Les Mariages samnites (The Samnite Marriages) is an opéra comique, described as a drame lyrique, in three acts by André Grétry, The French text was by Barnabé Farmian Durosoy based on a work by Jean François Marmontel.
Performance history
It was first performed on 12 June 1776 by the Comédie-Italienne (with which the Opéra-Comique was merged at that time) at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris.
Roles RoleVoice typePremiere Cast,Cast list is from the 1776 livret. 12 June 1776(Conductor: - )Agathis, in love with CéphalidetenorJean-Baptiste Guignard, called ClairvalParmenon, friend of AgathistenorM JulienEumene, father of Agathisbasse-taille (bass-baritone)Pierre-Marie NarbonneCéphalidesopranoMarie-Jean Trial, née MilonÉliane, friend of CéphalidesopranoMarie-Thérèse-Théodore Rombocoli-Riggieri, called 'Mlle Colombe l'Aînée'Euphémie, mother of Céphalide sopranoLouise-Frédérique Moulinghen, née SchrœderThe Chief of the Eldersbasse-taillePhilippe-Thomas Ménier (also spelt Meunier)The GeneralM LabussièreTwo Samnite girlsSophie Dufayel (ainée) and Marie Desbrosses
References
Sources Period sources Original libretto: Les Mariages Samnites, Drame lyrique en 3 Actes et en Prose (new edition), Paris, Duchesne, 1776 (accessible for free online at Gallica - B.N.F. Period printed score: Les Mariages Samnites Drame lyrique en 3 Actes et en Prose, Paris, Dezauche, s.d. (accessible for free online at Gallica - B.N.F.)
Modern sources Michel Brenet Grétry: sa vie et ses œuvres (F. Hayez, 1884) David Charlton Grétry and the Growth of Opéra Comique (Cambridge University Press, 1986) Ronald Lessens Grétry ou Le triomphe de l'Opéra-Comique (L'Harmattan, 2007) Mariages samnites, Les by Michael Fend, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) Kutsch, K. J. and Riemens, Leo (2003). Großes Sängerlexikon (fourth edition, in German). Munich: K. G. Saur. .