Euphrosine
Encyclopedia
Euphrosine, ou Le tyran corrigé (Euphrosine, or The Tyrant Reformed) is an opera, designated as a 'comédie mise en musique', by the French composer Étienne Nicolas Méhul with a libretto
by François-Benoît Hoffman. It was the first of Méhul's operas to be performed and established his reputation as a leading composer of his time. The premiere took place at the Théâtre Favart, Paris
on 4 September 1790.
) had accepted his work Cora in 1789, but rehearsals had been abandoned on 8 August of that year, probably because of the Académie's financial difficulties. Méhul turned instead to the Opéra-Comique
, offering the theatre a new opera, Euphrosine, with a libretto by François-Benoît Hoffman, who would collaborate with the composer on many more works in the 1790s.
The premiere, on 4 September 1790, was a huge success, praised by critcs such as the composer André Grétry. The original version was the first ever opéra comique
to have five acts, but Méhul and Hoffman later trimmed it down to three acts in 1792-1793 and completely revised the third act in order to get rid of the comic elements in 1795 (after Euphrosine, Méhul preferred to compose works which were either comedies or tragedies, but not a mixture of the two).
at the time of the Crusades
. The tyrant Coradin is the guardian of three orphaned girls, including Euphrosine, who live in his castle. Euphrosine decides to persuade Coradin to marry her so she can reform his character. But the Countess of Arles is jealous of Euphrosine and turns Coradin against her, encouraging him to give her poison. The doctor warns Euphrosine about the plot against her life and she merely pretends to die of the poison. Believing he has killed Euphrosine, Coradin is suddenly seized with remorse. He asks the doctor to prepare him some more poison so he can commit suicide. At this point Euphrosine enters, alive and well, and forgives Coradin, who agrees to marry her.
has described Euphrosine as "an uneven work that reveals the sources of [Méhul's] style (Grétry, the Neapolitans, Haydn
, but not much Gluck) before the full impact of Cherubini
or the Revolution
. It has a brilliantly witty libretto by François Hoffman, in which the young heroine sets out to tame the surly tyrant Coradin in the manner of Anne Whitefield in Man and Superman
[...] much of the music is as light-fingered as the libretto; but the emotions of jealousy and remorse released in Méhul a remarkable concentration of power and originality, as they were often to do later (for example in the characters of Othon in Ariodant
and Siméon in Joseph
).
Dean is one of many critics who have singled out the "Jealousy Duet" (Gardez-vous de la jalousie) in Act II for particular praise. Hector Berlioz
wrote that "this amazing piece is the worthy paraphrase of Iago's speech: 'Beware of jealousy, it is the green-eyed monster,' in the Othello
of Shakespeare" and recounted the anecdote that when Grétry heard the piece at the dress rehearsal he exclaimed: "It's enough to break open the roof of the house with the skulls of the audience." David Charlton comments that the duet "established a new standard of psychological realism for the post-Gluckian age."
Berlioz regarded Euphrosine as Méhul's masterpiece: "It has grace, delicacy, dash, plenty of dramatic movement, and passionate outbursts of terrific violence and veracity. The character of Euphrosine is delightful, that of the physician Alibour of a somewhat satirical geniality. As for the rugged knight Coradin, everything he sings is maginficently headlong." Berlioz was not the only Romantic composer to be impressed by Euphrosine. Edward J. Dent suggested that the plot had a great influence on Carl Maria von Weber
's Euryanthe
(1823).
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by François-Benoît Hoffman. It was the first of Méhul's operas to be performed and established his reputation as a leading composer of his time. The premiere took place at the Théâtre Favart, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on 4 September 1790.
Performance history
Euphrosine was not the first opera that Mehul had written. The Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris OpéraParis Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
) had accepted his work Cora in 1789, but rehearsals had been abandoned on 8 August of that year, probably because of the Académie's financial difficulties. Méhul turned instead to the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
, offering the theatre a new opera, Euphrosine, with a libretto by François-Benoît Hoffman, who would collaborate with the composer on many more works in the 1790s.
The premiere, on 4 September 1790, was a huge success, praised by critcs such as the composer André Grétry. The original version was the first ever opéra comique
Opéra comique
Opéra comique is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged out of the popular opéra comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent , which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections...
to have five acts, but Méhul and Hoffman later trimmed it down to three acts in 1792-1793 and completely revised the third act in order to get rid of the comic elements in 1795 (after Euphrosine, Méhul preferred to compose works which were either comedies or tragedies, but not a mixture of the two).
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 4 September 1790 |
|---|---|---|
| Coradin, a feudal tyrant | haute-contre Haute-contre The haute-contre is a rare type of high tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera until the latter part of the eighteenth century.-History:... |
Philippe Couvy, known as "Philippe" |
| La comtesse d'Arles (the Countess of Arles) | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
|
| Euphrosine, daughter of the Comte de Sabran | soprano | Jeanne-Charlotte Saint-Aubin |
| Léonore, daughter of the Comte de Sabran | soprano | |
| Louise, daughter of the Comte de Sabran | soprano | |
| Alibour, Coradin's doctor | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Jean-Pierre Solié Jean-Pierre Solié Jean-Pierre Solié was a French cellist and operatic singer. He began as a tenor, but switched and became well-known as a baritone. He sang most often at the Paris Opéra-Comique... |
| Caron, a jailor | haute-contre | Antoine Trial Antoine Trial Antoine Trial was a French singer and actor. He was the younger brother of the musician Jean-Claude Trial and husband of soprano Marie-Jeanne .... |
| Une vieille femme (An old woman) | soprano | |
| Un vieillard (An old man) | ||
| Chorus of peasants, shepherds, shepherdesses, guards and soldiers | ||
Synopsis
The opera is set in ProvenceProvence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
at the time of the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
. The tyrant Coradin is the guardian of three orphaned girls, including Euphrosine, who live in his castle. Euphrosine decides to persuade Coradin to marry her so she can reform his character. But the Countess of Arles is jealous of Euphrosine and turns Coradin against her, encouraging him to give her poison. The doctor warns Euphrosine about the plot against her life and she merely pretends to die of the poison. Believing he has killed Euphrosine, Coradin is suddenly seized with remorse. He asks the doctor to prepare him some more poison so he can commit suicide. At this point Euphrosine enters, alive and well, and forgives Coradin, who agrees to marry her.
The work and its influence
Winton DeanWinton Dean
Winton Dean is an English musicologist of the 20th century, most famous for his research concerning the life and works—in particular the operas and oratorios—of Handel, as detailed in his book Handel’s Dramatic Oratorios and Masques .Dean was born in Birkenhead...
has described Euphrosine as "an uneven work that reveals the sources of [Méhul's] style (Grétry, the Neapolitans, Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
, but not much Gluck) before the full impact of Cherubini
Luigi Cherubini
Luigi Cherubini was an Italian composer who spent most of his working life in France. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest of his contemporaries....
or the Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. It has a brilliantly witty libretto by François Hoffman, in which the young heroine sets out to tame the surly tyrant Coradin in the manner of Anne Whitefield in Man and Superman
Man and Superman
Man and Superman is a four-act drama, written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. The series was written in response to calls for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. Man and Superman opened at The Royal Court Theatre in London on 23 May 1905, but with the omission of the 3rd Act...
[...] much of the music is as light-fingered as the libretto; but the emotions of jealousy and remorse released in Méhul a remarkable concentration of power and originality, as they were often to do later (for example in the characters of Othon in Ariodant
Ariodant
Ariodant is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer Étienne Méhul first performed at the Théâtre Favart in Paris on 11 October 1799. The libretto, by François-Benoît Hoffman is based on the same episode in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso that also inspired Handel's opera Ariodante...
and Siméon in Joseph
Joseph (opera)
Joseph is an opera in three acts by the French composer Étienne Méhul. The libretto, by Alexandre Duval, is based on the Biblical story of Joseph and his brothers. The work was first performed by the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 17 February 1807 at the Théâtre Feydeau...
).
Dean is one of many critics who have singled out the "Jealousy Duet" (Gardez-vous de la jalousie) in Act II for particular praise. Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
wrote that "this amazing piece is the worthy paraphrase of Iago's speech: 'Beware of jealousy, it is the green-eyed monster,' in the Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
of Shakespeare" and recounted the anecdote that when Grétry heard the piece at the dress rehearsal he exclaimed: "It's enough to break open the roof of the house with the skulls of the audience." David Charlton comments that the duet "established a new standard of psychological realism for the post-Gluckian age."
Berlioz regarded Euphrosine as Méhul's masterpiece: "It has grace, delicacy, dash, plenty of dramatic movement, and passionate outbursts of terrific violence and veracity. The character of Euphrosine is delightful, that of the physician Alibour of a somewhat satirical geniality. As for the rugged knight Coradin, everything he sings is maginficently headlong." Berlioz was not the only Romantic composer to be impressed by Euphrosine. Edward J. Dent suggested that the plot had a great influence on Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
's Euryanthe
Euryanthe
Euryanthe is a German "grand, heroic, romantic" opera by Carl Maria von Weber, first performed at the Theater am Kärntnertor, Vienna on 25 October 1823...
(1823).
Sources
- Adélaïde de Place Étienne Nicolas Méhul (Bleu Nuit Éditeur, 2005)
- The Viking Opera Guide, ed. Amanda Holden (Viking, 1993)
- Winton Dean, chapter on French opera in Gerald Abraham (ed.) The New Oxford History of Music Volume 8: The Age of Beethoven 1790-1830 (Oxford University Press, 1988)
- Edward Joseph Dent The Rise of Romantic Opera (Cambridge University Press, 1979 edition)
- Elizabeth Bartlet, entry on Méhul in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
- Hector Berlioz, Evenings with the Orchestra, translated by Jacques BarzunJacques BarzunJacques Martin Barzun is a French-born American historian of ideas and culture. He has written on a wide range of topics, but is perhaps best known as a philosopher of education, his Teacher in America being a strong influence on post-WWII training of schoolteachers in the United...
(University of Chicago Press, 1973; 1999 reprint) - Amadeus Almanac (in Italian) for the premiere cast