Frédégonde

Frédégonde is an 1895 French opera (drame lyrique) in five acts with music by Ernest Guiraud, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Paul Dukas and a libretto by Louis Gallet based on Augustin Thierry's Récits des temps mérovingiens [Tales from the time of the Merovingians] (1840).[1][2]

Frédégonde
Opera by Ernest Guiraud, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Paul Dukas
Act 1 set design, a vast hall in a Gallo-Roman bath house, by Philippe Chaperon and his son Émile for the 1895 premiere
LibrettistLouis Gallet
LanguageFrench
Based onRécits des temps mérovingiens
by Augustin Thierry
Premiere
18 December 1895 (1895-12-18)
Opéra Garnier
Frontispiece for the vocal score by Paul Steck, 1895

The opera was incomplete upon Guiraud's death in 1892. He had only composed the first three acts (in short score), and these were subsequently fully orchestrated by Paul Dukas. The music for the fourth and fifth acts and the ballet in the third act was composed by Saint-Saens.[1]

Performance history

Frédégonde was premiered by the Opéra at the Palais Garnier in Paris on 18 December 1895. The mise-en-scène was by Alexandre Lapissida, the costumes were designed by Charles Bianchini, and the choreography was by Joseph Hansen. The set designers for Act 1 were Philippe Chaperon and his son, Émile Chaperon; Act 2, Eugène Carpezat; Act 3, Marcel Jambon and Alexandre Bailly; and Acts 4 and 5, Amable.[3][4][5]

The opera only received nine performances, with the last on 14 February 1896. Guiraud's music was considered foreign to his style, and, although the music by Saint-Saens was deemed better, the result was a work that was very uneven.[6]

The first modern revival took place at the Saigon Opera House on 20 October 2017. The production was a collaboration with Grenoble's La Fabrique Opéra, whose founder, Patrick Suouillot, conducted the Ho Chi Minh City Orchestra. The six main roles were sung by French singers, including Valerie Altaver as Brunhilda, Matthieu Lécroart as Hilpérick and Richard Bousquet as Mérowig. The opera was revived in Saigon because that is where Saint-Saens completed the score, which he had brought with him when he was on a trip to Indochina.[7]

The opera was also performed by Theater Dortmund in 2021 (a video was made)[8] and a concert performance was given by Opéra de Tours in June 2022.[9]

Roles
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 18 December 1895
Conductor: Paul Taffanel[3][4]
Brunhilda, queen of Austrasia soprano Marie Lafargue[10]
Frédégonde, queen of Neustria mezzo-soprano Meyrianne Héglon
Mérowig tenor Albert Alvarez
Hilpérik, king of Neustria, his father baritone Maurice Renaud
Prétextat, bishop bass René Fournets
Fortunatus tenor Albert Vaguet
Landéric bass Louis Ballard
Four Gothic seigneurs basses
  • Euzet
  • Denoyé
  • Palianti
  • Chancelier
A servant baritone Lacome

Recordings

Frédégonde was scheduled for revival by Theater Dortmund in May 2021 in partnership with the Palazzetto Bru Zane but cancelled due to the corona pandemic.[11] The opera was finally performed and live streamed on 20 November 2021 with further performances.[8]

References
  1. Lesley A. Wright (1992), "Guiraud, Ernest", vol. 2, p. 576, in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan.
  2. Sabina Teller Ratner (2002). Camille Saint-Saëns, 1835–1921 : a thematic catalogue of his complete works. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198163207. OCLC 45582521.
  3. Frédégonde piano-vocal score, 1895.
  4. Stéphane Wolff (1962; reprint 1983). L'Opéra au Palais Garnier (1875–1962). Paris: Deposé au journal L'Entr'acte OCLC 7068320, 460748195. Paris: Slatkine (1983). p. 100. ISBN 9782050002142.
  5. Nicole Wild (1987). Décors et costumes du XIXe siècle. Tome I. Opéra de Paris. Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, Département de la Musique. pp. 118–119. ISBN 9782717717532.
  6. Spire Pitou (1990), "Fredegonde", pp. 538–541, in The Paris Opéra: An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers. Growth and Grandeur, 1815–1914. New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313262180.
  7. Bradley Winterton, "Vietnam. Saigon", Opera (February 2018).
  8. "Frédégonde – Theater Dortmund", Operabase. Retrieved 1 September 2022; "'Lost opera' Frédégonde opens at Theater Dortmund with Sergey Romanovsky as Mérowig - free live stream available!", 19 November 2021, Rayfield Allied. Archive copy (1 September 2022).
  9. "Frédégonde", Bru Zane. Retrieved 1 September 2022. Archive copy (31 August 2022).
  10. Lafargue replaced Lucienne Bréval, who had sung Brunhilda in the general rehearsal (Wolff). Bréval's name appears in the published piano-vocal score.
  11. "Frédégonde", Bru Zane. Archive copy (25 July 2021).
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