La colombe
| Charles Gounod |
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Operas
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Performance history
Gounod's previous opera, Philémon et Baucis, also with a text by Barbier and Carré based on a story by La Fontaine, had originally been commissioned for the summer season of 1859 by Édouard Bénazet, the director of the theatre and casino at Baden-Baden. When the political situation between France and Germany deteriorated in June, Gounod's opera was preemptively withdrawn to avoid potential negative reaction from German audiences, and it ended up being premiered in an expanded form in February by Léon Carvalho at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris. To compensate Bénazet for his loss, Gounod quickly composed La colombe during a two-week period for the following summer. (The score is dedicated to Bénazet.) Although it received an ovation in Baden-Baden, it did not do particularly well in its expanded version in the 1866 revival at the Opéra-Comique, receiving a total of only 29 performances. It was presented in Brussels on 5 December 1867, in Stockholm in Swedish on 11 February 1868, at the Crystal Palace in London on 20 September 1870 (as The Pet Dove in an English translation by H. B. Farnie), in Copenhagen in Danish on 27 April 1873 and Prague in Czech on 22 September 1873. It was presented in Bologna in Italian and again in Paris in French in 1912. Diaghilev presented it on 1 January 1923 in Monte Carlo, with recitatives composed by the 24-year-old Francis Poulenc replacing the spoken dialogue.[2]
The opera includes a dugazon trouser role for the valet, Mazet, and Maitre Jean has a bass aria ("Le grand art de la cuisine") on the past glories of the kitchen that still turns up in recital occasionally.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast,[3] 3 August 1860 (Conductor: –) |
Revised version,[3] 7 June 1866 (Conductor: –) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sylvie, a wealthy countess | soprano | Caroline Miolan-Carvalho | Alexandrine Cico |
| Horace, poor, but in love with Sylvie | tenor | Gustave-Hippolyte Roger | Victor Capoul |
| Mazet, manservant to Horace | soprano | Amélie Faivre | Caroline Girard |
| Maître Jean, majordomo of the countess | bass | Guillaume Balanqué | Charles-Amable Bataille[4] |
Synopsis
The opera takes place in Florence. Sylvie, jealous of a social rival's parrot, pays a visit to Horace in hopes of obtaining his prize dove. The love-stricken admirer has fallen on hard times and resolves to roast the bird in order to have something to put on the table. A happier ending for the bird than La Fontaine's is arranged.
References
- Notes
- ↑ Huebner 1990, pp. 58–59; Huebner 2001, p. 338; Wild & Charlton 2005, p. 196; Letellier 2010, p. 358.
- ↑ Gounod 2000, p. 9; Huebner 1990, pp. 58–59; Huebner 2001, p. 338; Gounod ([1866]); Loewenberg 1978, columns 947–948.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Gounod ([1866]), p. 1; full names from Letellier 2010, pp. 836–853 ("Index of Singers").
- ↑ Also spelled Battaille.
- Sources
- Gounod, Charles ([1866]). La colombe, opéra-comique en 2 actes de MM. J. Barbier et M. Carré, piano-vocal score. Paris: Choudens. File #70753 at IMSLP.
- Gounod, Jean-Pierre (2000). "La Colombe", essay in the booklet included with Malibran CDRG 161.
- Holden, Amanda, editor (2001). The New Penguin Opera Guide. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780140514759 (paperback).
- Huebner, Steven (1990). The Operas of Charles Gounod. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780193153295.
- Huebner, Steven (2001). "Charles Gounod" in Holden 2001, pp. 334–340.
- Letellier, Robert Ignatius (2010). Opéra-Comique: A Sourcebook. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. ISBN 9781443821407.
- Loewenberg, Alfred (1978). Annals of Opera 1597–1940 (third edition, revised). Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 9780874718515.
- Wild, Nicole; Charlton, David (2005). Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique Paris: répertoire 1762-1972. Sprimont, Belgium: Editions Mardaga. ISBN 9782870098981.