Les mariages samnites
Appearance
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Andr%C3%A9_Ernest_Modeste_Gr%C3%A9try_%28cropped%29.jpg/240px-Andr%C3%A9_Ernest_Modeste_Gr%C3%A9try_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Les Mariages samnites (The Samnite Marriages) is an opéra comique, described as a drame lyrique, in three acts by André Grétry, The French text was by Barnabé Farmian Durosoy based on a work by Jean François Marmontel.
Performance history
[edit]It was first performed on 12 June 1776 by the Comédie-Italienne (with which the Opéra-Comique was merged at that time) at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris.
Roles
[edit]Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast,[1] 12 June 1776 (Conductor: - ) |
---|---|---|
Agathis, in love with Céphalide | tenor | Jean-Baptiste Guignard, called Clairval |
Parmenon, friend of Agathis | tenor | M Julien |
Eumene, father of Agathis | basse-taille (bass-baritone) | Pierre-Marie Narbonne |
Céphalide | soprano | Marie-Jean Trial, née Milon |
Éliane, friend of Céphalide | soprano | Marie-Thérèse-Théodore Rombocoli-Riggieri, called 'Mlle Colombe l'Aînée' |
Euphémie, mother of Céphalide | soprano | Louise-Frédérique Moulinghen, née Schrœder |
The Chief of the Elders | basse-taille | Philippe-Thomas Ménier (also spelt Meunier) |
The General | M Labussière | |
Two Samnite girls | Sophie Dufayel (ainée) and Marie Desbrosses |
References
[edit]- ^ Cast list is from the 1776 livret.
Sources
[edit]Period sources
[edit]- Original libretto: Les Mariages Samnites, Drame lyrique en 3 Actes et en Prose (new edition), Paris, Duchesne, 1776 (accessible for free online at Gallica - B.N.F.
- Period printed score: Les Mariages Samnites Drame lyrique en 3 Actes et en Prose, Paris, Dezauche, s.d. (accessible for free online at Gallica - B.N.F.)
Modern sources
[edit]- Michel Brenet Grétry: sa vie et ses œuvres (F. Hayez, 1884)
- David Charlton Grétry and the Growth of Opéra Comique (Cambridge University Press, 1986)
- Ronald Lessens Grétry ou Le triomphe de l'Opéra-Comique (L'Harmattan, 2007)
- Mariages samnites, Les by Michael Fend, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
- Kutsch, K. J. and Riemens, Leo (2003). Großes Sängerlexikon (fourth edition, in German). Munich: K. G. Saur. ISBN 978-3-598-11598-1.