Guillaume Tell (William 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.
Performance history
It was first performed by the Comédie-Italienne at the first Salle Favart in Paris on 9 April 1791 and was revived on 24 May 1828 at the Salle Feydeau in a version much revised by Henri-Montan Berton with music borrowed from other works of Grétry, including Amphitryon, Céphale et Procris, Aucassin et Nicolette, Callias, and Élisca, and a new libretto by Jean-Baptiste Pélissier.Wild & Charlton 2005, pp. 54, 272. Grétry's Guillaume Tell disappeared from the repertoire as Rossini's 1829 opera on the same subject gained preference.
An Opéra royal de Wallonie production at the Theatre Royal in Liege in July 2013 featured Marc Laho in the title role and was conducted by Claudio Scimone.Grétry à l’Opéra royal de Wallonie : l’autre Guillaume Tell Retrieved 20 July 2013.
Roles RoleVoice typePremiere Cast,Guillaume Tell, Drame en Trois Actes, en Prose et en Vers; par le Citoyen Sedaine, Musique de Citoyen Gretry. Maradan Libraire, Paris, 1793. Singers in Kutsch & Riemens (2003): Pierre-Marie Narbonne, Rose Renard, Simon Chenard. 9 April 1791(Conductor: – )GueslerbaritoneSimon ChénardGuillaume TelltenorPhilippe Cauvy, 'Philippe'Madame TellsopranoDesforgesMarie, Guillaume Tell's daughtersopranoRose RenaudMelktal, the son tenorElvionMelktal, the fatherbaritonePierre-Marie NarbonneAn officerSolierAn old manFavardSurlemannGrangerA travellerMenierTraveller's wifeLescautTraveller's little girlChénardChorus: Soldiers, village boys and girls, people
Synopsis The opera is set in 13th-century Switzerland. Like Rossini's later work of the same name, it portrays the heroic struggle of the liberty-aspiring Swiss patriots led by Tell against the evil and oppressive Austrians under Guesler, the local governor.
Recording Guillaume Tell, Marco Laho (Guillaume Tell), Anne-Catherine Gillet (Madame Tell), Lionel Lhote (Gessler), Orchestre et Chœurs de l'Opéra royal de Wallonie, conducted by Claudio Scimone (Musique en Wallonie, 1 CD, 2013)
References
Sources
Charlton, David (1992). Guillaume Tell in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan. Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens (2003). Großes Sängerlexikon (fourth edition, in German). Munich: K. G. Saur. . Wild, Nicole; Charlton, David (2005). Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique Paris: répertoire 1762-1972. Sprimont, Belgium: Editions Mardaga. .