Rescue opera

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Fidelio: Leonore prevents Pizarro from killing Florestan. Act3 of Fidelio by Beethoven at the Theatre Lyrique 1860 - Gallica.jpg
Fidelio : Leonore prevents Pizarro from killing Florestan.

Rescue opera was a genre of opera in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in France and Germany. Generally, rescue operas deal with the rescue of a main character from danger and end with a happy dramatic resolution in which lofty humanistic ideals triumph over base motives. Operas with this kind of subject matter became popular in France around the time of the French Revolution; a number of such operas dealt with the rescue of a political prisoner. Stylistically and thematically, rescue opera was an outgrowth of the French bourgeois opéra comique ; musically, it began a new tradition that would influence German Romantic opera and French grand opera. The most famous rescue opera is Ludwig van Beethoven's Fidelio .

Contents

Term

"Rescue opera" was not a contemporary term. [1] Dyneley Hussey used the term in English in 1927 as a translation of Karl M. Klob's 1913 reference to Fidelio as "das sogenannte Rettungs- oder Befreiungsstück" in Die Oper von Gluck bis Wagner. David Charlton believes that rescue opera is not an authentic genre, and that the concept was coined to make what he believes is a nonexistent connection between Beethoven's work and French opera. [2] Patrick J. Smith, on the other hand, observes: "The 'rescue opera'...antedated the Revolution, but 'rescue opera' as a genre was a product of it." [3]

In French, this genre is referred to as the pièce à sauvetage or opéra à sauvetage, [4] while in German it is called Rettungsoper, Befreiungsoper (liberation opera), or Schreckensoper (terror opera). [5]

Examples

See: Category:Rescue operas

Early opéras comiques with rescue themes include Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny's Le roi et le fermier (1762) and Le déserteur (1769), and André Grétry's Richard Coeur-de-lion (1784). These are sometimes called early rescue operas, or conversely predecessors of the rescue opera.

Henri Montan Berton's Les rigueurs du cloître (1790) has been described as the first rescue opera; [3] [6] Luigi Cherubini's Lodoïska (1791) has also been named a founding work of the genre. [4] [7] Other examples from the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century, the period when rescue opera flourished, are Nicolas Dalayrac's Camille ou Le souterrain (1791), Jean-François Le Sueur's La caverne (1793), and Cherubini's Les deux journées (1800).

While the rescue opera was primarily a French genre, the two best-known operas in the genre are not French. Ludwig van Beethoven's Fidelio is by far the most famous example today, and was also influenced by the German Singspiel . A work which is similar to Fidelio is Rossini's Torvaldo e Dorliska of 1815.

Bedřich Smetana's Dalibor (1868), which contains no spoken dialogue and which bears marks of Wagnerian influence, has nonetheless been called a rescue opera, in part because of its political themes.

Mikhail Glinka and his first opera A Life for the Tsar, premiered in 1836, used the French operatic form as inspiration for its formal structure [8] .

Style and themes

Rescue opera was primarily a product of the French Revolution. The social changes of the period meant that opera must now appeal to the masses, and post-aristocratic, patriotic, idealistic themes—such as resistance to oppression, secularism, the political power of individuals and of people working together, and fundamental changes to the status quo—were popular. [4] [9] [10] The Terror influenced stories of fear and imprisonment; a number of plots, including that of Fidelio and other operas based on the same libretto as well as that of Les deux journées, were taken from real life. [10] [11]

Stylistically, rescue opera was an outgrowth of the opéra comique, a bourgeois genre. [9] Like opéras comiques, rescue operas contained spoken dialogue, popular musical idioms, and bourgeois characters. [12] Works with libretti by Michel-Jean Sedaine were particularly influential. [13] The influx of suspenseful or tragic subjects into opéra comique caused confusion in a system where tragedy was associated with through-composed scores and comedy with dialogue, precipitating a shift of musical theatre genres that paralleled the political shift which empowered the middle-class. Carl Dahlhaus writes, "No longer did the bourgeoisie function in comic casts merely as the butt of jokes; it demanded, and received, its part in the dignity of tragedy." [14]

Some scholars describe the plots as featuring a deus ex machina like the ones present in opera seria plots, though the resolution still bore a closer resemblance to the endings of domestic comedies. [13] However, others reject this term because the rescue is carried out through the actions of heroic people, rather than gods. [10] John Bokina describes such endings, rather than as a "deus ex machina," as a "populus ex machina," in which virtuous human beings save the day. [9]

These operas were also influenced by gothic fiction and melodrama. A number of rescue operas were adaptations of British gothic literature. [13]

Rescue operas incorporated "local color" in the orchestra for operas set in exotic European locations. [12] Folk songs and "picturesque" arias were used to indicate a setting; [11] Lodoïska, for example, set in Poland, contains what may be the first polonaise in opera. [15] [16] However, melodies as such were avoided. [11]

Dramatic and emotional intensity, as conveyed through music, became increasingly important. The fortissimo directions ff and even fff were often to be found in scores, and chromatic scales, tremolos, and intervals such as the diminished seventh heightened tension onstage. [11] Jean Le Sueur, whose La Caverne was one of the more influential rescue operas, wrote in his score for Télémaque that arias should be sung with voix concentrée or in a manner that was très-concentrè. Long instrumental passages descriptive of storms or battles were also present. [12]

Impact

In its use of local color, heightened dramatic and emotional intensity, and inclusion of descriptive instrumental music, rescue opera preceded the works of German Romantics such as Carl Maria von Weber and, through him, Richard Wagner. [12] [17] Grandiosity in music and scenery, influenced by the political spectacles of the French Revolution and French Empire, influenced grand opera and the works of composers like Giacomo Meyerbeer. [12]

Related Research Articles

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Daniel Auber French opera composer

Daniel-François-Esprit Auber was a French composer and director of the Paris Conservatoire.

Luigi Cherubini Italian composer

Luigi Cherubini was an Italian Classical and Romantic composer. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest of his contemporaries. His operas were heavily praised and interpreted by Rossini.

Étienne Méhul French composer

Étienne Nicolas Méhul was a French composer, "the most important opera composer in France during the Revolution". He was also the first composer to be called a "Romantic". He is known particularly for his operas, written in keeping with the reforms introduced by Christoph Willibald Gluck.

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Grand opera 19th-century opera genre

Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events. The term is particularly applied to certain productions of the Paris Opéra from the late 1820s to around 1850; 'grand opéra' has sometimes been used to denote the Paris Opéra itself.

Opéra comique is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular opéras comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent, which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections. Associated with the Paris theatre of the same name, opéra comique is not necessarily comical or shallow in nature; Carmen, perhaps the most famous opéra comique, is a tragedy.

François-Adrien Boieldieu French composer

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<i>Les deux journées</i>

Les deux journées, ou Le porteur d'eau is an opera in three acts by Luigi Cherubini with a libretto by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly. It takes the form of an opéra comique, meaning not that the subject matter is humorous, but that the piece is a mixture of spoken dialogue and musical numbers. Bouilly claimed he took the story from a real-life incident during the French Revolution but, for fear of censorship, he moved the action back to 1647 and the time of Cardinal Mazarin. The opera was first performed on 16 January 1800 at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris.

<i>Ariodant</i>

Ariodant is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer Étienne Méhul first performed at the Théâtre Favart in Paris on 11 October 1799. The libretto, by François-Benoît Hoffman is based on the same episode in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso that also inspired Handel's opera Ariodante. The work had a profound influence on the development of Romantic opera, particularly in Germany.

French opera

French opera is one of Europe's most important operatic traditions, containing works by composers of the stature of Rameau, Berlioz, Gounod, Bizet, Massenet, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc and Messiaen. Many foreign-born composers have played a part in the French tradition as well, including Lully, Gluck, Salieri, Cherubini, Spontini, Meyerbeer, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi and Offenbach.

<i>Richard Coeur-de-lion</i> (opera)

Richard Cœur-de-lion is an opéra comique, described as a comédie mise en musique, by the Belgian composer André Grétry. The French text was by Michel-Jean Sedaine. The work is generally recognised as Grétry's masterpiece and one of the most important French opéras comiques. It is based on a legend about King Richard I of England's captivity in Austria and his rescue by the troubadour Blondel de Nesle.

<i>Lodoïska</i> (Cherubini)

Lodoïska is an opera by Luigi Cherubini to a French libretto by Claude-François Fillette-Loraux after an episode from Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvrai’s novel, Les amours du chevalier de Faublas. It takes the form of a comédie héroïque in three acts, and was a founding work of rescue opera. It has also been called one of the first Romantic operas, though Cherubini's work was basically classical.

Pierre Gaveaux French operatic tenor and composer

Pierre Gaveaux was a French operatic tenor and composer, notable for creating the role of Jason in Cherubini's Médée and for composing Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal, the first operatic version of the story that later found fame as Fidelio.

Théâtre Feydeau

The Théâtre Feydeau, a former Parisian theatre company, was founded in 1789 with the patronage of Monsieur, Comte de Provence, and was therefore initially named the Théâtre de Monsieur. It began performing in the Salle des Tuileries, located in the north wing of the Tuileries Palace, then moved to the Salle des Variétés at the Foire Saint-Germain, and finally, beginning in 1791, settled into its own custom-built theatre, the Salle Feydeau located on the rue Feydeau. The company was renamed Feydeau after the royal family was arrested during the French Revolution.

<i>Eliza</i> (Cherubini)

Eliza, ou Le voyage aux glaciers du Mont St Bernard is an opéra comique in two acts by Luigi Cherubini with a French libretto by Jacques-Antoine de Révéroni Saint-Cyr. It was first performed at the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris on 13 December 1794.

<i>Faniska</i>

Faniska is an opéra comique in three acts by Luigi Cherubini. The German libretto, by Joseph Sonnleithner, is based on the melodrama Les mines de Pologne (1803) by René-Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt.

<i>Le congrès des rois</i>

Le congrès des rois was a 3-act French Revolutionary opera of the genre comédie mêlée d'ariettes with a libretto by De Maillot, a stage name used by Antoine-François Ève early in his career, and music by a collaborative of twelve composers. It was a satire directed against the "enemies of France". The libretto and most of the music has been lost. The composition of the opera was ordered by the Comité du Salut public to be completed in two days. The opera was first performed on 26 February 1794 [8 vent II] by the Opéra-Comique in the first Salle Favart and was presented a total of 2 times. At the premiere, "the length of the work and its couplets' lack of charm tired the audience, which took out its bad feelings on the ballet. Sharp whistles grew louder still, and the authors were not acknowledged." When the second performance met a similar reception, the management ended its run.

<i>Euphrosine</i>

Euphrosine, ou Le tyran corrigé is an opera, designated as a 'comédie mise en musique', by the French composer Étienne Nicolas Méhul with a libretto by François-Benoît Hoffman. It was the first of Méhul's operas to be performed, and established his reputation as a leading composer of his time. The premiere was given by the Comédie-Italienne at the first Salle Favart in Paris on 4 September 1790.

Beethovenfest

The Beethovenfest is a festival of classical music in Bonn, Germany, dedicated mostly to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven who was born there. It dates back to 1845, when the composer's 75th anniversary of birth was celebrated with unveiling his monument and performing major works.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ 'Rescue opera' ... was coined only in the late 19th or early 20th century." Charlton, David (1992), 'Rescue opera' in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
  2. ↑ ". . .the idea of 'rescue opera' has provided a superficial means of relating Fidelio to French tradition. The attempt was founded on little knowledge, and the dangerous consequence of using the term is to distort historical values." Charlton, David (1992), 'Rescue opera' in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
  3. 1 2 Smith, Patrick J. (1970). The tenth muse: a historical study of the opera libretto. A.A. Knopf. p. 182.
  4. 1 2 3 Boyden, Matthew; Kimberley, Nick; Staines, Joe (2002). The rough guide to opera. Rough Guides. pp. 117–119.
  5. ↑ Wörner, Karl H. (1993). Geschichte der Musik: ein Studien- und Nachschlagebuch. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. pp. 396–397.
  6. ↑ The Music Review, 1981
  7. ↑ Scott, Bruce (January 14, 2011). "Fanning Revolutionary Fires: Cherubini's 'Lodoiska'". NPR.
  8. ↑ Taruskin, Richard (2000). Defining Russia musically : historical and hermeneutical essays. Princeton, N.J. p. 27. ISBN   978-0-691-21937-0. OCLC   1199341829.
  9. 1 2 3 Bokina, John (2004). Opera and Politics: From Monteverdi to Henze. Yale University Press. pp. 66-.
  10. 1 2 3 Sadie, Stanley; Macy, Laura, eds. (2009). The Grove Book of Operas. Oxford University Press. p. 674.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Pestelli, Giorgio (1984). The Age of Mozart and Beethoven. Cambridge University Press. pp. 187–188.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Grout, Donald Jay (2003). A short history of opera . Columbia University Press. pp.  345–348.
  13. 1 2 3 Hoeveler, Diane Long; Davies Cordova, Sarah (2006). "Gothic Opera as Romantic Discourse in Britain and France: A Cross-Cultural Dialogue". In Peer, Larry H.; Hoeveler, Diane Long (eds.). Romanticism: comparative discourses. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 11–34.
  14. ↑ Dahlhaus, Carl (1991). Nineteenth-Century Music. University of California Press. pp. 64–65.
  15. ↑ Abraham, Gerald (1988). The Age of Beethoven, 1790-1830. Oxford University Press. p. 69.
  16. ↑ Dent, Edward J. (1979). The Rise of Romantic Opera. Cambridge University Press. p. 105.
  17. ↑ Warrack, John Hamilton (2001). "French opera in Germany after the Revolution". German opera: from the beginnings to Wagner. Cambridge University Press.

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