| La jacquerie | |
| Type: | Opera |
| Composer: | Édouard Lalo |
| Librettist: |
|
| Language: | French |
| Premiere Date: | 9 March 1895 |
| Premiere Location: | Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Monaco |
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.
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]
| 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 | Henri 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) | |||
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]
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]
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]