OSSIAN: melodramma in cinque atti -- tratto da "Calthon e Colmal" di Macpherson). Napoleon attended the 'prima assoluta' in Paris -- July 10, 1804.

Speranza

Operas by Jean-François Le Sueur
La caverne (1793)
Ossian, ou Les bardes (1804)
La mort d'Adam (1809)

Ossian, ou Les bardes (English: Ossian, or The Bards) is an opera in five acts by the French composer Jean-François Le Sueur.

The libretto, by Alphonse François "Paul" Palat-Dercy and Jean-Marie Deschamps, is based on the Ossian poems of James Macpherson (specifically the poem "Calthon and Colmal"), which had been translated into French by Pierre-Prime-Félicien Le Tourneur.

Le Sueur probably began work on the opera as early as 1795.

It was first performed at the Opéra, Paris on 10 July 1804.

The premiere was a huge success, especially with the Emperor Napoleon, who was a great admirer of the Ossian poems.

Napoleon was so enthusiastic, he invited Le Sueur to join him in the imperial box at the third act and the next day he sent Le Sueur a gold casket engraved "The Emperor Napoleon to the author of Les bardes", containing the cross of the Légion d'honneur.

The opera received almost 70 performances over the next 12 years.

Roles:

Conductor: Jean-Baptiste Rey

Ossian -- tenor -- Étienne Lainez
Duntalmo bass Augustin-Athanase Chéron
Rosmala soprano Marie-Aimable Armand
Mornal tenor Roland
Rozmar bass Martin-Joseph Adrien
Hydala baritone François Lay, also spelled Lays (or Laïs)
Salgar bass Jean-Honoré Bertin
A bard tenor Jean-Blaise Martin
A Caledonian woman soprano Jannard
A soldier tenor Casimir Eloy

The opera is set in Scotland in the third century AD.

Caledonia has been invaded by the Scandinavians under their leader Duntalmo.

Duntalmo oppresses the Caledonians and arbitrarily imposes the worship of Odin on them.

Duntalmo also plans to marry his son Mornal to Rosmala, daughter of the bard Rozmor, who is already betrothed to the bard and warrior Ossian.

Finally, a group of Caledonians defeat the Scandinavians and Ossian is able to marry Rosmala.

The opera is on an epic scale and contains many experimental elements.

For instance, in Act Four has visions of heroes and bards in a cave behind a backlit curtain of gauze.

The score also calls for 12 harps as the bards hymn the rising sun.

According to the musicologist David Charlton, Les bardes turns away from the classical aesthetic of Gluck (the dominant operatic influence of the time in France) and prefigures grand opera.

The work had an influence on Le Sueur's most famous pupil, Hector Berlioz.

Sources:
The Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)
Amadeus Online
From Gaelic to Romantic: Ossianic Translations edited by Fiona J. Stafford (Rodopi, 1988)

Categories:
Operas
French-language operas
Operas by Jean-François Le Sueur
Paris Opera world premieres
Operas set in Scotland