Titon et l'Aurore

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Titon et l'Aurore
Opera by Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville
Jean-Joseph Cassanea de Mondonville (original replica) by Maurice Quentin de La Tour.jpg
Mondonville, portrayed by Maurice Quentin de La Tour, c. 1746
TranslationTithonus and Aurora
Librettist Abbé de La Marre
LanguageFrench
Premiere
9 January 1753 (1753-01-09)

Titon et l'Aurore (English: Tithonus and Aurora) is an opera in three acts and a prologue by the French composer Jean-Joseph de Mondonville which was first performed at the Académie royale de musique in Paris on 9 January 1753. The authorship of the libretto has been subject to debate; Mondonville's contemporaries ascribed the prologue to Antoine Houdar de la Motte and the three acts of the opera to the Abbé de La Marre. Titon et l'Aurore belongs to the genre known as the pastorale héroïque . The work played an important role in the so-called Querelle des Bouffons, a dispute over the relative merits of the French and Italian operatic traditions which dominated the intellectual life of Paris in the early 1750s. The tremendous success of Mondonville's opera at its premiere was an important victory for the French camp (although their Italian rivals claimed that this was because they had been excluded from their seats by members of the army). Titon was one of Mondonville's most popular works and went on to enjoy several revivals during his lifetime.

Contents

Roles

Original versionVoice typesPremiere, Paris 1753
Titon haute-contre Pierre Jélyotte
l'Aurore soprano Marie Fel
Promethée (prologue), Eole (pastorale)basse-taille (bass-baritone)Claude-Louis-Dominique Chassé de Chinais, called Chassé
PalèssopranoMarie-Jeanne Fesch, called Mlle Chevalier
L'Amour (prologue & pastorale)
A nimph from Pales's retinue
sopranoMarie-Angélique Coupée (or Couppée)
A shepherdhaute-contreFrançois Poirier
Aquillonbasse-taille (bass-baritone)M. Person
Boréebasse-taille (bass-baritone)Nicolas Gelin
Jupiter (prologue) [1] not statedrole unperformed

Synopsis

Recordings

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References

Notes
  1. The part of Jupiter appears in the libretto (prologue), but is not reported or set to music in the printed score.
Sources