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
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