()"huguenot" at WordReference.com; the optional "(ə)" is not given in The Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary, 4th edition, 2007, however, it is sung (Meyerbeer c. 1900, p. 14). is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera. In five acts, to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, it premiered in Paris on 29 February 1836.
Composition history
Les Huguenots was some five years in creation. Meyerbeer prepared carefully for this opera after the sensational success of Robert le diable, recognising the need to continue to present lavish staging, a highly dramatic storyline, impressive orchestration and virtuoso parts for the soloists – the essential elements of the new genre of Grand Opera. Meyerbeer and his librettist for Robert le Diable, Eugène Scribe, had agreed to collaborate on an epic work concerning the French Wars of Religion, with a drama partly based on Prosper Mérimée's 1829 novel A Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX. Coming from a wealthy family, Meyerbeer could afford to take his time, dictate his own terms, and to be a perfectionist. The very detailed contract which Meyerbeer arranged with Louis-Désiré Véron, director of the Opéra, for Les Huguenots (and which was drawn up for him by the lawyer Adolphe Crémieux) is a testament to this.Kelly 2004, pp. 201–206. While Meyerbeer was writing the opera, another opera with a similar setting and theme (Le pré aux clercs by Ferdinand Hérold) was also produced in Paris (1832). Like Meyerbeer's, Hérold's work was extremely popular in its time, although it is now only seldom performed.
Meyerbeer decided that he wanted more historical details of the period and a greater psychological depth to the characters than Scribe's text was supplying so he obtained Scribe's approval to invite a second librettist, Émile Deschamps, to collaborate on the text in order to furnish these elements. Meyerbeer was recommended to take his wife to a warmer climate for her health, and while in Italy for that purpose he consulted with the librettist of his earlier Italian operas, Gaetano Rossi. With his advice Meyerbeer himself re-wrote the part of Marcel, one of the most striking and original characters in the piece. Meyerbeer also accepted the advice of star tenor Adolphe Nourrit, chosen to create the part of Raoul, to expand the love duet in Act 4, which became one of the most famous numbers in the opera.
Performance history
Les Huguenots was premiered by the Paris Opera at the Salle Le Peletier on 29 February 1836 (conductor: François Habeneck), and was an immediate success. Both Adolphe Nourrit and Cornélie Falcon were particularly praised by the critics for their singing and performances. It was indeed Falcon's last important creation before her voice so tragically failed in April of the following year.Pitou 1990, pp. 451–452. Hector Berlioz called the score "a musical encyclopedia". Les Huguenots was the first opera to be performed at the Opéra more than 1,000 times (the 1,000th performance being on 16 May 1906)Brzoska 2003, p. 206. and continued to be produced regularly up to 1936, more than a century after its premiere.Wolff 1962, pp. 116–117. (The Paris Opera opened a new production of Les Huguenots in September 2018, the first time since 1936 for the opera to be performed there). Its many performances in all other of the world's major opera houses give it a claim to being the most successful opera of the 19th century.
Other first performances included London (Covent Garden Theatre), 20 June 1842, and New Orleans (Théâtre d'Orléans) on 29 April 1839. Due to its subject matter it was sometimes staged under different titles such as The Guelfs and the Ghibellines (in Vienna before 1848), Renato di Croenwald in Rome, or The Anglicans and the Puritans (in Munich), to avoid inflaming religious tensions among its audiences.Brzoska 2003, p. 207.
Les Huguenots was chosen to open the present building of the Covent Garden Theatre in 1858. During the 1890s, when it was performed at the Metropolitan Opera, it was often called 'the night of the seven stars', as the cast would include Lillian Nordica, Nellie Melba, Sofia Scalchi, Jean de Reszke, Édouard de Reszke, Victor Maurel and Pol Plançon. The opera was performed in Italian at the Met in the 19th century as Gli Ugonotti.
Soviet adaptation In the Soviet Union, the opera was given a new libretto as Dekabristy, about the historical Decembrists.This Dekabristi is not to be confused with the better-known Yuri Shaporin opera of the same name.
Modern revivals As with Meyerbeer's other operas, Les Huguenots lost favor in the early part of the twentieth century and it fell out of the operatic repertoire worldwide, except for very occasional revivals. Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge were the major force in the opera's revival during the second half of the 20th century. Sutherland chose the opera for her final performance at the Sydney Opera House on 2 October 1990, Bonynge conducting the Opera Australia Orchestra.
Amongst reasons often adduced for the dearth of productions in the 20th century were the scale of the work and the cost of mounting it, as well as the alleged lack of virtuoso singers capable of doing justice to Meyerbeer's demanding music. However, recent successful productions of the opera at relatively small centres such as Metz (2004) show that this conventional wisdom can be challenged. Since then, there have been highly successful new productions of Les Huguenots at major opera houses in France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. Performances of Les Huguenots are no longer rare in Europe.
Roles
+ RoleThe names, descriptions, and order of the roles are from Meyerbeer, Arsenty, and Letellier 2009, p. 2. Chorus roles are from Kobbé 1976, p. 726.Voice typeThe role voice types are from the Benoit edition of the piano-vocal score (Meyerbeer, ca. 1900), except that "baritone" is used in place of basse chantante and "bass" in place of basse profonde. Additional roles include: Léonard (the valet), sung by Charpentier, a tenor; and the town crier sung by Alizard, a bass (see note for the Premiere cast). Sources sometimes differ with regard to role voice types. For example, Kobbé 1976, p. 726, lists Maurevert as a bass, while Huebner 1992, p. 765, lists Saint-Bris, De Retz, Méru, and Thoré as bass roles and omits Maurevert altogether.Premiere cast,Cast surnames are from the Benoit edition of the piano-vocal score (Meyerbeer, ca. 1900), and forenames, from Kutsch and Riemens 2003. There is some disagreement among the sources concerning the singers of the minor roles. Chouquet 1873, p. 399, lists Ferdinand Prevôt as de Retz, Alex. Dupont as Cossé, and Massol as Tavannes. Wolff 1962, pp. 115–116, lists Trévaux as Tavannes. Wolff also lists four minor roles not found in the other sources: Gosselin and Laurent as the two Maids-of-Honor, Charpentier [tenor] as Léonard (the valet), and [Adolphe-Joseph-Louis] Alizard [bass] as the town crier. These two singers voice types are given by Tamvaco 2000, pp. 1224 (Alizard), 1237 (Charpentier). Alizard was a student at the time and made his real house debut on 23 June 1837, when he took over the role of Saint-Bris (Kutsch and Riemens 2003, p. 61; Chouquet). Later in his career Alizard created the roles of Father Laurence in Berlioz's dramatic symphony Roméo et Juliette (1839) and Roger in Verdi's Jérusalem (1847) (Kutsch and Riemens). 29 February 1836(Conductor: François Habeneck)Letellier 2006, p. 131.Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre sopranoJulie Dorus-GrasValentine, daughter of Count de Saint-Bris sopranoCornélie FalconUrbain, the Queen's pagesopranoAlthough the role of Urbain was originally designated for a soprano, Meyerbeer transposed it for contralto and added the aria "Non! – non, non, non, non, non! Vouz n'avez jamais, je gage" in 1848, when it was performed by Marietta Alboni at the Royal Italian Opera at Covent Garden (Jander, Owen/Steane, J.B./Forbes, Elisabeth, Contralto, in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, I, p. 934).Maria FlécheuxRaoul de Nangis, a Protestant gentleman tenorAdolphe NourritMarcel, a Huguenot soldier, Raoul's servantbass Nicolas LevasseurLe Comte de Nevers, a Catholic gentlemanbaritoneProsper DérivisLe Comte de Saint-Bris, a Catholic gentlemanbaritoneJean-Jacques-Émile SerdaBois-Rosé, a Huguenot soldiertenorFrançois WartelMaurevert, a Catholic gentlemanbaritoneBernadetTavannes, a Catholic gentlemantenorAlexis DupontCossé, a Catholic gentlemantenorJean-Étienne-Auguste MassolThoré, a Catholic gentlemantenorFrançois WartelDe Retz, a Catholic gentlemanbaritoneAlexandre PrévostMéru, a Catholic gentlemanbaritoneFerdinand PrévôtLéonard, valet of the Comte de NeverstenorCharpentierTown crierbassAdolphe-Joseph-Louis AlizardTwo Maids-of-HonorsopranoGosselin and LaurentChorus: Catholic and Huguenot ladies and gentlemen of the court, soldiers, pages, citizens, and populace; monks, students
Synopsis The story culminates in the historical St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572 in which thousands of French Huguenots (Protestants) were slaughtered by Catholics in an effort to rid France of Protestant influence. Although the massacre was a historical event, the rest of the action, which primarily concerns the love between the Catholic Valentine and the Protestant Raoul, is wholly a creation of Scribe.
A short orchestral prelude, featuring Martin Luther's chorale "Ein feste Burg", replaces the extended overture Meyerbeer originally intended for the opera.
Act 1 The stage represents the chateau of the Count of Nevers, in Touraine. In the background, large open windows show gardens and a lawn, on which several lords play ball; on the right, a door leading into the inner apartments; at left, a window closed by a curtain and which is supposed to lead to a prayer room; at the front of the stage, other lords are playing dice, cup and ball, etc. Nevers, Tavannes, Cossé, Retz, Thoré, Méru and other Catholic lords look at them and talk to each other
The Catholic Count of Nevers is entertaining his fellow noblemen. Their host informs them that before they can go to dinner, they must await the arrival of Raoul, a young Huguenot sent to them from the King in an effort to reconcile Protestant and Catholic. Raoul enters, very impressed with the surroundings and to be in the company of the noblemen. Lavish dishes of food and copious supplies of wine are brought in and the nobles encourage Raoul to drink ( L’orgie: "Bonheur de la table"). The Count of Nevers announces that he has just become engaged and that he must now give up his mistresses. However, he invites his guests to describe the ones they are in love with and asks the latest arrival, Raoul de Nangis. Raoul then tells how he rescued a girl from an attack on her in the street. Although he does not know her name or her origins, he immediately fell in love (Romance: "Plus blanche que la blanche hermine"). (With a daring and unusual stroke of orchestration, Meyerbeer accompanies this aria with a solo viola d'amore). Raoul's Protestant servant Marcel enters and the old man is shocked to see his master in such wicked company enjoying games, drinking and tales of love. Marcel sings a hearty Protestant prayer (to the tune of 'Ein feste Burg') while the Catholic lords toast their mistresses. One of the Catholics recognises the old man from a battle they fought and asks him to have a drink with him to bury any grudge. Marcel refuses, and then, at the Catholics' request, he sings a Huguenot battle song from the siege of La Rochelle, calling for the extermination of Catholics (Chanson huguenote: "Piff, paff, piff, paff"). The Catholics are merely amused by this.