Le calife de Baghdad
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| Title: | The Caliph of Baghdad |
| Original title: | Le calife de Baghdad |
Le calife de Baghdad (1800) |
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| Shape: | Opéra-comique |
| Original language: | French |
| Music: | François-Adrien Boieldieu |
| Libretto : | Claude Godard d'Aucourt de Saint-Just |
| Premiere: | September 16, 1800 |
| Place of premiere: | Paris , Opéra-Comique Favart |
| Playing time: | Around 1 hour |
| Place and time of the action: | Baghdad, "fairytale time" |
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Le calife de Bagdad ( The Caliph of Baghdad ) is an opera-comique in one act by François-Adrien Boieldieu . The libretto was composed by Claude Godard d'Aucourt de Saint-Just based on a story from the Arabian Nights . The work can be assigned to the genre of Turkish opera .
action
Zétulbé confesses to her friend Kèsie that she fell in love with a man who saved her from a band of robbers, but of whom she knows neither the name nor the status. It is Isauun, the caliph of Baghdad, who has the peculiarity of leaving his palace alone and disguised to mingle with his people and get to know the city. The authorities, however, are aware of the code name "Bondocani" that he uses. Disguised in this way, he comes to Lémaïdes' house to ask for her daughter's hand. While she recognizes her savior, the mother is skeptical.
In the meantime, the house has been surrounded by police officers who are looking for a robber chief and Lémaïde is suspected of being an accomplice. Just as Isauun, Zétulbé and Lémaïde are sitting down for dinner, a judge accompanied by guards enters the house and wants to conduct an interrogation. However, when the caliph gave his alias, the officers recognized him and fell at his feet. Yémaldin arrives and reports that a large wedding procession is approaching the house. After changing clothes in an adjoining room, the caliph appears in official jewelry and takes Zétulbé's hand.
Instrumentation
2 flutes (also piccolo ), 2 oboes , 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons , 2 horns , timpani , percussion ( bass drum , cymbals , triangle ), strings .
premiere
The opera premiered on September 16, 1800 (the 29th Fructidor in the 8th year of the French Revolutionary Calendar ) in the Salle Favart of the Opéra-Comique . Jean Elleviou as Isauun, Madame Dugazon as Lémaïde, Marie-Alexandrine Gavaudan-Ducamel as Zétulbé, Jean-Honoré Bertin as Yémaldin and Mademoiselle Philis as Kèsie.
reception
Le calife de Baghdad was well received by the Parisian public; Luigi Cherubini , who supported Boieldieu in Paris, asked him “whether he was ashamed of the undeserved success”, whereupon Boieldieu took lessons from him. The German music theorist Gottfried Weber, on the other hand, criticized the opera as everyday with only a few successful passages and insignificant dialogue. Le calife de Baghdad was part of the repertoire of the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique for decades; the last new production was from 1875. The opera was also repeatedly performed outside of France. The role names and the musical content were partly changed, for example in the German arrangement by Fritz Schröder from 1939. The topic was also taken up frequently, for example in Manuel García's Il califfo di Baghdad in 1813 and in Gioachino Rossini's Adina ossia Il in 1826 califfo di Baghdad .
Today the overture in particular enjoys great popularity as a concert piece.
Recordings
- Jean Giraudeau (Isauun), Christiane Eda-Pierre (Zétulbé), Jane Berbié (Kèsie), Jeannine Collard (Lémaïde), Jean-Paul Vaquelin (judge); Orchester lyrique de l'ORTF, Louis Fourestier (conductor); Musidisc 201852 (1 CD) 1963 (live recording from April 4, 1963)
- Ensemble Vocal Patrick Marco, Orchester Bernard Thomas, Bernard Thomas (conductor); Thésis THC 82015 (1 CD) 1988 (recording of the musical numbers without dialogues)
- Laurence Dale (Isauun), Lydia Mayo (Zétulbé), Joëlle Michelini (Kèsie), Claudine Cheriez (Lémaïde), Huw Rhys-Evans (judge); Camerata de Provence choir and orchestra, Antonio de Almeida (conductor); Sonpact SPT 93007 (1 CD) 1992
literature
- Johannes Scholtze: Complete opera guide through the repertoire operas . Mode, Berlin 1910, p. 70 ( digitized version ).
- Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Vol. 1. Works. Abbattini - Donizetti . Piper, Munich and Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-492-02411-4 , pp. 381 f .
- John Warrack, Ewan West: The Oxford dictionary of opera . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1992, ISBN 0-19-869164-5 , pp. 109 .
- Heinz Wagner: The great manual of the opera . 3rd revised and expanded edition. Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 1999, ISBN 3-7959-0505-2 , pp. 107 .
- Werner Oehlmann: Opera in four centuries . Belser, Stuttgart; Zurich 1984, ISBN 3-7630-9029-0 , p. 512 f .
Web links
- Le calife de Baghdad : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Libretto (French), Paris 1800. Digitized at Google Books
- Le calife de Baghdad (Adrien Boïeldieu) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Manuscripts and performances (1770–1830) by Le Calife de Baghdad in the DFG opera project
- Work data for Le Calife de Baghdad based on the MGG with discography at Operone
Individual evidence
- ↑ Around 1800 two sisters, Jeannette Philis and Jenny Philis-Bertin, were employed at the Opéra-Comique, cf. Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . Volume 4 . Fourth, enlarged and updated edition. Saur, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-598-11598-9 , pp. 3648 .
- ^ Elisabeth Schmierer (Hrsg.): Lexicon of the opera: composers - works - performers - technical terms . Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2002, ISBN 978-3-89007-524-2 , pp. 219 .
- ^ Stanley Sadie (ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Opera . Macmillan Press, London 1992, ISBN 0-935859-92-6 , pp. 524 .
- ^ Gottfried Weber: "The Caliph of Baghdad" by François Adrien Boieldieu on September 13, 1810 in Mannheim. Carl Maria von Weber Complete Edition. Digital edition, accessed March 9, 2017 .
- ↑ Harald Hassler (Ed.): Opera, Operetta, Musical. 600 descriptions of works . Metzler, Stuttgart; Weimar 2005, ISBN 978-3-476-02138-0 , pp. 126 .