Patrie! Explained

Patrie!
Composer:Émile Paladilhe
Image Upright:1.2
Librettist:Victorien Sardou, Louis Gallet
Language:French
Based On:Patrie! (1869 play by Sardou)
Premiere Date:16 December 1886
Premiere Location:Opéra Garnier

Patrie! is an 1886 French-language opera in five acts by Émile Paladilhe with a libretto by Victorien Sardou and Louis Gallet based on the play by Sardou about a 16th-century revolt of Flemish nobles in Brussels. The opera was Paladilhe's greatest popular success and was one of the last in the style of grand opera to premiere at the Paris Opéra.[1]

Performance history

The opera was premiered on 16 December 1886 by the Opéra at the Palais Garnier in Paris. The mise-en-scène was by Pedro Gailhard, and the choreography, by Louis Merante. The opera was last performed at the Garnier on 9 August 1919, its 93rd performance.[2] [3]

The opera has also been performed outside of France, in Prague (28 April 1887, in Czech), Ghent (25 January 1888), Antwerp (6 March 1888), Rome (23 November 1889, in Italian), Hamburg (1 January 1890, in German), Amsterdam (1 September 1898, in Dutch), Geneva (19 February 1901), and Brussels (10 September 1931).[4]

Roles

RoleVoice type[5] Premiere cast, 16 December 1886
Conductor: Jules Garcin
DelorèssopranoGabrielle Krauss
RafaelasopranoRosa Bosman
Count of RysoorbaritoneJean Lassalle
KarlootenorValentin Duc
Duke of AlbabassÉdouard de Reszke
La TrémoïlletenorMuratet
JonasbaritoneBérardi
NoircarmèsbassAuguste Dubulle
RinconbassSentein
VargastenorÉtienne Sapin
DelriobassCrépeaux

Recordings

External links

Notes and References

  1. David Charlton - The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera 2003 0521646839 p300 "Patrie! achieved a total of seventy-two performances (after revivals in 1900 and 1907) and a solid record on provincial stages. It had a better run in Paris than Don Carlos in its day. If there was a swan-song for the historical drama side of the genre, this was it."
  2. Stéphane Wolff (1962; reprint 1983). L'Opéra au Palais Garnier (1875–1962). Paris: Deposé au journal L'Entr'acte . Paris: Slatkine (1983), . .
  3. Spire Pitou (1990). The Paris Opéra: An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers. Growth and Grandeur, 1815–1914. New York: Greenwood Press, . .
  4. Alfred Loewenberg (1978). Annals of Opera 1597 - 1940 (third edition, revised). Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield, column 1125. .
  5. Cast list from the 1886 vocal score.