Zémire et Azor is an 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...

, described as a comédie-ballet mêlée de chants et de danses, in four acts by the Belgian composer André Grétry

André Ernest Modeste Grétry

André Ernest Modeste Grétry was acomposer from the Prince-Bishopric of Liège , who worked from 1767 onwards in France and took French nationality. He is most famous for his opéras comiques....

, The French text was by Jean François Marmontel based on La Belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740...

) by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont

Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont

-Life:She was born in Rouen and died in 1780. She lost her mother when she was only eleven but wrote that she did not mourn her passing. The family was very poor and several of her siblings had to be sent away for adoption. She wrote that her mother had suffered terribly at not being able to...

, and Amour pour amour by P. C. Nivelle de La Chaussé. The opera includes the famous coloratura

Coloratura

Coloratura has several meanings. The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare . When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and...

 display piece La Fauvette in which the soprano imitates birdsong

Birdsong

Birdsong may refer to:* Bird vocalization, the sounds of birds* Birdsong , a 1993 novel by Sebastian Faulks* Birdsong, Arkansas, USA* Birdsong , a channel on the UK Digital One digital radio multiplex...

. A suite of ballet music from the work was recorded by Sir Thomas Beecham.

Performance history

It was first performed at Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the arrondissement of Fontainebleau...

 on 9 November 1771 and at the Comédie-Italienne

Comédie-Italienne

Over time, there have been several buildings and several theatrical companies named the "Théâtre-Italien" or the "Comédie-Italienne" in Paris. Following the times, the theatre has shown both plays and operas...

, 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 16 December 1771. It stayed in the French repertory until at least 1821 and enjoyed worldwide success. It was staged at the court of Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 in 1774. It was performed at the Swedish court at the Drottningholm Palace Theatre

Drottningholm Palace Theatre

The Drottningholm Palace Theatre is an opera house located at Drottningholm Palace in Stockholm, Sweden, which has been described by Per-Erik Öhrn, the theatre’s former artistic director, as "the Swedish jewel in our European cultural heritage crown of centuries-old theatres".Currently the...

 in 1778 and 1993, and in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 at the King's Theatre

Her Majesty's Theatre

Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...

 in 1779.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 9 November 1771 (Conductor: - )
Sander	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-Louis Laruette
Ali	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Joseph Caillot
Zémire	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...	Marie-Thérèse Laruette
Azor	tenor	Jean-Baptiste Guignard "Clairval"
Fatmé	soprano	Marie-Jeanne Trial
Lisbé	soprano	Beaupré

Synopsis

Having been shipwrecked in a storm, the merchant Sander and his servant Ali find their way to a strange palace. A banquet has been laid, though there is no sign of the owner, and the two help themselves to the feast. When Sander plucks a rose from the palace garden to give to his daughter Zémire, the beast-like Azor appears. He is the owner of the palace and says Sander must pay with his life for stealing the rose, unless he can persuade one of his daughters to take his place. When she hears what has happened, Zémire agrees to sacrifice her life for her father and Ali leads her to the palace, where she almost faints at the fearsome sight of Azor. However, Azor proves to be a kind host, showing Zémire her family in a magic mirror and even allowing her to visit home again so long as she promises to return. After a stay with her family, Zémire decides to return to Azor and finds him in despair because he believes she has abandoned him. She protests that she cares about him and the magic spell on Azor is lifted now he has found love. He changes from a beast to a handsome prince and claims his kingdom with Zémire at his side.

In Russia

• Thanks to this opera "Zemire" (Земира) was the name of Catherine II's favorite Italian Greyhound.

Selected recordings

• Zémire et Azor - Mady Mesplé
  Mady Mesplé
  Mady Mesplé is a French opera singer, the leading high coloratura soprano of her generation in France, sometimes heralded as the successor to Mado Robin.-Biography:...
  
   (Zémire), Roland Bufkens (Azor), Jean van Gorp (Sander), Jean-Claude Orliac (Ali) - Choeur et orchestre de chambre de Radio Télévison Belge, conducted by Edgar Doneux
  Edgar Doneux
  Edgard Doneux was a Belgian conductor.Doneux received his entire musical formation at the conservatoire of his native city, and made his conducting debut at the Opéra Royal de Liège, in 1940, aged only 20....
  
   - (EMI, 1974)

Sources

• Amadeus almanac
• Notes to the EMI CD by Michel Parouty.
• Zémire et Azor by David Charlton, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
  New Grove Dictionary of Opera
  The New Grove Dictionary of Opera is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes....
  
  ', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7