Le Juif errant (opera) explained

Le Juif errant
Type:	Grand opera
Composer:	Fromental Halévy
Image Upright:	1.2
Translated Name:	The Wandering Jew
Language:	French
Based On:	Le Juif errant by Eugène Sue
Premiere Location:	Salle Le Peletier, Paris

Le Juif errant (The Wandering Jew) is a grand opera by Fromental Halévy, with a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges.

The opera is based extremely loosely on themes of the novel Le Juif errant, by Eugène Sue. Whilst the novel is set in 19th century Paris and the Wandering Jew is incidental to the main story-line, the opera begins in Amsterdam in 1190 and the Jew Ahasuerus (spelled Ashvérus^[1] in the opera) is a leading character.

Performance history

Le Juif errant was premiered at the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opera on 23 April 1852, and had 48 further performances over two seasons. The music was sufficiently popular to generate a Wandering Jew Mazurka, a Wandering Jew Waltz, a Wandering Jew Polka and in France just in the several months after the opera was premiered an even more considerable quantity of piano works, including several called "Grande fantaisie dramatique" and similar titles, based on the opera.^[2]

Roles

Role!style="width: 7em;"

Voice type	Premiere cast,^[3] 23 April 1852 Conductor: Narcisse Girard
Ashvérus, the Wandering Jew	baritone	Eugène Massol
Nicéphore, Emperor of the Orient	bass	Louis-Henri Obin
Léon, descendant of Ashvérus	tenor	Gustave-Hippolyte Roger
Théodora, boatwoman of the Scheldt, sister of Léon	mezzo-soprano
Irène, daughter of Baudoin, Count of Flanders, also a descendant of Ashvérus	soprano	^[4]
Lady of honor	soprano	Petit-Brière
The exterminating angel	tenor	Chapuis
Ludgers, bandit chief	bass	Depassio
Manoel, first bandit	bass	Canaple
Andronic, second bandit	bass	Guigneau^[5]
Jean, third bandit	bass	Noir
Arbas, fourth bandit	bass	Goyon
Night watchman	baritone	Merly
An officer of the palace	baritone	Lyon
A lord	baritone	Molinier
Another lord	tenor	Donzel
Chorus: lords, ladies, and people of Antwerp; robbers and bad boys; shopkeepers, inhabitants of Brabant; lords and ladies of Emperor Nicéphore's court; people of Thessalonica; people of Constantinople; mutes, almées (harem entertainers), slaves; Emperor's guards; Empress Irène's lady; angel, demons, the chosen, the damned, etc.

References

NotesSources

• Book: Anderson, George Kumler. 1991. The Legend of the Wandering Jew. Hanover, New Hampshire. Brown University Press. 9780874515473.
• Book: Gourret, Jean. 1982. Dictionnaire des chanteurs de l'Opéra de Paris. Paris. Albatros. 10018314.
• Book: Gourret, Jean. 1987. Dictionnaire des cantatrices de l'Opéra de Paris. Paris. Albatros. 9782727301646.
• Book: Kutsch. K.-J.. Karl-Josef Kutsch. Riemens. Leo. Leo Riemens. 2003. Großes Sängerlexikon. 4th. de. Munich. K. G. Saur. 9783598115981.
• Book: Meyerbeer, Giacomo. S. Henze-Döhring. 1999. Briefwechsel und Tagebücher. 5; 1849–1852. Berlin. De Gruyter. 3-11 014244-9.
• Book: Meyerbeer, Giacomo. S. Henze-Döhring. 2004. Briefwechsel und Tagebücher. 7; 1856–1859. Berlin. De Gruyter. 978-3-11-018030-5.
• Book: Scribe. Eugène. Saint-Georges. Henri de. 1852. Le Juif errant, opéra en 5 actes. libretto. Paris. Brandus. Gallica.
• Book: Tamvaco, Jean-Louis. 2000. Les Cancans de l'Opéra. Chroniques de l'Académie Royale de Musique et du théâtre, à Paris sous les deux restorations. 2 volumes. fr. Paris. CNRS Editions. 9782271056856.

Further reading

• Jordan, Ruth (1994). Fromental Halévy: His Life & Music, 1799–1862. London: Kahn & Averill. .
• Macdonald, Hugh (2001). "Halévy, (Jacques-François-)Fromental(-Elie) [Fromentin(-Elias)]" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition, edited by Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan. (hardcover). (eBook).
• Scribe, Eugène (1858). Le Juif errant in Oeuvres complètes de M. Eugène Scribe, new edition, volume XVII, pp. 149–164. Paris: Adolphe Delahays. View at Google Books.

Notes and References

1. Sue's spelling of the name was 'Ahasvérus', a version also used by Edgar Quinet. However, Scribe's version of the name can be found in earlier literature (e.g. in 1834)
2. Web site: Bibliographie de la France (1852): bibliographie. 22 September 2014.
3. Cast list based on, and, (and the index for full names).
4. The libretto and, write this singer's name as Lagrua., have an extensive article on her and give the name as Emma (Emmy, Emilia) La Grua, née Emmy Funk. Referred to in, as 'Lagrua' (see p. 879 for short note) and, as Emilie Carini (also Emmy la Grua)., gives the name Emmy La Grua.
5. , lists a baritone by the name of Guignot, who first appeared at the Paris Opera ca. 1848.