The opera was initially a failure but Philidor had the libretto revised by Michel-Jean Sedaine and this new version, first performed on 30 January 1766, proved one of the most popular opéras comiques of the late 18th century. It was produced in a number of other countries, and translated into German, Swedish and Russian.
Principal singers: Sébastien Droy, Sophie Marin-Degor, Marc Barrard, Sibyl Zanganelli, Carine Séchehaye, Rodolphe Briand, Léonard Pezzino & Guillaume Michel
Recording date: staged in 2005; recorded on 17, 18 and 20 janvier, 2006
Label: Dynamic 33509 (DVD), CDS509 (CD)
Sources
Casaglia, Gherardo (2005)."Tom Jones". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
François-André Danican Philidor, often referred to as André Danican Philidor during his lifetime, was a French composer and chess player. He contributed to the early development of the opéra comique. He is widely regarded as the best chess player of his age; his book Analyse du jeu des Échecs was considered a standard chess manual for at least a century. A well-known chess opening, an endgame position, and a checkmate method are all named after him.
Philidor (Filidor) or Danican Philidor was a family of musicians that served as court musicians to the French kings. The original name of the family was Danican (D'Anican) and was of Scottish origin (Duncan). Philidor was a later addition to the family name, given first to Michel the elder by Louis XIII because his oboe playing reminded the king of an Italian virtuoso oboist named Filidori. Both Michel the younger and Jean played in the Grande Écurie in Paris. Later members of the family were known as composers as well. One of them was a chess master.
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.
Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny was a French composer and a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts (1813).
Le diable à quatre is an opéra comique in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck. The French-language libretto is by Michel-Jean Sedaine and Pierre Baurans, after a translation by Claude-Pierre Patu of the 1731 ballad opera by Charles Coffey entitled The Devil to Pay, or The Wives Metamorphos’d. It was first performed at Laxenburg on May 28, 1759. The work was a popular success. Joseph Haydn used a melody from it, "Je n’aimais pas le tabac beaucoup " in the first movement of his symphony Le soir.
Le tableau parlant is an opéra comique, described as a comédie-parade, in one act by André Grétry, The French libretto was by Louis Anseaume.
Guillaume Tell is an opéra comique, described as a drame mise en musique, in three acts by André Grétry, The French text was by Michel-Jean Sedaine based on a play of the same name by Antoine-Marin Lemierre.
Pierre le Grand is an opéra comique by André Grétry. The libretto, by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, is based on the early life of the Russian tsar Peter the Great. It was first performed in Paris on January 13, 1790, with Louise-Rosalie Lefebvre, known as Madame Dugazon, as Catherine.
Le Huron is a French opéra comique in two acts by André Grétry. The libretto is by Jean-François Marmontel based on the story L'Ingénu (1767) by Voltaire. It was the composer's first big success with Parisian audiences.
The French term comédie mêlée d'ariettes was frequently used during the late ancien régime for certain types of opéra comique.
L'école de la jeunesse ou Le Barnevelt françois is an opéra comique in three acts by the composer Egidio Duni. The libretto, by Louis Anseaume, is based on George Lillo's play The London Merchant or The History of George Barnwell (1731). The opera was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 24 January 1765.
Le maître de chapelle, ou Le souper imprévu is an opéra comique in two acts by the Italian composer Ferdinando Paer. The French libretto, by Sophie Gay, is based on Le souper imprévu, ou Le chanoine de Milan by Alexandre Duval (1796).
Jean-Pierre Solié was a French cellist and operatic singer. He began as a tenor, but switched and became well known as a baritone. He sang most often at the Paris Opéra-Comique. He also became a prolific composer, writing primarily one-act comic operas.
Blaise le savetier is a 1759 one-act opéra comique, by the French composer François-André Danican Philidor. The libretto was by Michel-Jean Sedaine, after a story by Jean de La Fontaine entitled Conte d'une chose arrivée à Château-Thierry.
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.
Le maréchal ferrant is a 1761 French two-act opéra comique with spoken dialogue and music composed by François-André Danican Philidor as well as several vaudevilles, which were typically included in opéras comiques of the time. The libretto is by Antoine-François Quétant, after one of the stories in Boccaccio's Decameron, with verses for the ariettes by Louis Anseaume and a plan devised by Serrière.
Ernelinde, princesse de Norvège is a three-act operatic tragédie lyrique, by the French composer François-André Danican Philidor. The libretto was by Antoine-Alexandre-Henri Poinsinet, after Francesco Silvani's opera libretto La fede tradita, e vendicata.
Louis-Barthélémy Pradher was a French composer, pianist and music educator.
Les femmes vengées, ou Les feintes infidélités is a one-act opéra comique by François-André Danican Philidor to a libretto by Michel-Jean Sedaine after Jean de La Fontaine's "Les rémois" from the third part (1671) of his collection of ribald short stories, Contes et nouvelles en vers. It was first performed on 20 March 1775 at the Comédie-Italienne (Hôtel de Bourgogne, Paris.
Sancho Pança dans son isle is a 1762 opera by François-André Danican Philidor to a libretto by Antoine-Alexandre-Henri Poinsinet. It premiered at the Comédie Italienne on July 8, 1762.
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