La caverne, ou Le repentir (English: The Cavern, or Repentance) is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in three acts by the French

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 Jean-François Le Sueur

Jean-François Le Sueur

Jean-François Le Sueur was a French composer, best known for his oratorios and operas.-Life:...

. It was first performed at the Théâtre Feydeau, 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 February 1793. 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 Alphonse François "Paul" Palat-Dercy, is based on an episode from Lesage's

Alain-René Lesage

Alain-René Lesage was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel The Devil upon Two Sticks , his comedy Turcaret , and his picaresque novel Gil Blas .-Youth and education:Claude Lesage, the father of the novelist, held the united...

 novel Gil Blas

Gil Blas

Gil Blas is a picaresque novel by Alain-René Lesage published between 1715 and 1735. It is considered to be the last masterpiece of the picaresque genre.-Plot summary:...

. La caverne was the first opera by Le Sueur to be staged and it became one of the most popular works of the French Revolutionary era

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...

. The opera was notable for its innovative set design: the stage was divided horizontally, with the lower section representing the cavern of the title (a robbers' den) and the upper section showing a forest. Two levels of action were thus able to be shown simultaneously.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, February 16, 1793
Gil Blas	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...	Jean-Baptiste-Sauveur Gavaudan
Rolando	bass	Châteaufort
Séraphine	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...	Julie-Angélique Scio Julie-Angélique Scio Julie-Angélique Scio was a leading French soprano. Born in Lille as Julie-Angélique Legrand, she married the composer Etienne Scio. She made her debut in Paris in 1792...
Don Alphonse	tenor	Pierre Gaveaux Pierre Gaveaux Pierre Gaveaux was a French operatic tenor and composer, notable for creating the role of Jason in Cherubini's Médée and for composing the first operatic version of the story that later found fame as Fidelio....
Léonarde	soprano	Verteuil
Roustan	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...
Bernard	tenor
Charles	tenor

Plot

Gil Blas is captured by a robber band led by Rolando, who hold him in their den (the cavern of the title) along with the noblewoman Séraphine. Séraphine's husband comes looking for her disguised as a blind beggar but he too is caught by the robbers. Rolando repents and discovers he is Séraphine's brother. In the finale, Gil Blas, who has managed to escape, brings a rescue party, who shoot the robbers and free the prisoners.

Sources

• The Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)
• Amadeus Online
• Page with details of the set design