L'éclair
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Lightning |
| Original title: | L'éclair |
Hand-colored title page of the piano reduction from 1836 |
|
| Shape: | Opera in three acts |
| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Jacques Fromental Halévy |
| Libretto : | Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Eugène de Planard |
| Premiere: | December 16, 1835 |
| Place of premiere: | Opéra-Comique , Paris |
| Place and time of the action: | a plantation near Boston, Massachusetts, 1797 |
| people | |
L'éclair (German: Der Blitz ) is a three-act opera by the composer Jacques Fromental Halévy . The libretto was written by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges together with Eugène de Planard . Your premiere saw this opera on 16 December 1835 the Opéra-Comique in Paris .
Shortly after the premiere, Friedrich Genée translated the libretto, and the work was performed in Berlin on August 3, 1836 . Also Friederike Ellmenreich translated this piece; this version was then shown in Munich the following year . Wilhelm Kleefeld edited this work in 1922 , and in the same year it was shown in the theater under the title Der Schicksalstag in Halle an der Saale .
action
first act
Salon in Henriette's country house
Henriette is enthusiastic about the rural idyll and likes to live in seclusion. Her sister, Mme Darbel, refuses and longs to return to the city; Above all, it lacks social life. Her cousin George appears from Great Britain and informs the two sisters that their uncle has recently passed away. This uncle bequeathed his entire fortune to all three - on the condition that George marries one of the two sisters within three weeks ( Terzett : "I called off England's coasts").
The two sisters withdraw, shaken by this news. George sits alone in the drawing room and falls asleep. Henriette and Lionel appear when a sudden thunderstorm wakes him up. Henriette saved him when lightning struck his small rowboat and sank it. Lionel was also blinded by the glare of the flash.
Second act
Conservatory in Henriette's country house
Mme Darbel ( aria : "Yes, I just arrived") is greeted by her relatives Henriette and George. Then Lionel steps in - he thinks he is alone and laments his suffering ( quartet : "Just quietly, just quietly, he appears!"). Henriette, who has meanwhile fallen in love with Lionel, turns to him, and the two sing the duet "Oh how my heart beats through bliss".
Lionel has to go to town for medical treatment, and miraculously comes back seeing. He wants to thank him for his salvation and healing and considers Mme Darbel to be his beloved. Henriette hears this with sadness and flees to Boston in her grief.
Third act
Salon in Henriette's country house
Lionel finally notices his mistake (aria "As the night with a thick veil"). Henriette finally returns from Boston and the whole misunderstanding can be cleared up. Henriette forgives Lionel and confesses her love to him too. At the same time, Mme Darbel accepts her cousin George's proposal. The curtain falls amid cheers for the happy outcome.
literature
- Leo Melitz: Guide through the operas . Globus-Verlag, Berlin 1914, pp. 46–47.
- Horst Seeger Opera Lexicon . Heinrichshofens Verlag, Wilhelmshaven 1979, ISBN 3-7959-0271-1 , p. 171.