Le domino noir

Work data
Title:	The black domino
Original title:	Le domino noir
Illustration from the title page of the libretto, Paris 1873, 1st act, scene 4
Shape:	Opéra-comique in three acts
Original language:	French
Music:	Daniel-François-Esprit Auber
Libretto :	Eugène Scribe
Premiere:	December 2, 1837
Place of premiere:	Opéra-Comique , Paris
Playing time:	approx. 1 ½ hours
Place and time of the action:	Madrid, December 24th and 25th, around 1837
people
Lord Elfort, Envoy to the British Embassy ( baritone ) Juliano, friend of Horace ( tenor ) Horace de Massarena, young Spanish nobleman (tenor) Gil Perez, porter in the Annunti convent ( bass ) Angèle, novice in the Annuntiate convent ( soprano ) Brigitte, her companion, also a novice in the monastery (soprano) Jacinthe, housekeeper Julianos ( old ) Ursule, nun in the Annunti convent (soprano) Gertrude (old) Colleges, cavaliers ( choir )

Le domino noir (Eng. The black domino ) is an opera comique in three acts by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber with a libretto by Eugène Scribe . The premiere took place on December 2, 1837 in the Salle des Nouveautés of the Opéra-Comique in Paris.

action

A masked ball is given at the court of the Spanish king in Madrid. The music can be heard muffled in a distant salon. This is where the delegation secretary Horace de Massarena and Count Juliano meet. Massarena says that exactly one year ago he was able to do a favor to a stranger, disguised as dominoes, exactly in this salon - also on the occasion of a masked ball. Since then he would love this stranger and since this act he has also been protected by unknown sources. Today now, he hopes to meet this stranger again.

first act

A small salon near the royal ballroom in the Royal Palace in Madrid, Count Juliano and Horacio de Massarena in conversation

Second act

The dining room in Count Juliano's palace

Third act

The reception room of the dynasty of the Spanish Queen

layout

The opera has spoken dialogues. There are only a few musical numbers. Only the final movements are more extensive and complex.

Instrumentation

The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:

• Woodwinds : two flutes (2nd also piccolo ), two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons
• Brass : four horns , two trumpets , three trombones
• Timpani , drums : bass drum , cymbals , triangle
• Strings
• Incidental music: flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, clock bell, organ, harp, strings

Work history

Bianca Bianghi as Angela / Angèle, 1870s

At the premiere on December 2, 1837 in the Salle des Nouveautés of the Opéra-Comique , M. Grignon (Lord Elfort), Théodore-Étienne Moreau-Sainti (Juliano), Joseph-Antoine-Charles Couderc (Horace de Massarena), M. Roy (Gil Perez), Laure Cinti-Damoreau (Angèle), Mlle Berthaut (Brigitte) and Mme Boulanger (Jacinthe).

• Costume pictures from the premiere in 1837
• 

  Cinti-Damoreau
  (Angèle)

• 

  Cinti-Damoreau
  (Angèle, 2nd act)

• 

  Cinti-Damoreau
  (Angèle, 3rd act)

• 

  Grignon
  (Lord Edford)

• 

  Moreau-Sainti
  (Juliano)

• 

  Couderc
  (Horace)

• 

  Roy
  (Gil Peres)

• 

  Berthault
  (Brigitte)

• 

  Boulanger
  (Jacinthe)

Le domino noir proved to be extremely successful. By 1845 the opera was translated into German, English, Russian, Danish, Czech, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian and Swedish, later also into Finnish, Croatian, Polish and Norwegian. In 1882 there was already the 1000th performance, and by 1909 there were 1209 performances. In England, where it was played in the Haymarket Theater by 1840 at the latest , the opera was particularly popular. In Germany, however, the work had a harder time.

An Italian version of the libretto entitled Il domino nero premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1849, set by Lauro Rossi .

Peter Tchaikovsky composed several recitatives for a guest performance by an Italian opera company in Moscow in 1869 to replace the French dialogues. However, it is not certain whether they were performed at the time.

In 1993 the opera was recorded on CD with the English Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Richard Bonynge . Sumi Jo sang the role of Angèle, Bruce Ford as Horace and Gilles Cachemailles as Lord Elford.

literature

• Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber: The black domino. Vocal score . Schott, Mainz, 1950

Web links

Commons : Le domino noir  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Le domino noir : sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
• Libretto (French), Paris 1837. Digitized at Google Books
• Plot and libretto of Le domino noir on Opera-Guide landing page due to URL change currently not available
• Work data for Le domino noir based on MGG with discography at Operone

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Ludwig Finscher : Le Domino noir. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 1: Works. Abbatini - Donizetti. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-492-02411-4 , p. 110.
2. ↑ Information in the libretto.
3. ^ Supplement to CD Auber - Le Domino Noir by Richard Bonynge, p. 14.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Harenberg opera guide. 4th edition. Meyers Lexikonverlag, 2003, ISBN 3-411-76107-5 , p. 31.