Alcine
Encyclopedia
Alcine is an opera by the French
composer André Campra
. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts. The libretto
, by Antoine Danchet
, is based on Cantos IV, VI and VII of Ariosto's epic poem
Orlando furioso
and tells of the love of the enchantress Alcine (Alcina
) for the paladin
Astolphe (Astolfo).
on 15 January 1705, The opera was a failure at its first performance.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
composer André Campra
André Campra
André Campra was a French composer and conductor.Campra was one of the leading French opera composers in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau. He wrote several tragédies en musique, but his chief claim to fame is as the creator of a new genre, opéra-ballet...
. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts. The libretto
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 Antoine Danchet
Antoine Danchet
Antoine Danchet was a French playwright, librettist and dramatic poet.-Biography:Danchet was born in Riom, in the Auvergne, France. Having been a professor of rhetoric at Chartres and then a tutor at Paris, Danchet gaveup teaching to write for the theatre. He wrote some opera libretti which, set...
, is based on Cantos IV, VI and VII of Ariosto's epic poem
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
Orlando furioso
Orlando Furioso
Orlando Furioso is an Italian epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was not published in its complete form until 1532...
and tells of the love of the enchantress Alcine (Alcina
Alcina
Alcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after, during his travels in Italy...
) for the paladin
Paladin
The paladins, sometimes known as the Twelve Peers, were the foremost warriors of Charlemagne's court, according to the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. They first appear in the early chansons de geste such as The Song of Roland, where they represent Christian martial valor against the...
Astolphe (Astolfo).
Performance history
Alcine was first performed at the Académie royale de musiqueAcadémie Royale de Musique
The Salle Le Peletier was the home of the Paris Opera from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. The theatre was designed and constructed by the architect François Debret on the site of the former Hôtel de Choiseul...
on 15 January 1705, The opera was a failure at its first performance.
Roles
- Gloire (prologue) sopranoSopranoA 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...
- Temps (prologue) tenorTenorThe 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...
- Alcine soprano Marie-Louise Desmatins
- Mélanie/Vénus contraltoContraltoContralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
Julie d'AubignyJulie d'AubignyJulie d'Aubigny , better known as Mademoiselle Maupin or La Maupin, was a 17th-century swordswoman and opera singer. Her tumultuous career and flamboyant life were the subject of gossip and colorful stories in her own time, and inspired romances and novels afterwards...
(La Maupin) - Atlas baritoneBaritoneBaritone 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...
Gabriel-Vincent ThévenardGabriel-Vincent ThévenardGabriel-Vincent Thévenard was a French operatic baritone .Thévenard was born at Orléans or possibly Paris. Arriving in Paris in 1690, he studied under the composer André Cardinal Destouches and went on to become a member of the Académie Royale de Musique... - Nérine soprano
- Melisse contralto
- Astolphe tenor
Sources
- The Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)
- Le magazine de l'opéra baroque
- Amadeus Almanac