Manon (arr. Leighton Lucas) – 1974

Orchestral compositions[link]

• Première suite d'orchestre – 1867
• Scènes hongroises – 1870
• Scènes pittoresques – 1874
• Scènes dramatiques – 1875
• Scènes napolitaines – 1876
• Scènes de féerie – 1881
• Scènes alsaciennes – 1882
• Fantasy for cello and orchestra – 1897
• Piano Concerto – 1903
• Ouverture de concert
• Overture to Racine's Phèdre
• Sarabande espagnole

Incidental music[link]

• Les érinnyes (containing the famous Élégie) – 1873
• Un drame sous Philippe II – 1875
• La vie de bohème – 1876
• L'Hetman – 1877
• Notre-Dame de Paris – 1879
• Michel Strogoff – 1880
• Nana-Sahin – 1883
• Théodora – 1884
• Le crocodile – 1900
• Phèdre – 1900
• Le grillon du foyer – 1904
• Le manteau du roi – 1907
• Perce-Beige et les sept gnomes – 1909
• Jérusalem – 1914

Song collections and cycles[link]

• Poëme d'Avril (Armand Silvestre), Op. 14, songs, declaimed poems and piano solos, c.1866, published 1868
• Poëme pastoral (Florian and Armand Silvestre), baritone, 3 female voices, piano, 1870–72, published 1872
• Chansons des bois d'Amaranthe (M. Legrand, after Redwitz), four solo voices (SATB) and piano, 1900, published 1901

Songs[link]

• À Colombine (Serenade d’Arlequin) (Louis Gallet)
• À la trépassée (Armand Silvestre)
• À la Zuecca (Alfred de Musset)
• À Mignonne (Gustave Chouquet)
• Adieu (Complainte) (Armand Silvestre)
• Adieux (Gilbert)
• Anniversaire (Armand Silvestre)
• Aubade (Gabriel Prévost)
• Automne (Paul Collin)
• Berceuse (Gustave Chouquet)
• Bonne nuit! (Camille Distel)
• Ce que disent les cloches (Jean de la Vingtrie)
• C'est l'amour (Victor Hugo)
• Chant provençal (Michel Carré)
• Comme autrefois (Jeanne Dortzal)
• Crépuscule (Armand Silvestre)
• Dans l'air plein de fils de soie (Armand Silvestre)
• Declaration (Gustave Chouquet)
• Élégie (Louis Gallet)
• Epitaphe (Armand Silvestre)
• Être aimé (Jules Massenet after Victor Hugo)
• Feux-follets d'amour (Madeleine Grain)
• Guitare (Victor Hugo)
• La Lettre (Catulle Mendès)
• La mort de la cigale (Maurice Fauré)
• La veillée du Petit Jésus (André (Theuriet)
• La vie d'une rose, Op. 12, No. 3 (Jules Ruelle)
• L'air du soir emportati (Armand Silvestre)
• L'âme des oiseau (Elena Vacarescu)
• Le portrait d'une enfant, Op. 12, No. 4 (Pierre de Ronsard)
• Le printemps visite la Terre (Jeanne Chaffotte)
• Le sais-tu? (Stéphan Bordèse)
• Le sentier perdu (Paul de Choudens)
• Le verger (Camille Distel)
• Les alcyons (Joseph Antoine Autran)
• Les bois de pins (Camille Distel)
• Les enfants
• Les femmes de Magdala (Louis Gallet)
• Les mains (Noel Bazan)
• Les oiselets (Jacques Normand)
• L'esclave, Op. 12, No. 1 (Théophile Gautier)
• Lève-toi (Armand Silvestre)
• Loin de moi ta lèvre Qui Ment (Jean Aicard)
• Madrigal (Armand Silvestre)
• Musette (Jean Pierre Claris de Florian)
• Narcisse à la fontaine (Paul Collin)
• Néére (Michel Carré)
• Nocturne (Jeanne Dortzal)
• Nouvelle chanson sur un vieil air (Victor Hugo)
• Nuit d'Espagne (Louis Gallet)
• Ouvre tes yeux bleus (Paul Robiquet)
• Pensée d'automne (Armand Silvestre)
• Pour qu'à l'espérance (Armand Silvestre)
• Prélude (Armand Silvestre)
• Première danse (Jacques Clary Jean Normand)
• Puisqu’elle a pris ma vie (Paul Robiquet)
• Que l'heure est donc brève (Armand Silvestre)
• Rêvons, c'est l'heure (Paul Verlaine)
• Riez-vous (Armand Silvestre)
• Rondel de la belle au bois (Julien Gruaz)
• Rose de Mai (S.Poirson)
• Roses d’Octobre (Paul Collin)
• Sérénade (Molière)
• Sérénade aux mariés, Op. 12, No. 2 (Jules Ruelle)
• Sérénade de Zanetto (François Coppée)
• Sérénade du passant (François Coppée)
• Si tu veux, Mignonne (Abbé Claude Georges Boyer)
• Soir de rêve (Antonin Lugnier)
• Soleil couchant (Victor Hugo)
• Sonnet (Georges Pradel)
• Sonnet matinal (Armand Silvestre)
• Sonnet payen (Armand Silvestre)
• Souhait (Jacques Normand)
• Sous les branches (Armand Silvestre)
• Souvenez-vous, Vierge Marie! (Georges Boyer)
• Souvenir de Venise (Alfred de Musset)
• Stances (Gilbert)
• Sur la source (Armand Silvestre)
• Un adieu (Armand Silvestre)
• Un souffle de parfums (Armand Silvestre)
• Voici que les grans lys (Armand Silvestre)
• Voix suprême (Antoinette Lafaix-Gontié)
• Vous aimerez demain (Armand Silvestre)

Other[link]

• Miscellaneous piano pieces
• Massenet completed and orchestrated Léo Delibes' unfinished opera Kassya.
• Prelude in C major for organ.

References[link]

Notes

Cited sources

• Irvine, Demar (1994). Massenet: A Chronicle of His Life and Times. Portland, Oregan: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0-931340-63-2. 
• Harding, James (1970). Massenet. New York: St. Martin's Press. 
• Massenet, Jules (1971). My Recollections. New York: AMS Press. ISBN 0-404-04229-5. 
• Full text of My recollections at archive.org
• Huebner, Steven (2006). French Opera at the Fin de Siecle: Part I – Jules Massenet. Oxford Univ. Press, US. pp. 25–168. ISBN 978-0-19-518954-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=KSQGZOTQKmwC&pg=PA25&dq=%22The+Ascent+of+Massenet%22. 
• Finck, Henry T. (2007). Massenet and His Operas. READ BOOKS. ISBN 978-1-4067-3416-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=byUI4dmwy4AC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Massenet+And+His+Operas%22. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jules Massenet

• Works by Jules Massenet at Project Gutenberg
• Free scores by Jules Massenet at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Jules Massenet in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Massenet – Meditation from Thais on YouTube for cello and orchestra.
• Masters of French Music: Jules Massenet by Arthur Hervey
• All Music biographical notes on Massenet (in English)
• Extensive biography with list of references and compositions (in French)
• Scores and Vocal Scores on Indiana University Bloomington Libraries:
  • Werther: Full orchestral score, French text only
  • Manon: Full orchestral score, French text only
  • Don Quichotte: Vocal score (piano reduction), French and English libretto