La jacquerie

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La jacquerie
Opera by Édouard Lalo
La-jacquerie-de-lalo-et-coquard-gallica-bnf.jpg
Scene from Act 4 of the premiere production
Librettist
LanguageFrench
Based onthe play La Jaquerie
by Prosper Mérimée
Premiere
9 March 1895

La jacquerie is a four-act opera commenced by Édouard Lalo in 1889 to a libretto by Édouard Blau and Simone Arnaud, based on the 1828 play of the same name by Prosper Mérimée.[1] The opera was unfinished when Lalo died in 1892, and it was completed by Arthur Coquard. The first performance was at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo on 9 March 1895.

Creation[]

La jacquerie would have been Lalo's third opera (following Fiesque (1868) and Le roi d'Ys (1888)). Lalo died after having completed only the first act. Coquard, a pupil of César Franck, was requested by the director of the Monte-Carlo Opera, Raoul Gunsbourg, to compose the rest. Alexandre Dratwicki notes that the opera bears traces both of Richard Wagner and of Giacomo Meyerbeer (in particular the latter's Les Huguenots.)[2]

Roles[]

Role Voice type Premiere cast, 9 March 1895
Conductor: Léon Jehin[3]
Blanche de Sainte-Croix soprano Amélie Loventz
Jeanne mezzo-soprano Blanche Deschamps-Jéhin
Robert tenor M. Jérôme
Guillaume baritone M. Bouvet
Le Comte de Sainte-Croix baritone M. Ucchetto
Le Sénéchal bass M. Lafon
Le Baron de Savigny tenor M. Declozens
Chorus (nobles, peasants, nuns)

Synopsis[]

There are four acts, each of about 20 minutes. The opera is set in 1358, during the Jacquerie uprisings, in the village of Saint-Len de Cérent.[4] Robert is in love with the aristocratic Blanche. Seeking to protect her from the mob he is wounded by them and dies in Blanche's arms.[5]

Performances[]

After its premiere in Monaco the opera was performed at Aix-les-bains in September and at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in December 1895.[6] A critic wrote of it that the music was "small, but noisy".[7] After this, the opera appears to have been ignored for over a century, but was given some performances in France in 2015.[8]

Recording[]

With Véronique Gens (Blanche de Sainte-Croix), Nora Gubisch (Jeanne), Charles Castronovo (Robert), Boris Pinkhasovich (Guillaume), Jean-Sébastien Bou (Le Comte de Sainte-Croix), Patrick Bolleire (Le Sénéchal), Enguerrand de Hys (Le Baron de Savigny). Choeur de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Patrick Davin. Released 2016. CD Ediciones Singulares Cat:ES1023.[9]

References[]

Notes
  1. ^ Locke, Ralph (2017-05-10). "LALO and COQUARD: La Jacquerie". Opera Today. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  2. ^ Dratwicki (2015)
  3. ^ Philipp (1895), 83
  4. ^ Lalo (1895), 1
  5. ^ Anon (2015).
  6. ^ Lalo (1895), (i)
  7. ^ L. K. (1895)
  8. ^ Anon (2015).
  9. ^ "Eduard Lalo & Arthur Coquard: La Jacquerie". Presto Classical. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
Sources
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