Électre (opera)
Électre (Electra) is an opera by the French composer Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opéra) on 2 July 1782. It takes the form of a tragédie lyrique in three acts. The libretto, by Nicolas-François Guillard, is based on the Greek myth of Electra.
Roles[edit]
| Cast | Voice type | Premiere cast |
|---|---|---|
| Égisthe (Aegisthus) | baritone[1] | François Lays |
| Clytemnestre (Clytemnestra) | soprano | Françoise-Claude-Marie-Rosalie Campagne (called Mlle Duplant) |
| Électre (Electra) | soprano | Rosalie Levasseur |
| Oreste (Orestes) | basse taille (bass-baritone) | Henri Larrivée |
| Pilade (Pylades) | taille (baritenor) | Étienne Lainez |
| Arcas | basse taille (bass-baritone) | Moreau |
| Chrysothémis (Chrysothemis) | soprano | Antoinette Saint-Huberty |
| Un officer du palais (an officer of the palace) | basse taille (bass-baritone) | Simon Chénard |
| Le grand prêtre (the high priest) | basse taille (bass-baritone) | Simon Chénard |
| Une Argienne (a woman of Argos) | soprano | Suzanne Joinville |
| Un Argien (a man of Argos) | haute-contre | Jean-Joseph Rousseau[2] |
| Chorus: Lords and ladies of the court, people of Mycenae, Trojan captives, Eumenides, demons | ||
Notes[edit]
- ^ The part of Égisthe is sometimes notated in the tenor clef, sometimes in the bass clef.
- ^ Sources traditionally report only the initial letter (J.) of this singer's name; full details, however, can be found in "Organico dei fratelli a talento della Loggia parigina di Saint-Jean d'Écosse du Contrat Social (1773–89)" (list of the members of this Masonic lodge), reported as an Appendix in Zeffiro Ciuffoletti and Sergio Moravia (eds), La Massoneria. La storia, gli uomini, le idee, Milan, Mondadori, 2004, ISBN 978-8804536468 (in Italian).
Sources[edit]
- Original libretto: Electre,//Tragédie//en 3 actes,//Représentée//Pour la première fois,//Par l'Académie-royale//de musique,//Le Mardi 2 Juillet 1782, Paris, De Lormel, 1782, via Gallica – BNF (in French)
- Original printed score: Electre//Tragédie,//en Trois Actes,//Mise en Musique et Dediée//à la Reine//par Mr. Le Moyne, Paris, Chez l'auteur, 1782, via Gallica – BNF
- Félix Clément and Pierre Larousse, Dictionnaire des Opéras, p. 245. (in French)
- Benoît Dratwicki, "Foreigners at the Académie Royale de Musique" in Antonio Sacchini, Renaud, Madrid, Ediciones Singulares, 2013 (book accompanying the complete recording conducted by Christophe Rousset). ISBN 978-84-939-6865-6
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