Esmeralda is an 1856 grand opera in four acts with a score by the Italian composer Vincenzo Battista. With a libretto in English by Charles Jefferys, [1] it was based on Battista's Italian version Ermelinda (1851), [2] which in turn was based on Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame .
In 1851 in Naples in Italy Battista was at the height of his fame and powers. He had already staged a number of operas at the prestigious Teatro di San Carlo including Margherita d'Aragona (1844) [3] with the soprano Fanny Goldberg, the tenor Gaetano Fraschini and the baritone Filippo Coletti. His opera Rosvina de la Forest (1845) was commissioned by La Scala in Milan.
To a libretto in Italian by Domenico Bolognese (1919–1891) he composed the score for Ermelinda (1851), which in turn was based on Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame . The opera opened as Esmeralda at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 30 June 1856 under the musical direction of J. H. Tully [4] and with a libretto in English by Charles Jefferys. [1]
Choir of Archers - Gypsies — Nobles invited to the party - the Bourgeois. Appearance of Citizens and Soldiers
The scene is set in Madrid. The time is 1482.
Source: [4]
Chorus-of Gipsies, Archers, Nobles, Citizens and Soldiers.
The Scene is in Paris—Time 1482.
Source: [4]
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. The title refers to the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which features prominently throughout the novel. It focuses on the unfortunate story of Quasimodo, the Roma street dancer Esmeralda and Quasimodo's guardian the Archdeacon Claude Frollo in 15th-century Paris. All its elements—the Renaissance setting, impossible love affairs and marginalized characters—make the work a model of the literary themes of Romanticism.
Barchester Towers is a novel by English author Anthony Trollope published by Longmans in 1857. It is the second book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire series, preceded by The Warden and followed by Doctor Thorne. Among other things it satirises the antipathy in the Church of England between High Church and Evangelical adherents. Trollope began writing this book in 1855. He wrote constantly and made himself a writing-desk so he could continue writing while travelling by train. "Pray know that when a man begins writing a book he never gives over", he wrote in a letter during this period. "The evil with which he is beset is as inveterate as drinking – as exciting as gambling".
Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, KG, PC,, known by the epithet "The Proud Duke", was an English aristocrat and courtier. He rebuilt Petworth House in Sussex, the ancient Percy seat inherited from his wife, in the palatial form which survives today. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, he was a remarkably handsome man, and inordinately fond of taking a conspicuous part in court ceremonial; his vanity, which earned him the sobriquet of "the proud duke", was a byword among his contemporaries and was the subject of numerous anecdotes; Macaulay described him as "a man in whom the pride of birth and rank amounted almost to a disease".
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1939 American romantic drama film starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara. Directed by William Dieterle and produced by Pandro S. Berman, the film is based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel. The film is also noted for being the first film ever shown at the Cannes Film Festival before the rest of the festival was cancelled due to the start of World War II.
John George Haigh, commonly known as the Acid Bath Murderer, was an English serial killer convicted for the murder of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine. Haigh battered to death or shot his victims and disposed of their bodies using sulphuric acid before forging their signatures so he could sell their possessions and collect large sums of money. His actions were the subject of the television film A Is for Acid.
Châteaubriant is a town in western France, about 350 km (220 mi) southwest of Paris, and one of the three sous-préfectures of the Loire-Atlantique department. Châteaubriant is also situated in the historical and cultural region of Brittany, and it is the capital of the Pays de la Mée.
Arthur Goring Thomas was an English composer.
Notre-Dame de Paris was a sung-through French musical which debuted on 16 September 1998 in Paris. It is based upon the novel Notre-Dame de Paris by the French novelist Victor Hugo. The music was composed by Riccardo Cocciante and the lyrics are by Luc Plamondon.
Lower Swell is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Swell, in the Cotswold district, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is located at the River Dikler, one mile from Stow-on-the-Wold. The village has "finest countryside, a tranquil village green and plenty of mellow stone cottages". The village church is dedicated to St. Mary. In 1931 the parish had a population of 360.
Lionel Belmore was an English character actor and director on stage for more than a quarter of a century.
Ben Davies was a Welsh tenor singer, who appeared in opera with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, in operetta and light opera, and on the concert and oratorio platform. He was spoken of as a successor of Edward Lloyd, as a leading British tenor, and retained something of his style and repertoire in concert performance.
CapitainePhœbus de Châteaupers is a fictional character and the secondary antagonist of Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, Notre-Dame de Paris. He is the Captain of the King Louis XI's Archers. His name comes from Phoebus, the Greek god of the sun.
Robert Peake the Elder was an English painter active in the later part of Elizabeth I's reign and for most of the reign of James I. In 1604, he was appointed picture maker to the heir to the throne, Prince Henry; and in 1607, serjeant-painter to King James I – a post he shared with John De Critz.
William Bernard, 12th Baron Petre "a pattern of charity and piety", was an enthusiastic builder of churches. To a greater or lesser extent, he was responsible for new churches in Brentwood, Chipping Ongar, Barking, Romford and Chelmsford and a mortuary chapel in the grounds of Thorndon Hall, as well as twice extending the chapel at Ingatestone Hall, which then served as the parish church for the locality.
John Charles Dodson, 3rd Baron Monk Bretton DL was a British agriculturist, Sussex landowner, and hereditary peer who was a long–serving member of the House of Lords from 1948 to 1999.
Ivan Desny was a French actor of Russian Chinese origin. He had a lengthy career in French and German cinema, appearing in over 200 film and television roles over 50 years, and was a two-time German Film Award winner.
The dual monarchy of England and France existed during the latter phase of the Hundred Years' War when Charles VII of France and Henry VI of England disputed the succession to the throne of France. It commenced on 21 October 1422 upon the death of King Charles VI of France, who had signed the Treaty of Troyes which gave the French crown to his son-in-law Henry V of England and Henry's heirs. It excluded King Charles's son, the Dauphin Charles, who by right of primogeniture was the heir to the Kingdom of France. Although the Treaty was ratified by the Estates-General of France, the act was a contravention of the French law of succession which decreed that the French crown could not be alienated. Henry VI, son of Henry V, became king of both England and France and was recognized only by the English and Burgundians until 1435 as King Henry II of France. He was crowned King of France on 16 December 1431.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a British feature length adaptation of the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo, produced for television by the BBC in 1976 and aired on December 30 the same year. Directed by Alan Cooke and written by Robert Muller, the film stars Kenneth Haigh as Claude Frollo, Warren Clarke as Quasimodo and Michelle Newell as Esmeralda, and features the visual effects by Ian Scoones and the original music by Wilfred Josephs.
Esmeralda is an opera in four acts composed by Arthur Goring Thomas to an English-language libretto by Theo Marzials and Alberto Randegger based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. It premiered in London on 26 March 1883 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane with Georgina Burns in the title role and Barton McGuckin as her lover, Phoebus.