Les Horaces
Les Horaces (The Horatii) is an operatic tragédie lyrique by Antonio Salieri. The text was by Nicolas-François Guillard after Pierre Corneille's Horace.
The opera was commissioned by the Paris Opera after the success of Salieri's Les Danaïdes with the company.
Performance history
According to different sources, Les Horaces was first performed either at Fontainebleau on 2 November 1786 [1], or at Versailles on 2 December 1786 [2]. According to Spire Pitou, however, both dates seem to be errors and "the correct date of the world première of Salieri's Les Horaces is 7 December 1786 at the Royal Academy of Music ..."[3]. Anyway, it was unfortunately not well received. [4] The failure of the opera to some extent has been blamed on the lack luster performances of the original performers. [5]
Roles
| Cast |
Voice type |
Premiere, December 2, 1786[6]
(Conductor: - ) |
| Camille |
soprano |
Antoinette Cécile de Saint-Huberty |
| Curiace |
tenor |
Étienne Lainez |
| Gran sacerdote |
bass |
Martin-Joseph Adrien |
| Jeune Horace |
tenor |
François Lays |
| Una compagna di Camille |
soprano |
Anne-Marie Jeanne Gavaudan, aînée[7] |
| Vieil Horace |
bass |
Auguste-Athanase Chéron |
References
- ^ the libretto bears such a notation (Pitou, "Les Horaces" (Salieri), p. 277)
- ^ as reported by Théodore de Lajarte in his Bibliothèque musicale du théâtre de l'Opéra, Paris, 1876, I, p. 353
- ^ Pitou, "Le Horaces" (Salieri), pp. 277-78
- ^ Classy Classical: Antonio Salieri: Truth or Fiction
- ^ Antonio Salieri. "Yet -retorts Pitou- the best voices of the company had been cast in this failure..." ("Les Horaces" (Salieri), p. 279
- ^ (Italian) Amadeusonline Almanacco by Gherardo Casaglia (accessed 18 September 2010); Opera Manager - Opera: Antonio Salieri Horaces, Les
- ^ so reported by Spire Pitou (articles: "Gavaudan aînée, Anne-Marie Jeanne", p. 240, and "Les Horaces" (Salieri), p. 278); according to Amadeusonline Almanach, the first performer of this role was Anne-Marie Jeanne's younger sister, Alexandrine-Adelaïde Gavaudan-Ducamel (cadette)
Sources
- Pitou, Spire, The Paris Opéra. An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers – Rococo and Romantic, 1715-1815, Greenwood Press, Westport/London, 1985 (ISBN 0-313-24394-8)
- Horaces, Les by John A Rice, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7