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Author : Eduard Winkler
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (724 download)
Download or read book Daniel François Esprit Aubert written by Eduard Winkler and published by . This book was released on 1956 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Author : Robert Ignatius Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443839264
Total Pages : 299 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)
Download or read book Daniel-François-Esprit Auber written by Robert Ignatius Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-25 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782–1871) was long considered one of the most typically French as well as one of the most successful of the opera composers of the 19th century. Although musically gifted, he initially chose commerce as a career, but soon realized that his future lay in music. He studied under Cherubini, and it was not long before his opéra-comique La Bergère Châteleine (1820), written at the age of 38, established him as an operatic composer. Perhaps the greatest turning point in Auber’s life was his meeting with the librettist Eugène Scribe (1791–1861), with whom he developed a long and illustrious working partnership that only ended with Scribe’s death. Success followed success; works such as Le Maçon (1825) and La Muette de Portici (1828) brought Auber public fame and official recognition. In 1829 he was appointed a member of the Institut, in 1839 Director of Concerts at Court, in 1842 Director of the Conservatoire, in 1852 Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel, and in 1861 Grand Officer of the Légion d’Honneur. Auber seems to have been fated to live in revolutionary times; during his long life no less than four revolutions took place in France (1789, 1830, 1848, 1870). Auber’s famous historical grand opera La Muette de Portici (also known by its hero’s name as Masaniello) is perhaps unsurprisingly based on revolution, depicting the 1647 Neapolitan uprising against Spanish rule. It is a key work in operatic history, and has a revolutionary history itself: it was a performance of this work in Brussels in 1830 that helped spark the revolution that led to the separation of Belgium from Holland. It was a revolution that hastened Auber’s death at the old age of 89. He died on 12 May 1871 as a result of a long illness aggravated by the privations and dangers of the Siege of Paris. He had refused to leave the city he had always loved, even after his house had been set on fire by the petroleurs et petroleuses. In a twist of fate, a mark had been placed on the house of the composer of Masaniello, the very voice of Romantic liberty! Auber’s overtures were once instantly recognizable, favourites of the light Classical repertoire. His gracious melodies and dance rhythms had a huge influence, both on piano and instrumental music, and on the genre of Romantic comic opera, especially in Germany. Musical tastes and fashions have changed, and contemporary audiences are more accustomed to the heavier fare of verismo, Wagnerian transcendentalism, and twentieth-century experimentalism. The operas themselves, apart from Fra Diavolo (1830), are seldom performed, yet Auber’s elegant, delicate and restrained art remains as appealing to the discerning listener as ever it was. Zerline, an opera in three acts with libretto by Eugène Scribe, was first performed at the Académie nationale de musique (Salle de la rue Le Peletier) on 16 May 1851. The scene is set in Palermo, during the Restoration. The Prince of Roccanera, married to the sister of the King, has a supposed niece, Gemma. She is really his daughter by Zerline, an orange-seller. The latter was abducted by pirates, and having returned to Palermo after many trials, now meets her daughter, assuming the role of her aunt. She learns that Gemma loves a young naval officer, Rodolphe, but that the Prince’s wife wishes Gemma to marry the King’s cousin, much against the girl’s wishes. In the third act, Zerline, already alerted to an intrigue compromising to the two young lovers, is able to safeguard their integrity and bring about their union. The action is better suited to a vaudeville than an opera, and the scenario has little innate interest. The role of Zerline was devised especially for the great contralto Marietta Alboni (1823–94), the first role she created. The B-flat major overture immediately establishes the family nature of the drama, with its parable of past sins, social disparity and all-conquering maternal love. There is allusion to the Sicilian setting in the two opening choruses of act 1 which are dominated by barcarolle rhythms in establishing the couleur locale. Alboni’s magnificent talent added great value to the light music written by Auber for this slight canvas. The work consequently contains many pieces of a purely virtuoso nature. Among them are the grand air d’entrée “Ô Palerme! ô Sicile!”, the thematically central canzonetta “Achetez mes belles oranges”, and the duet for soprano and contralto “Quel trouble en mon âme” in act 1. It is as though the Italian setting of the story and the Italian origins of the prima donna caused Auber to look to his early love for Rossini, and his enduring attachment to Italian musical forms and local colour (as in Fiorella, La Muette de Portici, Fra Diavolo, Actéon, La Sirène, Zanetta and Haydée). The vocal part of Zerline is a conscious re-creation of the old Rossini mode, and her various solos are written in the style of the virtuoso contralto of the opera seria, obviously with a contemporary Gallic fleetness all Auber’s own. The Grand Air demonstrates all the features. The original cast was: Merly (Roccanera); Mlle Marietta Alboni (Zerline); Mlle Maria-Dolorès-Bénédicta-Joséphine Nau (Gemma); Aimès (Rodolphe); Mlle Dameron (the Princess of Roccanera); and Lyons (the Marquis of Bettura). The work was only performed 14 times in Paris, with no reprise. It was translated into Italian, and produced in Brussels (in French) and London (in Italian).
Author : Robert Ignatius Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443825972
Total Pages : 420 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)
Download or read book Daniel-François-Esprit Auber written by Robert Ignatius Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2010-10-12 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782-1871), the composer of La Muette de Portici (1828) and Fra Diavolo (1830), was once regarded as one of the great figures of music, a staple of the operatic repertoire in France, and indeed around the world. It is now almost impossible to understand the extent of his once universal fame, his influence on contemporary composers. His operas were in the theatre repertories of the world until the 1920s, and innumerable arrangements of them were published and sold everywhere. The ubiquity of his overtures—Masaniello, Fra Diavolo, The Bronze Horse, The Black Domino, The Crown Diamonds—once as popular as those of Rossini and Suppé, and the influence of his melodies and dance rhythms on piano and instrumental music, and on Romantic comic opera, was overwhelming. In his operas Auber avoided any excess in dramatic expression; all emotion and expressiveness, any vivid depiction of local milieu, were realized within his discreetly nuanced tones, always stamped with a Parisian elegance. His operas were loved in his native France until the years before the First World War, with Fra Diavolo and Le Domino noir last performed at the Opéra-Comique in 1909. Auber’s career was a record of this success and appreciation. His appointment to the Institute (1829) was followed by other prestigious posts: as Director of Concerts at Court (1839), director of the Paris Conservatoire (1842), Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel (1852), and Grand Officer of the Légion d’Honneur (1861). During his lifetime, six biographies appeared contemporaneously, with another six appearing posthumously in the period up to 1914. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, reactions to Wagner, Impressionism and the Neo-Classicism of the Ballet Russe resulted in a growing lack of interest in the ancient traditions of opéra-comique, with its charming plots, melodic directness and rhythmic élan. Boieldieu, Hérold, Adam and Auber were relegated to the dustbin of history. Only in Germany did the genre continue to flourish; Auber’s most enduring work is still performed there. His death in pitiful conditions during the Siege of Paris (1871), in the city he always loved, marked the end of an era. Auber now occupies a shadowy niche in the general consciousness as the name of the metro station nearest the Palais Garnier, and remains unknown and neglected (apart of course from Fra Diavolo), although his impact on the nineteenth-century operatic theatre was just as great as Rossini’s. The time has surely come for Auber’s life and work, especially in association with his life-long collaborator Eugène Scribe (1791-1861)—master dramatist and supreme librettist, a determining force in the history of opera—to be reassessed. Perhaps then the world will begin to hear more of Auber’s elegant gracious, life-affirming music, written to Scribe’s words. The aim of the present study is to offer an overview of the life and work of Auber by close examination of his forty operas, with consideration of origins, casting, plot, analysis of dramaturgy and musical style, and reception history. This is presented in the context of Auber's relationship to the dominant genres of early nineteenth century French culture, opéra comique and grand opéra. The three evolving periods of Auber's unique involvement with opéra comique are of principal concern. This analysis of the operas is made in the context of Auber's crucial working relationship with Scribe, who provided 38 of his libretti. Their cooperation is unique and of great importance on several literary, musical and cultural levels. The nature of their interaction and personal friendship is assessed by a translation of the extant correspondence between them, some 80 letters that have not appeared in English before. The presentation of each opera is illustrated by musical examples from all the scores, prints from the complete works of Scribe and other theatrical memorabilia. The study also contains bibliographies of Auber’s works and their contemporary arrangements, studies of Auber’s and Scribe’s life and work, their artistic and historical milieux, and a discography.
Author : Robert Ignatius Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 144383923X
Total Pages : 195 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)
Download or read book Daniel-François-Esprit Auber written by Robert Ignatius Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-25 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782–1871), the most amiable French composer of the 19th century, came to his abilities late in life. After a stalled commercial career, he studied with Cherubini. His first works were not a success, but La Bergère Châteleine (1820), written at the age of 38, established him as an operatic composer. He then met the librettist Eugène Scribe (1791–1861), with whom he developed a working partnership, one of the most successful in musical history, that lasted until Scribe’s death. After Le Maçon (1825) and La Muette de Portici (1828), Auber’s life was filled with success. In 1829 he was appointed a member of the Institut, in 1839 Director of Concerts at Court, in 1842 Director of the Conservatoire, in 1852 Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel, and in 1861 Grand Officer of the Légion d’Honneur. Auber’s famous historical grand opera La Muette de Portici (also known by its hero’s name as Masaniello) is a key work in operatic history, and helped to inspire the 1830 revolution in Brussels that led to the separation of Belgium from Holland. Auber himself experienced four French Revolutions (1789, 1830, 1848, 1870). The latter (The Commune) hastened the end of his life. He died on 12 May 1871, at the advanced old age of 89, and in the pitiful conditions of civil strife, after a long and painful illness which worsened during the Siege of Paris. He had refused to leave the city he had always loved despite the dangers and privation, even after his house had been set on fire by the petroleurs et petroleuses. By some irony a mark had been placed against the house of the composer of Masaniello, the very voice of Romantic liberty! Auber’s overtures were once known everywhere, a staple of the light Classical repertoire. The influence of his gracious melodies and dance rhythms on piano and instrumental music, and on the genre of Romantic comic opera, especially in Germany, was overwhelming. The operas themselves, apart from Fra Diavolo (1830), have virtually passed out of the repertoire, since Auber’s elegant and restrained art now has little appeal for the world of music, attuned as it is to the meatier substance of verismo, Wagnerian transcendentalism, and twentieth-century experimentalism. Haydée, an opéra-comique in three acts, with libretto by Eugène Scribe, was first performed at the Opéra-Comique (Deuxième Salle Favart), on 28 December 1847. The opera derives from Auber’s third period, and after La Muette de Portici, Fra Diavolo and Le Domino noir, was the composer’s best work. Scribe’s Venetian tale uses motifs derived from Prosper Mérimée’s novella collection La Partie de trictrac (1830) and Alexandre Dumas (père)’s novel Le Comte de Monte Cristo (1845). He obtained the central anecdote of the plot from one of Prosper Merimée’s short stories translated from Russian (“Six et quatre”), written in 1830. The opera is set in Dalmatia and Venice during the early years of the 16th century. Lorédan Grimani, a victorious Venetian admiral, is haunted by the memory that several years previously he ruined his best friend, the senator Donato, at cards through cheating. The senator killed himself that night, and in reparation Lorédan has brought up his daughter Rafaëla, and has been searching for the senator’s son, Andrea. The disquieted Lorédan is blackmailed by the unscrupulous Malipieri until the latter is killed in a duel, and it is revealed that Andrea is the long-lost son of the senator Donato. Lorédan is elevated to the dignity of doge of Venice. He reunites Rafaëla and Andrea, and himself marries his Cypriot slave, Haydée. The opera belongs to the genre of the serious opéra-comique. The chief themes are Lorédan’s pangs of conscience, Malipieri’s villainy, and the growing love between Lorédan and Haydée. Both text and music derive their strongest effect from the continual contrast between external action (nautical life, popular songs and Venetian pomp) and the convolutions of inner drama. There is hardly a weak moment in the score, and in the serious sections it achieves a height and intensity that Auber had not attained in the serious mode since La Muette de Portici (1828). This work is the most distinguished product of the third period of Auber’s career, and is one of his richest scores, a feature apparent from the musical treatment of the tenor hero, a substantial role conceived from the first with the great Gustave Roger in mind. The heroine is also depicted with subtlety. Haydée’s tender understanding, her devotion to Lorédan, the totality of her self-sacrificing love, are revealed in the course of the opera. She becomes one of Scribe’s great female characters. The strength and controlled forcefulness of the story are consistently reflected in the masterful musical conception of the score. The quasi-tragic nature of the action is underpinned in the power of the music, with its strong writing for brass and woodwind, and its very emphatic rhythms. It is ultimately a concern with psychological exploration, its reflection in formal invention and development, the elemental and local apprehension of colour, and the depiction of the Venetian spirit of military prowess and pride that give the score its unique place in the composer’s work. The roles were created by Gustave-Hippolyte Roger (Lorédan Grimani); Léonard Hermann-Léon (Malipieri); Louise Lavoye (Haydée); Sophie Grimm (Rafaëla); Marius-Pierre Audran (Andrea Donato); and Ricquier (Domenico, a sailor). Haydée was one of the most successful of all Auber’s operas, especially in Paris where, with interruptions, it was retained in the repertoire until 1894, attaining 499 performances. This edition reproduces the vocal score published in Paris by Brandus & Dufour (1848).
Author : Robert Ignatius Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443839221
Total Pages : 450 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)
Download or read book Daniel-François-Esprit Auber written by Robert Ignatius Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-25 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782–1871), the most amiable French composer of the 19th century, came to his abilities late in life. After a stalled commercial career, he studied with Cherubini. His first works were not a success, but La Bergère Châteleine (1820), written at the age of 38, established him as an operatic composer. He then met the librettist Eugène Scribe (1791–1861), with whom he developed a working partnership, one of the most successful in musical history, that lasted until Scribe’s death. After Le Maçon (1825) and La Muette de Portici (1828), Auber’s life was filled with success. In 1829 he was appointed a member of the Institut, in 1839 Director of Concerts at Court, in 1842 Director of the Conservatoire, in 1852 Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel, and in 1861 Grand Officer of the Légion d’Honneur. Auber’s famous historical grand opera La Muette de Portici (also known by its hero’s name as Masaniello) is a key work in operatic history, and helped to inspire the 1830 revolution in Brussels that led to the separation of Belgium from Holland. Auber himself experienced four French Revolutions (1789, 1830, 1848, 1870). The latter (the Commune) hastened the end of his life. He died on 12 May 1871, at the advanced old age of 89, and in the pitiful conditions of civil strife, after a long and painful illness which worsened during the Siege of Paris. He had refused to leave the city he had always loved despite the dangers and privation, even after his house had been set on fire by the petroleurs et petroleuses. By some irony a mark had been placed against the house of the composer of Masaniello, the very voice of Romantic liberty! Auber’s overtures were once known everywhere, a staple of the light Classical repertoire. The influence of his gracious melodies and dance rhythms on piano and instrumental music, and on the genre of Romantic comic opera, especially in Germany, was overwhelming. The operas themselves, apart from Fra Diavolo (1830), have virtually passed out of the repertoire, since Auber’s elegant and restrained art now has little appeal for the world of music, attuned as it is to the meatier substance of verismo, high Wagnerian ideology, and twentieth-century experimentalism. Le Lac des fées, an opéra in five acts, with libretto by Eugène Scribe and Mélesville (Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier), was premiered at the Académie nationale de musique (Salle de la rue Le Peletier) on 1 April 1839. The story is derived from the tale “Der geraubte Schleier” from Johann Karl August Musäus’s Volksmärchen der Deutschen (1782–86). Musäus’s collection of fairy tales was also the basis of Wenzel Reisinger’s scenario for Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake (1877). The opera is set in the Harz Mountains and Cologne, in the fifteenth century. Albert, a young student, has fallen in love with a fairy, Zélia: she has been forced to live on earth because Albert has stolen her veil. At the last moment, however, she regains her veil from Marguerite, and disappears to her fairy sisters. To welcome her back, the Fairy Queen allows Zélia a wish: but she chooses to renounce immortality, and returns to Albert on the earth. Despite its five acts, the opera is not overtly concerned with the great historical themes usually associated with grand-opéra, but exemplifies Scribe’s third type of opera libretto (after opéra-comique and grand-opéra), derived from exotic or legendary material. However, the literary source is remarkable for its depiction of the rebellion of the people and students against the feudal lord Rodolphe—themes that have a strong affinity with the historical and political concerns of Auber’s earlier compositions, La Muette de Portici and Gustave III, and this thematic affinity is also evident in the musical aspects of the work. Much time in Le Lac des fées is taken in elaborating the central depiction of popular festivity. Indeed, the requirements of grand-opéra are realized with an original twist in the big act 3 depiction of the medieval Epiphany celebrations, with its attempt at recreating the variety of genre and mood. The composer handled this legendary and supernatural subject with a certain poetic grace and inspiration. The dramatic highpoints of the score provide impressive examples of Auber’s art. Remarkable pieces include: the overture; the cavatina for Albert “Gentille fée”; Rodolphe’s grand air “Avec addresse”; the Scene of the Fairies; Zélia’s scene of despair in act 1 and her complaint “C’en est donc fait”; the extensive duet for Zélia and Albert in act 3, and Albert’s mad scene in act 4. Of special note are the graceful and effective fairy choruses. There is also a very Romantic sense of tonal painting, with the moonlit serenity of the fairy lake conveyed in mellifluous orchestral detail. Richard Wagner arrived in Paris in 1839, and perhaps saw one of the last of the stagings. The influence of the final transformation scene must have affected him deeply—both as stagecraft and music. The original cast was: Gilbert Duprez; Mlle Maria-Dolorès-Bénédicta-Joséphine Nau; Nicholas-Prosper Levasseur; Louis-Émile Wartel; Ferdinand Prévôt and Alexis Dupont; Molinier; Rosine Stoltz; and Mlle Elian Barthélémy. Despite the cast of exceptional quality, Le Lac des fées was not a success in Paris, where it was performed 30 times, with no reprise. On the other hand, the German version of the work enjoyed great popularity; the opera was also translated into English and Polish, and produced in a number of European countries and in New York between 1839 and 1847, with revivals in Karlsruhe and Stuttgart in 1865 and 1871.
Author : Alexander Flores
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 38 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (868 download)
Download or read book Daniel François Esprit Auber - a Major Source of Inspiration for Offenbach? written by Alexander Flores and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Author : Ignatius Robert Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9781443829397
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (293 download)
Download or read book Daniel-François-Esprit Auber written by Ignatius Robert Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2011-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782â "1871) was long considered one of the most typically French as well as one of the most successful of the opera composers of the 19th century. Although musically gifted, he initially chose commerce as a career, but soon realized that his future lay in music. He studied under Cherubini, and it was not long before his opÃ(c)ra-comique La Bergère Châteleine (1820), written at the age of 38, established him as an operatic composer. Perhaps the greatest turning point in Auberâ (TM)s life was his meeting with the librettist Eugène Scribe (1791â "1861), with whom he developed a long and illustrious working partnership that only ended with Scribeâ (TM)s death. Success followed success; works such as Le Maçon (1825) and La Muette de Portici (1828) brought Auber public fame and official recognition. In 1829 he was appointed a member of the Institut, in 1839 Director of Concerts at Court, in 1842 Director of the Conservatoire, in 1852 Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel, and in 1861 Grand Officer of the LÃ(c)gion dâ (TM)Honneur. Auber seems to have been fated to live in revolutionary times; during his long life no less than four revolutions took place in France (1789, 1830, 1848, 1870). Auberâ (TM)s famous historical grand opera La Muette de Portici (also known by its heroâ (TM)s name as Masaniello) is perhaps unsurprisingly based on revolution, depicting the 1647 Neapolitan uprising against Spanish rule. It is a key work in operatic history, and has a revolutionary history itself: it was a performance of this work in Brussels in 1830 that helped spark the revolution that led to the separation of Belgium from Holland. It was a revolution that hastened Auberâ (TM)s death at the old age of 89. He died on 12 May 1871 as a result of a long illness aggravated by the privations and dangers of the Siege of Paris. He had refused to leave the city he had always loved, even after his house had been set on fire by the petroleurs et petroleuses. In a twist of fate, a mark had been placed on the house of the composer of Masaniello, the very voice of Romantic liberty! Auberâ (TM)s overtures were once instantly recognizable, favourites of the light Classical repertoire. His gracious melodies and dance rhythms had a huge influence, both on piano and instrumental music, and on the genre of Romantic comic opera, especially in Germany. Musical tastes and fashions have changed, and contemporary audiences are more accustomed to the heavier fare of verismo, Wagnerian transcendentalism, and twentieth-century experimentalism. The operas themselves, apart from Fra Diavolo (1830), are seldom performed, yet Auberâ (TM)s elegant, delicate and restrained art remains as appealing to the discerning listener as ever it was. Le Serment, an opÃ(c)ra in three acts, with libretto by Eugène Scribe and Edouard Mazères, was first performed at the AcadÃ(c)mie Royale de Musique (Salle de la rue Le Peletier), on 1 October 1832. The story is set in Toulon, in 1800. The village innkeeper Andiol prefers, as his future son-in-law, an unknown man who is secretly a brigand and leader of a band of counterfeiters (Capitaine Jean), to the young farmer Edmond, who is loved by his daughter Marie. Edmond learns Jeanâ (TM)s secret but is induced to promise that he will not reveal Jeanâ (TM)s true identity. He goes off to be a soldier, returning as a successful officer. Marie is about to marry Jean, but when the truth about Jeanâ (TM)s identity is revealed, they are able to be married at last. The proportions of the OpÃ(c)ra were far too grandiose for the modest subject of Le Serment. The opera was not a great success, but maintained its place in the repertoire without interruption until 1849, although most often given without the last act. The mise en scène was much admired, depicting the interior of an inn, a Gothic chamber, and a busy street where merchants of various races dressed in native costume peddled their wares. The opera enjoyed particular popularity in Germany as Die FalschmÃ1/4nzer. The music is full of ingenious details and the orchestration is refined. The overture became well-known. It establishes three distinct thematic worlds: the pastoral world of Marie and Andiol, the busy world of the counterfeiters, and the military world of Edmondâ (TM)s patriotic adventures. There are several extended solo numbers, like the opening air for Andiol; some fine choral writing for male voices; and Capitaine Jeanâ (TM)s nautical ballad. The role of the counterfeiters presents another variant on the favoured Romantic topoi of robbers and smugglers; their activities are hidden behind stories of hauntings to keep away the curious. The tenor is given excellent opportunities in Edmondâ (TM)s arias in act 2 (â oeEn avant conscritâ ) and act 3 (â oeSalut à ́ mon paysâ ). The most famous piece in the opera is Marieâ (TM)s grand air à vocalises for the soprano (â oeDès enfance les mÃames chaÃ(R)nesâ ) in which all the most arduous difficulties of the art of singing are displayed. It was a triumph for Madame Damoreau, and served for a long time as a test piece, and was later introduced into the beginning of act 2 of the Italian version of Fra Diavolo as a more substantial and challenging alternative to Zerlineâ (TM)s aria. The original cast was: Adolphe Nourrit (Edmond); Laure Cinti-Damoreau (Marie); Henri-Bernard Dabadie (Jean); Prosper Derivis and Nicholas-Prosper Levasseur (Andiol); Ferdinand PrÃ(c)và ́t (a brigadier of the gendarmerie); and TrÃ(c)vaux (an officer). The opera remained in the repertoire from 1832 to 1849, with the 100th performance taking place on 30 March 1849. There were 102 performances in total. It was translated into English, German, Italian, Hungarian, Czech and Russian, and produced in many European cities.
Author : Robert Ignatius Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443839213
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)
Download or read book Daniel-François-Esprit Auber written by Robert Ignatius Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-25 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782–1871), the most amiable French composer of the 19th century, came to his abilities late in life. After a stalled commercial career, he studied with Cherubini. His first works were not a success, but La Bergère Châteleine (1820), written at the age of 38, established him as an operatic composer. He then met the librettist Eugène Scribe (1791–1861), with whom he developed a working partnership, one of the most successful in musical history, that lasted until Scribe’s death. After Le Maçon (1825) and La Muette de Portici (1828), Auber’s life was filled with success. In 1829 he was appointed a member of the Institut, in 1839 Director of Concerts at Court, in 1842 Director of the Conservatoire, in 1852 Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel, and in 1861 Grand Officer of the Légion d’Honneur. Auber’s famous historical grand opera La Muette de Portici (also known by its hero’s name as Masaniello) is a key work in operatic history, and helped to inspire the 1830 revolution in Brussels that led to the separation of Belgium from Holland. Auber himself experienced four French Revolutions (1789, 1830, 1848, 1870). The latter (the Commune) hastened the end of his life. He died on 12 May 1871, at the advanced old age of 89, and in the pitiful conditions of civil strife, after a long and painful illness which worsened during the Siege of Paris. He had refused to leave the city he had always loved despite the dangers and privation, even after his house had been set on fire by the petroleurs et petroleuses. By some irony a mark had been placed against the house of the composer of Masaniello, the very voice of Romantic liberty! Auber’s overtures were once known everywhere, a staple of the light Classical repertoire. The influence of his gracious melodies and dance rhythms on piano and instrumental music, and on the genre of Romantic comic opera, especially in Germany, was overwhelming. The operas themselves, apart from Fra Diavolo (1830), have virtually passed out of the repertoire, since Auber’s elegant and restrained art now has little appeal for the world of music, attuned as it is to the meatier substance of verismo, high Wagnerian ideology, and twentieth-century experimentalism. Le Cheval de bronze was premiered at the Opéra-Comique on 23 March 1835. It was described as an opéra-féerique in three acts. The librettist, Scribe, derived the plot from the tale “Les Sept Fils du Calender” in The Arabian Nights. The scene is set in Shantung province in China in legendary times. The magical Bronze Horse of the title, which has appeared mysteriously on a nearby hill, will transport any man who climbs onto its back to the planet Venus, where a group of female sirens, led by the lovely Princess Stella, live. If the traveller in space can resist the sirens’ advances, he can return to earth with the lady of his choice; if not, he is whisked back alone, and turned to stone if he speaks of his experiences. The witty libretto, that with its exotic subject perfectly captured the taste of the time, offers differentiated characterizations, much situational comedy, and some eroticism in the Venus scenes. The score is among Auber’s best achievements, brimming over with invention: fantasy and comedy are captured perfectly, while the big love duets allow the expression of genuine feeling to break through the burlesque situations. The exotic and fairytale tone is achieved without obvious musical chinoiserie, being rather transmuted into instrumental and harmonic richness, especially in the big ensembles. This is one of the most precisely and carefully controlled of all the composer’s scores. The sense of detail and care is everywhere apparent, as in the short but beautifully crafted entr’actes to acts 2 and 3. The ensembles in act 1, especially the brilliant quintet, and the act 2 finale are remarkable. The thematic integration is extraordinary, and in some instances achieves a genuine use of Leitmotif. The overture presents all the essential elements of the story in powerful symbolic summary. It is dominated by the central image of the Bronze Horse, the agent of magical adventure and transformation. The enterprising Péki, as the heroine and a redemptrix figure, shares something of the Horse’s dynamism. The most obvious motif of the Bronze Horse and its magic power comes from Péki’s act 1 ballad in which she explains the mysterious presence of the mythical creature on its high promontory: “Là-bas, sur ce rocher sauvage”. The roles were created by Auguste Féréol (Tsing-Sing), Louis-Benoît-Alphonse Révial (Prince Yang), Jean-Francois Inchindi [Hinnekindt] (Tchin-Kao), Étienne-Bernard-Auguste Thénard (Yanko), Félicité Pradher (Péki), Sophie Ponchard (Tao-Jin), Marie Casimir (Princess Stella), and Mlle Fargueil (Lo Mangli). The opera was initially a hit, with 84 performances in the first year, and over the next few years was staged in numerous countries from London (Covent Garden 1835) to Russia (St Petersburg 1837) and the United States (New York 1837), but then sank into an undeserved obscurity. The work was revived in expanded form at the Opéra on 21 September 1857, and famously by Engelbert Humperdinck at Karlsruhe, in his own arrangement (10 November 1889). It was performed in concert in Vienna (1953), Berne (1969) and Paris (1979). This edition reproduces the vocal score published in Paris by E. Troupenas (1835).
Author : Robert Ignatius Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443839205
Total Pages : 335 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)
Download or read book Daniel-François-Esprit Auber written by Robert Ignatius Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-25 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782–1871), the most amiable French composer of the 19th century, came to his abilities late in life. After a stalled commercial career, he studied with Cherubini. His first works were not a success, but La Bergère Châteleine (1820), written at the age of 38, established him as an operatic composer. He then met the librettist Eugène Scribe (1791–1861), with whom he developed a working partnership, one of the most successful in musical history, that lasted until Scribe’s death. After Le Maçon (1825) and La Muette de Portici (1828), Auber’s life was filled with success. In 1829 he was appointed a member of the Institut, in 1839 Director of Concerts at Court, in 1842 Director of the Conservatoire, in 1852 Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel, and in 1861 Grand Officer of the Légion d’Honneur. Auber’s famous historical grand opera La Muette de Portici (also known by its hero’s name as Masaniello) is a key work in operatic history. Auber himself experienced four French Revolutions (1789, 1830, 1848, 1870). The latter (The Commune) hastened the end of his life. He died on 12 May 1871, at the advanced old age of 89, and in the pitiful conditions of civil strife, after a long and painful illness which worsened during the Siege of Paris. He had refused to leave the city he had always loved despite the dangers and privation, even after his house had been set on fire by the petroleurs et petroleuses. By some irony a mark had been placed against the house of the composer of Masaniello, the very voice of Romantic liberty! Auber’s overtures were once known everywhere, a staple of the light Classical repertoire. The influence of his gracious melodies and dance rhythms on piano and instrumental music, and on the genre of Romantic comic opera, especially in Germany, was overwhelming. The operas themselves, apart from Fra Diavolo (1830), have virtually passed out of the repertoire, since Auber’s elegant and restrained art now has little appeal for the world of music, attuned as it is to the meatier substance of verismo, Wagnerian transcendentalism, and 20th-century experimentalism. La Muette de Portici, an opera in five acts, with libretto by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne, was premiered at the Académie Royale de Musique (Salle de la rue Le Peletier) on 29 February 1828. The setting is Naples in 1647, against the historical background of the revolt led by the fisherman Tommaso Aniello (Masaniello) against Spanish rule. This work, of crucial importance for the genre of grand-opéra, or grandiose historical music drama, was one of the most successful of the 19th century, and became enveloped in a revolutionary mystique. This reputation took fire following a performance in Brussels on 25 August 1830 which sparked the uprising for Belgian independence from the Netherlands, and was further sustained by the events of 1848 when stagings of the opera caused tumult and demonstrations in several opera houses. La Muette de Portici is the first grand-opéra with all the typical characteristics of the genre: five short acts, most of which culminate in a dramatic and decorative tableau; ballets loosely connected with the action (in acts 1 and 3); stage sensation and mass groupings, with lavish use of décor, costumes and machinery (the wedding procession, the busy marketplace and popular uprising, the eruption of Vesuvius), characteristic situations and their appropriate type of aria. There is a group of important leading roles, powerful and functional choruses, and a much expanded reliance on the orchestra. The music responds to, and reflects, the vivid and imposing scenic effects (based on historical and pictorial research by the great stage designers and painters Pierre-Luc-Charles Cicéri and Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre). The music is also remarkable for its melodic abundance, the excitement of its ensembles, the verve of its dances, and the power and variety of the choruses. The contrast between the two heroines—Fenella, a mute peasant who expresses herself in gesture and dance in free-form balletic sequence; and Elvire, a glamorous princess who uses the full range of Italianate vocal genres and styles—makes a series of innate dramatic and symbolic points about power and powerlessness, authenticity of emotion, and the nature of commitment. The two tenor roles have a similarly strong, if less vivid, contrast. The prince, Alphonse, comes across as weak and vacillating, whereas Masaniello, the fisherman, is a natural leader, a man among men, whose devotion to his people, to freedom, as well as to his pathetic broken sister, mark him out as hero. The roles were created by Adolphe Nourrit (Masaniello); Alexis Dupont (Alphonse); Laure Cinti-Damoreau (Elvire); Henri-Bernard Dabadie (Pietro) and Prévot (Borella); with Pouilley, Jean-Etienne-Auguste Massol, Ferdinand Prévot and Mlle Lorotte. The dancer Lise Noblet realized the role of Fenella. The opera was one of the greatest successes at the Paris Opéra, the 100th performance taking place on the 23 April 1840, the 500th on 14 June 1880. It was also successful in other countries, especially Germany. The work was translated into German, Hungarian, English, Italian, Czech, Dutch, Danish, Polish, Norwegian, Swedish, Croatian and Russian. This edition reproduces the vocal score published by E. Troupenas (c. 1828).
Author : Robert Ignatius Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443827932
Total Pages : 467 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)
Download or read book The Overtures of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber written by Robert Ignatius Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2011-01-18 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The overtures of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782–1871), once as popular as those of Gioacchino Rossini and Franz von Suppé, were formerly known everywhere, a staple of the light Classical repertoire. The influence of Auber’s melodies and dance rhythms on piano and instrumental music, and on the genre of Romantic comic opera, especially in Germany, was overwhelming. The operas themselves, apart from Fra Diavolo (1830), have virtually passed out of the repertoire, but some of their overtures live on vicariously, and sound brilliant and charming when given the chance—The Bronze Horse, Masaniello, The Crown Diamonds, Fra Diavolo, The Black Domino. The freshness of the melody, the incision of the orchestral colours, and the rhythmic vitality are still capable of generating a visceral excitement. Auber, the most amiable French composer of the 19th century, came to his abilities late in life. After a stalled commercial career, he studied with Cherubini. His first operas were not a success, but La Bergère Châteleine (1820), written at the age of 38, established him as an operatic composer. It was at this time that he met the librettist Eugène Scribe (1791–1861), with whom he established a working partnership, one of the most successful in musical history, that lasted until Scribe’s death. After Le Maçon (1825) and La Muette de Portici (1828), Auber’s life was filled with success. In 1829 he was appointed a member of the Institut, in 1839 Director of Concerts at Court, in 1842 Director of the Conservatoire, in 1852 Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel, and in 1861 Grand Officer of the Légion d’Honneur. Auber’s famous historical grand opera La Muette de Portici (Masaniello) is a key work in operatic history, and helped to inspire the revolution in Brussels that led to the separation of Belgium from Holland. Auber himself experienced four French Revolutions (1789, 1830, 1848, 1870). The latter (The Commune) hastened the end of his life. He died on 12 May 1871, at the advanced old age of 89, and in the pitiful conditions of civil strife, after a long and painful illness which worsened during the Siege of Paris. He refused to leave the city he had always loved despite the dangers and privation, even after his house had been set on fire by the petroleurs et petroleuses. By some irony a mark had been placed against the house of the composer of La Muette de Portici, the very voice of Romantic liberty! Auber’s elegant and restrained art now has little appeal for the world of music, attuned as it is to meatier substance of verismo, high Wagnerian ideology, and twentieth-century experimentalism. But he was once a household name, and his pared style, fleet rhythms and restrained emotion were a byword of taste. This collection brings together 40 of Auber’s overtures, from his first great success with La Bergère Châtelaine, to his last opera, written at the age of 87, Rêve d’Amour, and including the concert overture he wrote in 1862 for the London Exhibition. Auber adopted the Rossinian adaptation of the overture genre, a sonata form with foreshortened development (or a sequential passage for transition back to the recapitulation). His handling of this basic structure remained consistent throughout his career, and followed three or four differing approaches, but always invested with his characteristic verve, rhythmic élan, clarity of texture, and brilliance of orchestration. In all, the overtures, especially when viewed as a corpus, present a journey through the creative life of composer dedicated to musical drama, who always remained the perfect exemplar of a certain French style and elegance—even in his serious works.
Author : Robert Ignatius Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443839256
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)
Download or read book Daniel-François-Esprit Auber written by Robert Ignatius Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-25 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782–1871), the most amiable French composer of the 19th century, came to his abilities late in life. After a stalled commercial career, he studied with Cherubini. His first works were not a success, but La Bergère Châteleine (1820), written at the age of 38, established him as an operatic composer. He then met the librettist Eugène Scribe (1791–1861), with whom he developed a working partnership, one of the most successful in musical history, that lasted until Scribe’s death. After Le Maçon (1825) and La Muette de Portici (1828), Auber’s life was filled with success. In 1829 he was appointed a member of the Institut, in 1839 Director of Concerts at Court, in 1842 Director of the Conservatoire, in 1852 Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel, and in 1861 Grand Officer of the Légion d’Honneur. Auber’s famous historical grand opera La Muette de Portici (also known by its hero’s name as Masaniello) is a key work in operatic history, and helped to inspire the 1830 revolution in Brussels that led to the separation of Belgium from Holland. Auber himself experienced four French Revolutions (1789, 1830, 1848, 1870). The latter (the Commune) hastened the end of his life. He died on 12 May 1871, at the advanced old age of 89, and in the pitiful conditions of civil strife, after a long and painful illness which worsened during the Siege of Paris. He had refused to leave the city he had always loved despite the dangers and privation, even after his house had been set on fire by the petroleurs et petroleuses. By some irony a mark had been placed against the house of the composer of Masaniello, the very voice of Romantic liberty! Auber’s overtures were once known everywhere, a staple of the light Classical repertoire. The influence of his gracious melodies and dance rhythms on piano and instrumental music, and on the genre of Romantic comic opera, especially in Germany, was overwhelming. The operas themselves, apart from Fra Diavolo (1830), have virtually passed out of the repertoire, since Auber’s elegant and restrained art now has little appeal for the world of music, attuned as it is to the meatier substance of verismo, high Wagnerian ideology, and twentieth-century experimentalism. Rêve d’amour, an opéra-comique in three acts, with libretto by Adolphe-Philippe Dennery (Adolphe Philippe) and Eugène Cormon (Pierre-Etienne Piestre), was first performed at the Opéra-Comique (Deuxième Salle Favart) on 20 December 1869. It was Auber’s last work. The story is set in the French countryside, in the 18th century. It concerns the peasant farmer Marcel and the vicissitudes of his love for both his cousin Denise and the wealthy heiress Henriette. The latter is in turn, however, loved by the gallant Chevalier. To prove himself, Marcel leaves and becomes a successful soldier. He is eventually united with Denise, while Henriette marries the Chevalier. The scenario is without great interest, but the score is of musical worth. The short binary overture is charming and full of fresh ideas. It neatly juxtaposes the two male protagonists, and the overall thematic pull between the dream of love and the glory of soldierly prowess. It is a lovely pastorale that reaches its climax in a mood of great playfulness. Act 2 takes one into the heart of the pastoral experience explored in this opera. It opens with a charming scene of Colin-Maillard (blindman’s buff) and a Villanelle, while the extended finale—a lovely waltz followed by Marcel’s embracing of the soldier’s life—counterposes the archetypal polarity of the pastoral and military traditions of the opéra-comique. The military solution to the hero’s emotional dilemma is also the determining action in Auber’s earlier works La Fiancée and Le Philtre. For the premiere stage set one of the charming scenes of Lancret was reproduced, complemented by costumes and décor modelled on those of Watteau. The Balançoire and the Colin-Maillard were ingeniously re-created by the stage designers to sustain the illusion of this last pastoral dream of love. The cast consisted of: Joseph-Amédée-Victor Capoul (Marcel); Mlle Marguerite-Marie-Sophie Priola (Henriette); Mlle Maria-Dolorès-Bénédicta-Joséphine Nau (Denise); Mlle Caroline Girard (Marion); Charles-Louis Sainte-Foy (Andoche, a peasant); Victor Prilleux (Bertrand, a farmer); Pierre Gailhard (Le chevalier de Bois-Joli); and Julien (Thomas, a peasant). The opera was in the repertoire 1869–70, and numbered 27 performances. Performances were interrupted in 1870 by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, and never resumed.
Author : Robert Ignatius Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443830224
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)
Download or read book The Ballets of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber written by Robert Ignatius Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2011-05-25 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (Caen 29 January 1782- Paris 12/13 May 1871) is primarily remembered as one of the great masters of opéra-comique, but also played a very important role in the development of Romantic ballet through the long danced interludes and divertissements in his grand operas La Muette de Portici, Le Dieu et la Bayadère, Gustave III, ou Le Bal masque, Le Lac des fées, L’Enfant prodigue, Zerline, and the opéra-ballet version of Le Cheval de bronze. Auber also adapted music of various of his operas to create the score of the full-length ballet Marco Spada; it is quite different from his own opera on the subject. Additionally, several choreographers have used Auber’s music for their ballets, among them Frederick Ashton (Les Rendezvous, 1937), Victor Gsovsky (Grand Pas Classique, 1949) and Lew Christensen (Divertissement d’Auber, 1959). La Muette de Portici (1828), choreographed by Jean-Pierre Aumer, is set against the Neapolitan uprising of 1647, and was performed 500 times in Paris alone between 1828 and 1880. The opera provides one of the few serious subjects the composer tackled, and one which critics found to have a persuasive dramatic content. An unusual aspect of the work is that the main character, a mute girl, is performed by a mime or a ballerina. The role of ballet in La Muette is important in setting the local scene, using dance episodes, whether courtly, and therefore Spanish—as in the guarucha and bolero in act 1, or popular, and therefore Neapolitan—as in the act 3 tarantella. Dance is also innate to the dramatic situation in the extended mime sequences for the mute heroine each with its own specially crafted music and character. The music responds to, and reflects, the vivid and imposing scenic effects (based on historical and pictorial research by the great stage designers and painters Cicéri and Daguerre). Le Dieu et la Bayadère (1830), set in India, was choreographed by Filippo Taglioni. Eugène Scribe, not only one of the most influential of opera librettists, but also a leading figure in the history of ballet, wrote the scenario for the danced part, which was fairly long and of artistic merit. In the ballet scenes of the opera, the choreographer, one of the most important exponents of dance in the Romantic period, was already experimenting with the ideas and style that were to characterize the creations of his prime, and of the Romantic ballet as a whole: an exotic fairy tale subject (often pseudo-Medieval or pastoral), and strange love affairs with supernatural beings, in the theatrical, musical and literary taste of the period. Above all, the Romantic ballet focused on the idealization of the ballerina, floating on the tips of her toes, a figure of ethereal lyricism. All the ballets by Filippo Taglioni were designed to display his daughter Marie’s luminous artistic personality. The heavily mime-oriented role of the bayadère Zoloé was one of Marie Taglioni’s createst triumphs. Gustave III (1833), based on the assassination of King Gustavus of Sweden in 1792, and also choreographed by Filippo Taglioni, was heavily influenced by the impact of the production of Robert le Diable, which saw a particular emphasis placed on sets and stage effects. The grand and historical nature of this opera is powerfully underscored by the two intercalated ballets. The first divertissement comes as early as act 1, and is in the nature of a grand historical pageant based on the life of Gustavus Vasa (1523-60), founder of the present Swedish state, before he gained the crown. There are two dances illustrating the prince’s leadership of the populace of Dalecarlia on the campaign to gain freedom from Denmark. The second divertissement is the legendary masked ball of the title at which the king was assassinated in 1792. The spectacle provided by the Opéra was sensational: the stage was illumined by 1600 candles in crystal chandeliers, and 300 dancers took part, all dressed in different costumes, and with 100 dancing the final galop. There are six numbers: three airs de danse (Allemande, Pas de folies, Menuet), two marches, and the famous final galop. Much time in Le Lac des fées, a tale of love between a human and a supernatural being, choreographed by Jean Coralli, is taken in elaborating the central depiction of popular festivity. Indeed, the requirements of grand-opéra are realized with an original twist in the big act 3 depiction of the Medieval Epiphany celebrations, with its attempt at recreating the variety of genre and mood. There is a detailed description of the procession through the streets of Cologne, organized by the Medieval guilds, each preceded by its own standard, with choruses. It unfolds in several movements:—the chorus of students “Vive la jeunesse”, the Fête des Rois with its Chant de Noël, the whole culminating in a big ballet sequence of four dances: 1) Valse des Étudiants, 2) Pas de Bacchus et Erigone, 3) Styrienne, and 4) Bacchanale. Scribe’s stage directions provide vivid details and combine historically informed spectacle, pantomime and dance into a single artistic conception. L’Enfant prodigue (1850), based on the Biblical parable of the Prodigal Son, was choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon. A special aspect of the opera is the dance sequence in act 2—No.10 Scène, containing 5 Airs de ballet, as part of the celebrations of the sacred bull Apis. There are some further danced passages in the opening part of act 3, where the formal operatic elements of prayer, drinking song, bacchanal, and lullaby are integrated with singing and dancing into an artistic whole, once again with reference to the venerable French tradition of the opéra-ballet. Scribe’s scenarios show that the formal dances are either enmeshed in the unfolding of the drama (act 2), or use dance an integral element in the thematic ramifications of the plotline (in act 3). Zerline, ou La Corbeille d’oranges (1851) was choreographed by Joseph Mazilier. Act 3 is dominated by the great princely festivities featuring eight dance movements (No. 15 Airs de Ballet and No. 16 Choeur (Valse), a pallid reminiscence of the great Masked Ball of Gustave in 1832. Auber reused much of the ballet music from act 3 of Le Lac des fées in this elaborate semi-allegorical masque that employs a variety of forms and fuses various types of danced entertainment, from classical pas de deux and formal ball through national dance, vaudeville and children’s routines to carnival. Marco Spada, ou La Fille du bandit (1857) was choreographed by Joseph Mazilier. Scribe’s libretto for the opéra-comique Marco Spada which had been produced at the Opéra-Comique in December 1852 with Auber’s music, met the fundamental requirement of having two important female characters, and provided Scribe with the right opportunity to adapt his story to a scenario for dancing. So the opéra-comique was transformed into a ballet—Auber’s only full length one. The music was not an adaptation of the opera, but rather a composite score made up of the most striking numbers from several of Auber’s works: Le Concert à la cour, Fiorella, La Fiancée, Fra Diavolo, Le Lac des fées, L’Ambassadrice, Les Diamants de la couronne, La Barcarolle, Zerline and L’Enfant prodigue. The original scenario required elaborate décor and stage machinery, which was a factor in this later revival of the work at the Académie de musique on 21 September1857. In 1857 Auber reworked the score of the opéra-comique Le Cheval de bronze as an opéra-ballet in four acts, adding recitatives, and extra ballet and ensemble numbers. The choreography was by Lucien Petipa. The divertissements consisted of 1) a seven-movement Pas de quatre in act 1 2) a four-movement Danse in act 3 3) and five-movement Pas de deux in act 4. This version of the opera has never been published. The 20th century saw Auber’s music used for three significant ballet arrangements. Les Rendezvous is an abstract ballet created in 1933 with choreography by Frederick Ashton, the first major ballet created by Ashton for the Vic Wells company. It was first performed on Tuesday, December 5th, 1933, by the Vic Wells Ballet at Sadler's Wells Theatre. Premiered in Paris in the year 1949, Grand Pas Classique by Russian choreographer and ballet master Victor Gsovsky (1902 74) is a homage to classical dance. Based on musical extracts from the three-act ballet Marco Spada (1857), published by the composer as an offshoot of his opera by the same name, this pas de deux is a masterpiece of exquisite virtuosity. Divertissement d'Auber is set to excerpts from Auber's four most famous and dazzling operatic overtures. It is quicksilver, joyous music that inspired Lew Christensen's most brilliant and effervescent choreographic style. The work showcases the technique of classical ballet at its peak, with the form and movement of the choreography running the gamut of the dancer's virtuoso vocabulary. Divertissement d'Auber is a staple of Christensen’s canon.
Author : Robert Ignatius Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1527535797
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (275 download)
Download or read book Daniel-François-Esprit Auber’s Les Chaperons blancs written by Robert Ignatius Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2019-06-10 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782-1871), the most amiable French composer of the nineteenth century, came to his abilities late in life. After a stalled commercial career, he studied with Cherubini. His first works were not a success, but La Bergère Châteleine (1820), written at the age of 38, established him as an operatic composer. He then met the librettist Eugène Scribe (1791-1861), with whom he developed a working partnership, one of the most successful in musical history, that lasted until Scribe’s death. After Le Maçon (1825) and La Muette de Portici (1828), Auber’s life was filled with success. In 1829 he was appointed a member of the Institut, in 1839 Director of Concerts at Court, in 1842 Director of the Conservatoire, in 1852 Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel, and in 1861 Grand Officer of the Légion d’Honneur. Les Chaperons blancs is one of Auber’s least known operas, falling between Le Cheval de bronze (1835) and Le Domino noir (1837), two of his most famous works. The première also took place only five weeks after that of Meyerbeer’s celebrated Les Huguenots (29 February 1836) had carried all before it. Like the latter, Auber’s opera is centred around a theme of political conspiracy, although obviously observed through the lighter lens of the comique style. The tradition of the rescue opera, popular since the French Revolution, also features in the storyline, as does the motif of apparent death through soporifics so memorably used by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet (c. 1594). The leading characters were created by two great stars of the Opéra-Comique, Jean-Baptiste-Marie Chollet and Geneviève-Aimeé-Zoé Prévost, both of whom had brought to life the leading roles in Auber’s most famous comic creation, Fra Diavolo (1830). This book presents an insight into the life and work of Auber by close examination of this little-known opera, with consideration of origins, casting, and plot, and analysis of dramaturgy, musical style, and reception history. This volume provides the vocal/piano score of Les Chaperons blancs, preceded by an introduction to the life and work of Auber, and a reading of the opera. There are examples from the score, prints from contemporary sources and other theatrical memorabilia, adding an important iconographical aspect to the general place and relevance of this work in nineteenth-century French operatic culture.
Author : Robert Ignatius Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1527534987
Total Pages : 199 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (275 download)
Download or read book Daniel-François-Esprit Auber’s La Part du Diable written by Robert Ignatius Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2019-05-23 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782-1871) was long considered one of the most typically French, as well as one of the most successful, of the opera composers of the 19th century. Although musically gifted, he initially chose commerce as a career, but soon realized that his future lay in music. He studied under Cherubini, and it was not long before his opéra-comique La Bergère Châteleine (1820), written at the age of 38, established him as an operatic composer. Perhaps the greatest turning point in Auber’s life was his meeting with the librettist Eugène Scribe (1791-1861), with whom he developed a long and hugely successful working partnership that only ended with Scribe’s death. La Part du Diable, first produced on 16 January 1843, proved to be one of Auber’s most popular works: 263 performances by 1881. It marks the beginning of the composer’s third creative period, characterized by a more lyrical manner, and moreover, is one of his best works, evincing a variety of effects, rhythmic combinations, finesse of orchestral detail, piquant and original harmony, verve and brio. The story, set around Madrid and Aranjuez, concerns the celebrated eighteenth-century castrato singer Farinelli (Carlo Broschi) (a travesti part), who was employed to sing in order to soothe King Ferdinand VI of Spain in his melancholia (played by Juana Rossi-Caccia). Farinelli’s sister Casilda was created by Anna Thillon; her admirer Rafaël d’Estuniga by the famous tenor Gustave Roger. The opera was long performed in Germany under the twin titles of Carlo Broschi and Des Teufels Anteil. The music of La Part du Diable is very effective in the lyrical moments, with most unusually differentiated movements in the ensembles. This book presents an insight into the life and work of Auber by close examination of one of his famous operas, with consideration of origins, casting, plot, and analysis of dramaturgy, musical style, and reception history. This volume provides the vocal/piano score of La Part du Diable, preceded by an introduction to the life and work of Auber, and a close reading of the opera. There are examples from the score, prints from the complete works of Scribe and other theatrical memorabilia, adding an important iconographical aspect to the general place and relevance of this work in nineteenth-century operatic culture.
Author : Ignatius Robert Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9781443828963
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (289 download)
Download or read book Daniel-François-Esprit Auber written by Ignatius Robert Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2011-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782â "1871), once one of the most well-known and well-loved names in French 19th-century opera, came later in life than many famous composers to his art, yet had one of the longest and most successful careers. He studied with Cherubini after abandoning an initial attempt to establish a career in commerce, and experienced his first real triumph at the age of 38 with La Bergère Châteleine (1820). His subsequent association with the librettist Eugène Scribe (1791â "1861), a collaboration that lasted until Scribeâ (TM)s death, became one of the most famous and successful partnerships in musical history. Works such as Le Maçon (1825) and La Muette de Portici (1828) cemented Auberâ (TM)s popularity with the public and drew official recognition and honours. In 1829 he was appointed a member of the Institut, in 1839 Director of Concerts at Court, in 1842 Director of the Conservatoire, in 1852 Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel, and in 1861 Grand Officer of the LÃ(c)gion dâ (TM)Honneur. Auberâ (TM)s grand opera La Muette de Portici (also known by its heroâ (TM)s name as Masaniello), a work of great significance in the history of opera, is set against a background of revolution and uprisingâ "a situation that Auber knew only too well. He lived through four French Revolutions (1789, 1830, 1848, 1870), dying at the advanced age of 89 in the desperate conditions of the Commune, of a long-standing illness aggravated by the dangers and privations that attended the Siege of Paris. Auber had always loved his home city, and was not prepared to leave it, even after his house had been set on fire by the petroleurs et petroleuses. Ironically, a mark had been placed against the house of the composer of La Muette de Portici, a man so successful in depicting revolutionary fervour that a performance of this opera in Brussels in 1830 had helped to inspire the revolution that led to the separation of Belgium from Holland. Auberâ (TM)s charming and graceful overtures were once staples of the light Classical repertoire, known and loved everywhere. His gracious melodies and dance rhythms had an overwhelming influence on piano and instrumental music, and on the genre of Romantic comic opera, especially in Germany. His operas, apart from Fra Diavolo (1830), have virtually passed out of the repertoire. Contemporary audiences are not attuned to Auberâ (TM)s elegant and restrained art, accustomed as they are to verismo, high Wagnerian ideology, and 20th-century experimentalism, but those willing to listen are rewarded by works that retain all their freshness, delicacy and charm. La Barcarolle, an opÃ(c)ra-comique in three acts, with libretto by Eugène Scribe, was premiered at the OpÃ(c)ra-Comique (Deuxième Salle Favart) on 22 April 1845. The opera is set in Parma in the 18th century, and the story involves a tale of artistic rivalry and social aspiration in the midst of Court intrigue. The Count de Fiesque gives his half-brother, the composer Fabio, the poem to a barcarolle which Fabio is to set to music, and thus bring his work to the attention of the Grand Duke. The Kapellmeister Cafarini and the Marquis de Felino, who are seeking advancement at court themselves, secretly copy the poem, set it to the music they overhear Fabio singing, and send it to the Duchess. The Grand Duke discovers the barcarolle, suspects the Count of being an admirer of his wife, and has him arrested. Fabio learns through Cafariniâ (TM)s niece Gina of the Kapellmeisterâ (TM)s part in the plot, and having been forbidden entry to the Dukeâ (TM)s concert, disguises himself as a member of the orchestra and places the parts to his barcarolle on the music stands. Gina saves Fabio from arrest by producing the music in Cafariniâ (TM)s handwriting; the Kapellmeister disentangles himself by identifying the Marquisâ (TM)s draft. The Duke pardons everyone. The libretto is simply structured, but the action moves forward most skilfully. Traces of topical humour characteristic of the original comÃ(c)die-vaudeville that the libretto was derived from have been retained in the dialogue, even though these elements have been fundamentally toned down. This creates an unconscious and slightly discordant duality between the spoken and musical numbers. The Marquis is not altogether convincing as a villain, and his intrigues to imprison the Count and exile Fabio seem exaggerated and out of context. Auberâ (TM)s music is elegant, pliable and distinguished, like all his work. Many motifs recall memories from earlier works. The soprano air for Gina in act 1 (â oePersonne en ces lieux ne mâ (TM)a vueâ ) and the comic duet for two basses (â oeViens, que par toi nos musesâ ) offer good musical declamation. There is a touching duet in act 1 for Fabio and the Count, in which they celebrate their kinship. The Barcarolle itself serves as a Leitmotif, presented imaginatively in various forms throughout the workâ "solo, duet, quintet, sextet, and finally quartet at the end of the opera. Of the sixteen numbers in the score, eight are duets, six of them for male voices, and two for the two basses. The score also tunes into a tradition of satireâ "both of musicians and artists, and of musical styles, in the manner of the most famous French example, the enduringly popular Le MaÃ(R)tre de chapelle (1821) by Ferdinando Paër. The original cast were: Gustave-Hippolyte Roger (Fabio), Chaix (Felino), LÃ(c)onard Hermann-LÃ(c)on (Cafarini), Edouard Gassier (Count de Fiesque), Anoinette-Jeanne-Hermance RÃ(c)villy (ClÃ(c)lia), and Mlle Octavie Delille (Gina). The work did not last beyond the year of its premiere, 1845. There were 27 performances. After the economic slump of 1845, frivolous tales found little public response, and this may well have turned normally receptive listeners away from this work in which the collaboration between Scribe and Auber is subtle but essentially most effective.
Author : Robert Ignatius Letellier
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 144386241X
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)
Download or read book Daniel-François-Esprit Auber Les Diamants de la coronne (I diamanti della corona/The Crown Diamonds) Opéra-Comique en trois actes Paroles de Eugène-Augustin Scribe et Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges In Italian and English translation written by Robert Ignatius Letellier and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2014-06-26 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782–1871) was long considered one of the most typically French, as well as one of the most successful, opera composers of the nineteenth century. Although musically gifted, he initially chose commerce as a career, but soon realized that his future lay in music. He studied under Cherubini, and it was not long before his opéra-comique La Bergère Châteleine (1820), written at the age of 38, established him as an operatic composer. Perhaps the greatest turning point in Auber’s life was his meeting with the librettist Eugène Scribe (1791–1861), with whom he developed a long and illustrious working partnership that only ended with Scribe’s death. Success followed success; works such as Le Maçon (1825) and La Muette de Portici (1828) brought Auber public fame and official recognition. In 1829 he was appointed a member of the Institut, in 1839 Director of Concerts at Court, in 1842 Director of the Conservatoire, in 1852 Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel, and in 1861 Grand Officer of the Légion d’Honneur. Auber seems to have been fated to live in revolutionary times; during his long life no less than four revolutions took place in France (1789, 1830, 1848, 1870). He died on 12 May 1871 as a result of a long illness aggravated by the privations and dangers of the Siege of Paris. Auber’s overtures were once instantly recognizable, favourites of the light Classical repertoire. His gracious melodies and dance rhythms had a huge influence, both on piano and instrumental music, and on the genre of Romantic comic opera, especially in Germany. Musical tastes and fashions have changed, and contemporary audiences are more accustomed to the heavier fare of verismo, high Wagnerian ideology, and twentieth-century experimentalism. The operas themselves, apart from Fra Diavolo (1830), are seldom performed, yet Auber’s elegant, delicate and restrained art remains as appealing to the discerning listener as ever it was. Les Diamants de la couronne (1841) is a piece of really refined, almost surreal, fantasy. In many respects, it represents something of a distillation of the art of Scribe and Auber, a synthesis in some ways of the more earthy comedy of Fra Diavolo and the almost spiritual sophistication of Le Domino noir. Both plot and music carry the natural instincts of both creators to their extreme attainment. Berlioz singled out its musical beauty in his critique of the work. The narrative, with its story of royal counterfeiting, romance fulfilment and social restitution, combines several recurrent motifs that preoccupied Scribe, with the exotic Iberian setting opening up the Mediterranean sphere so stimulating to the artistic imagination of both librettist and composer. Catarina, heiress to the crown of Portugal, has a copy of the crown jewels made so that she can sell off the originals to pay off the national debt. The young queen's ploy works, the nation is saved. The music is very brilliant for the principal character who, by turns queen, brigand, and prima donna, sings variations of the greatest virtuosity and in the best of vocal styles. This edition reproduces the vocal score published in London by Boosey and Co. (c. 1880), the Royal Edition, edited by Arthur Sullivan and Josiah Pittman (with Italian and English words).
Author : Daniel François Esprit Auber
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9781443828918
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (289 download)
Download or read book Daniel-François-Esprit Auber written by Daniel François Esprit Auber and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782â "1871), once one of the most well-known and well-loved names in French 19th-century opera, came later in life than many famous composers to his art, yet had one of the longest and most successful careers. He studied with Cherubini after abandoning an initial attempt to establish a career in commerce, and experienced his first real triumph at the age of 38 with La Bergère Châteleine (1820). His subsequent association with the librettist Eugène Scribe (1791â "1861), a collaboration that lasted until Scribeâ (TM)s death, became one of the most famous and successful partnerships in musical history. Works such as Le Maçon (1825) and La Muette de Portici (1828) cemented Auberâ (TM)s popularity with the public and drew official recognition and honours. In 1829 he was appointed a member of the Institut, in 1839 Director of Concerts at Court, in 1842 Director of the Conservatoire, in 1852 Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel, and in 1861 Grand Officer of the LÃ(c)gion dâ (TM)Honneur. Auberâ (TM)s grand opera La Muette de Portici (also known by its heroâ (TM)s name as Masaniello), a work of great significance in the history of opera, is set against a background of revolution and uprisingâ "a situation that Auber knew only too well. He lived through four French Revolutions (1789, 1830, 1848, 1870), dying at the advanced age of 89 in the desperate conditions of the Commune, of a long-standing illness aggravated by the dangers and privations that attended the Siege of Paris. Auber had always loved his home city, and was not prepared to leave it, even after his house had been set on fire by the petroleurs et petroleuses. Ironically, a mark had been placed against the house of the composer of La Muette de Portici, a man so successful in depicting revolutionary fervour that a performance of this opera in Brussels in 1830 had helped to inspire the revolution that led to the separation of Belgium from Holland. Auberâ (TM)s charming and graceful overtures were once staples of the light Classical repertoire, known and loved everywhere. His gracious melodies and dance rhythms had an overwhelming influence on piano and instrumental music, and on the genre of Romantic comic opera, especially in Germany. His operas, apart from Fra Diavolo (1830), have virtually passed out of the repertoire. Contemporary audiences are not attuned to Auberâ (TM)s elegant and restrained art, accustomed as they are to verismo, Wagnerian transcendentalism, and 20th-century experimentalism, but those willing to listen are rewarded by works that retain all their freshness, delicacy and charm. Jenny Bell, an opÃ(c)ra-comique in three acts with libretto by Eugène Scribe, was premiered at the OpÃ(c)ra-Comique (Deuxième Salle Favart) on 2 June 1855. It is set in 18th-century London. Lord Mortimer, the son of the Duke of Greenwich, is in love with the celebrated diva, Jenny Bell, but his father has forbidden him to see her. Jenny then attempts to cure Mortimerâ (TM)s infatuation by reading to her guests all the love letters she has received, and finally accepts diamonds and a proposal from the goldsmith Dodson. Mortimer challenges him, curses Jenny, and leaves. Act 3 opens in the Guildhall, where Jenny is to sing for the Lord Mayor. She is highly despondent and refuses either to sing or to receive Dodson. The Duke sees that Jenny really loves his son, and contritely gives his consent for their marriage. This is another of Scribe and Auberâ (TM)s â ~artisticâ (TM) operas, reflecting on the professional challenges and social pressures that talented performers are called on to face as they seek to further their careers and stay faithful to their own ideals of integrity. It is a close relation of Lâ (TM)Ambassadrice (1836). The model for Jenny Bell was the famous Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, although she never sang the role. The piece is well constructed, with interesting situations and deftly-handled dialogue. The secondary characters of Henriette (Jennyâ (TM)s chamber maid), George Leslie, and Dodson are imaginatively integrated into the principal action. Motifs of an English provenance are introduced by the composer: the lovely tenor romance â oeà sa voix, à sa vueâ features the theme of â oeGod save the kingâ , and Jennyâ (TM)s variations on â oeRule Britanniaâ close the opera brilliantly. This score is one of the richest among the composerâ (TM)s opÃ(c)ras-comiques. It is a work that should be revived and better understood. The original cast were: Caroline Duprez (Jenny Bell); Edmund-Jules Ricquier-Delaunay (Mortimer); Jean-Baptist Faure (the Duke of Greenwich); Charles-Louis Sainte-Foy (Dodson); Joseph-Antoine-Charles Couderc (George Leslie); and Sophie Boulart (Henriette). The opera was in the repertoire for only one year, 1855, with a total of 36 performances.
