Le loup-garou (The Werewolf) is a 19th-century opéra comique in one act in French with music by Louise Bertin and a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Édouard-Joseph-Ennemond Mazères.[1] The work is a comedy inspired by the fairy tale of "Beauty and the Beast".[2] It was first performed on March 10, 1827 by the Opéra-Comique in Paris.[3]
Le loup-garou | |
---|---|
Opera by Louise Bertin | |
![]() Title page of the published libretto of Le loup-garou (Paris: Bezou, 1827) | |
Translation | The Werewolf |
Librettist | |
Language | French |
Premiere | 10 March 1827 Salle Feydeau (Opéra-Comique), Paris |
The opera was the second of Bertin's four operas and the first to be performed publicly.[1][4] Scribe was a prolific writer, working on over one-hundred operas, most notably collaborating with Daniel Auber on thirty-nine operas.
Synopsis
editIn a village in Burgundy in the 15th century, Alice's guardian Raimbaud has arranged for her to marry the falconer Bertrand. Raimbaud works for the Comte Albéric, who has been exiled by the king until he finds a woman who loves him for himself and not his title and wealth. Alice confides to her friend Catherine that she does not love Bertrand but instead loves a stranger, who saved her from drowning in the woods. Alice knows the stranger as "Hubert". Catherine, a young noble-woman, who loves Bertrand, wants Alice to break the engagement. Bertrand, who is superstitious, believes the wolf terrorizing the village is actually a werewolf. When thirteen arrive for dinner, Bertrand is spooked by the number; Catherine goes to find another to join them and returns with Hubert. Raimbaud recognizes "Hubert" is really Albéric. Bertrand thinks Hubert is the werewolf. Alice becomes convinced of this too and rejects Hubert. Catherine then agrees to marry him. Bertrand tells Alice he was enamored with Catherine but felt he was beneath her station. Bertrand and the villagers go to kill the wolf. Hubert appears and Alice fears that he will turn into a werewolf and be killed. Alice tells Hubert she loves him, even if he is a werewolf. Bertrand and the villagers return, having killed the wolf and are surprised to see Hubert alive. Raimbaud reveals Hubert is really the Comte Albéric. Catherine announces her engagement to Bertrand and Alice her betrothal to Albéric.[5][6][7]
19th century
editLe loup-garou was premiered March 10, 1827 by the Opéra-Comique at the Salle Feydeau in Paris.[8][9] The first performance was given as a charity benefit for victims of the winter of 1827.[10]
The original cast was Jean-Baptiste Chollet as the Comte Albéric, M. Valère as Raimbaud, Augustin Vizentini as Bertrand, Geneviève-Aimé-Zoë Prévost as Alice, and Marie-Julie Boulanger as Catherine.[11] The leads, Chollet and Prévost, were married in real life and had a daughter who also became an opera singer.[12][13]
The opera was "brilliantly successful".[14][15] It received twenty-six performances.[16] Le loup-garou was given in October 1827 in Rouen at the Théâtre des Arts.[17] It was also performed in 1827 at the Théatre Municipal in Lille.[18] The libretto and score were both published the year of the premiere.[11][19]
The leading Parisian newspaper Journal des débats (which was owned by the composer's father, Louis-François Bertin) wrote that the audience at the first two performances "laughed a lot" and found the music to be graceful, fresh, and original, executed by "the perfect ensemble" of singers. [20] Le Figaro called the plot "implausible and ridiculous" and said the music was "weak and lacks color".[21] The Revue musicale said the audience at the first performance was so rowdy that the opera could not be judged properly; but at the second, the work was a "complete success" which received "lively applause".[22] The opera "gives hope because it is a work of originality".[23] Le Constitutionnel called the opera "pleasant, piquant, witty".[24]
A critic wrote of the music in 2022:
There is a long and pleasant overture . . . The melodies are gracious and even memorable . . . for the most part fairly simple. The vocal lines are unadorned compared to the contemporary music of Rossini or even composers like Hérold and Auber. There is no doubt, however, that Bertin knew her stuff; the ensembles are clever and well developed. Rossini knew Bertin and she certainly knew many of his operas, but with a couple of exceptions this work does not sound much like Rossini even though the structures can be compared to his short one-act works, most written early in his career ... Bertin, however, has her own voice, her "sound", in the plaintive Romance and elsewhere. It might have been a "sound" that was in a stage of development in 1827 when she was only 22, but it is hers.[25]
21st century
editAfter "a century-long oblivion", Opera Southwest in September 2022 performed Le loup-garou in the outdoor theatre at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History in Albuquerque, New Mexico.[16][26] This was the American premiere and the first staging of the original work since the 19th Century.[25] Denise Boneau, who wrote her Ph.D. dissertation on Bertin, translated the libretto for the production.[27] The cast was Michael Rodriguez as the Comte Albéric, Miguel Pedroza as Raimbaud, Thomas Drew as Bertrand, Yejin Lee as Alice, and Mélanie Ashkar as Catherine.[16]
The first British production of Le loup-garou was given in London by Gothic Opera in October and November 2022 at the Round Chapel in Lower Clapton, Hackney.[7] Gothic Opera presented Bertin's opera on a double-bill with Pauline Viardot's The Last Sorcerer.[28] The cast was Matthew Scott Clark as the Comte Albéric, Ashley Mercer as Raimbaud, Andrew Rawlings as Bertrand, Alice Usher as Alice, and Charlotte Hoather as Catherine.[29]
The overture from Le loup-garou was played by the Paris Chamber Orchestra at Paris's Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on June 23, 2023; three days before, Bertin's third opera Fausto was presented in a concert version at the same venue.[30][31]
The WholeTone Opera in October 2017 presented an adaptation of the work, The Werewolf: A Freshly Transformed, Fiercely Queer Opera, at The Rockwell in Somerville, Massachusetts.[32] The "modernized libretto" of this version was by J. Deschene and Teri Kowiak with new music by Molly Preston.[33] Nora Maynard, artistic director of the company, said "once we pared it down to its skeleton, we also found some excellent, lyrical vocal and orchestral writing to lay our new story upon", one where "almost all of the main characters in this story identify as queer or gay".[33] One review said the "apparent attempt at an edgy, risky operatic equivalent of The Rocky Horror Picture Show misjudged badly".[34]
References
edit- ^ a b McVicker, Mary F. (2016). Women Opera Composers: Biographies from the 1500s to the 21st Century. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 32. ISBN 9781476623610.
- ^ Kriff, Jean (2019). "Romantique(s) Melpomène(s)". Humanisme (in French) (324): 96–101. doi:10.3917/huma.324.0096. LCCN 80647889. OCLC 6802347. S2CID 241261671. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
une version nouvelle de La Belle et la Bête
- ^ Letellier, Robert Ignatius (2010). Opéra-Comique, A Sourcebook. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. p. 35. ISBN 9781443821681.
- ^ Elson, Arthur (1903). Woman's Work in Music, Being an Account of Her Influence on the Art, in Ancient as Well as Modern Times; a Summary of Her Musical Compositions, in the Different Countries of the Civilized World; and an Estimate of Their Rank in Comparison with Those of Men. Boston: Page. p. 183. OCLC 6930212.
- ^ Moulin, Victor (1862). Scribe et son théâtre: études sur la comédie au XIXe siècle [Scribe and his theater: studies in comedy in the 19th century] (in French). Paris: Tresse. p. 64. OCLC 12167235.
- ^ Opera Southwest (2022). "Le loup garou". Opera Southwest. Albuquerque, New Mexico: Opera Southwest. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- ^ a b Hoather, Charlotte (2 October 2022). "Gothic Opera – Le Loup-Garou". Charlotte Hoather, Soprano. Archived from the original on 28 May 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- ^ Letellier 2010, p. 35.
- ^ Fétis, François-Joseph (1868). Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique [Universal biography of musicians and general bibliography of music] (in French). Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Paris: Firmin Didot Frères. p. 284. OCLC 5845494.
- ^ Landowski, W.-L. (16 November 1936). "À propos du centenaire de La Esmeralda" [Regarding the centenary of La Esmeralda]. Le Ménestrel: Journal de musique (in French). 98 (46). Paris: 313–314. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- ^ a b "Libretto of Le loup-garou, 1827 – via Library of Congress
- ^ Auber, Daniel-François-Esprit (2019). Letellier, Robert Ignatius (ed.). Daniel-François-Esprit Auber's 'Les Chaperons blancs'. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. p. xviii. ISBN 9781527535794.
- ^ White, Kimberly (2018). Female Singers on the French Stage, 1830–1848. Cambridge Studies in Opera. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108688475.
- ^ "The Public Are Respectfully Informed". Galignani's Messenger. No. 3944. Paris. 22 September 1827. p. 4. OCLC 02261397. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ Hoefer, Jean Chrétien Ferdinand Andrew, ed. (1855). Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, avec les renseignements bibliographiques et l'indication des sources à consulter [New general biography from the earliest times to the present day, with bibliographical information and indication of sources to consult] (in French). Vol. 5. Paris: Firmin Didot Frères. p. 739. LCCN 02003498.
- ^ a b c Dalzon, Christian (2022). "Search and Rescue Effort Continues in ABQ". ConcertoNet.com, The Classical Music Network. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ Élart, Joanne (2004). Catalogue des fonds musicaux conservés en Haute-Normandie: Bibliothèque municipale de Rouen [Catalog of musical collections preserved in Upper Normandy: Municipal Library of Rouen] (in French). Vol. 1. Rouen: Publications de l'université de Rouen. p. 460. ISBN 9782877753333.
- ^ Lefebvre, Léon (1902). Histoire du théatre de Lille de ses origines a nos jours [History of Lille theater from its origins to the present day] (in French). Vol. 3. Lille, France: Imprimerie Lefebvre-Ducrocq. p. 96.
- ^ Levy, Jean (1879). Catalogue de la bibliothèque de la ville de Lille, Sciences et Arts [Catalog of the library of the city of Lille, Sciences and Arts] (in French). Lille, France: Imprimerie Lefebvre-Ducrocq. p. 741. OCLC 493365161.
- ^ "Théatre royal de l'Opéra Comique". Journal des débats politiques et littéraires (in French). Paris: 1–2. 14 March 1827. OCLC 93021694. Retrieved 3 June 2023 – via Gallica.
- ^ "Opéra-Comique: Deuxième represéntation de le Loup-Garou, opéra-comique en 1 acte". Le Figaro (in French). Vol. 2, no. 59. Paris. 14 March 1827. p. 231. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
- ^ "Théatre de Opéra-Comique". Revue musicale (in French). Vol. 1, no. 5. Paris: François-Joseph Fétis. March 1827. pp. 144–46. OCLC 10031603. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
- ^ "Théatre de Opéra-Comique". Revue musicale (in French). Vol. 1, no. 5. Paris: François-Joseph Fétis. March 1827. pp. 144–46. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
- ^ "Spectacles: Théatre Royal de l'Opéra-Comique: Le Loup-Garou, opéra en un acte". Le Constitutionnel (in French). No. 71. Paris. 12 March 1827. p. 4. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via Gallica.
- ^ a b Jernigan, Charles (18 September 2022). "Bertin's Le Loup Garou, Opera Southwest, Albuquerque, September 9–11, 2022". Donizetti Society. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ "Le loup-garou". Operabase. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ "Denise Boneau". Opéra-Comique. Paris. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ "The Werewolf + The Last Sorcerer". Operabase. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ Gothic Opera (2022). "The Werewolf + The Last Sorcerer". Gothic Opera. London. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ San Frax, Julien (22 April 2023). "À la recherche des musiques perdues" [In search of lost music]. Causeur (in French). Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ "Saison 22/23: Orchestre de chambre de Paris du 22 Septembre 2022 au 23 Juin 2023". Radio France (in French). Paris. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ Salazar, Daniel (3 October 2017). "WholeTone Opera's Presents LGBTQIA Opera for Halloween". OperaWire. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ a b Simeonov, Jenna (14 October 2017). "A "Fiercely Queer Opera" for Halloween". Schmopera.com. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ Fuller, Rachel (28 October 2017). "Celebrating Queerness Operatically". Boston Music Intelligencer. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
Further reading
edit- Boneau, Denise Lynn (1989). Louise Bertin and Opera in Paris in the 1820s and 1830s (Ph.D. (Music)). University of Chicago. OCLC 36041535.
- Crémades, Matéo (April 2013). Louise Bertin: Une compositrice sous Louis-Philippe [Louise Bertin: A composer under Louis-Phillipe]. Les colloques de l'Opéra Comique: Les compositrices au siècle de Pauline Viardot (Conferences of the Opéra Comique: Composers in the Century of Pauline Viardot) (in French). Paris: l'Opéra Comique.
External links
edit- Manuscript score of Le loup-garou
- "Some numbers from Le loup-garou, Gallica
- "Libretto of Le loup-garou, 1827 – via Library of Congress
- The Werewolf: A Fiercely Queer Opera on YouTube, video of the 2017 WholeTone Opera production