Madame Chrysanthème is an
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, described as a comédie lyrique, with music by
André MessagerAndré Charles Prosper Messager , French composer and musician, was born at Montluçon.-Early years:André Messager was the son of Paul-Philippe-Émile Messager and Sophie-Cornélie Lhôte de Selancy. It was not a musical household but the young boy had his first musical exposure on a piano in the house...
to a libretto by
Georges HartmannGeorges Hartmann was a French dramatist and opera librettist who wrote under the pen name Henri Grémont.Since 1870 he was also a music publisher, publishing compositions of Jules Massenet...
and Alexandre André, after the semi-autobiographical
Madame Chrysanthème (1887) by
Pierre LotiPierre Loti , born January 14, 1850 in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime and died June 10, 1923 in Hendaye, was a French novelist and naval officer.-Biography:...
. It consists of four acts with a prologue and an epilogue and is set in
Nagasakiis the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the 16th century. It was formerly part of Nishisonogi District. It was a center of Portuguese and European influence in the 16th through 19th centuries...
, Japan.
It was first performed at the
Théâtre de la RenaissanceThéâtre de la Renaissance was used as a name for a Parisian theatre by several enterprises in the 19th and 20th centuries. As well as performances of musical theatre, Feydeau’s farces were first produced in this theatre, and plays by Victorien Sardou...
in Paris on 21 January 1893 with Jane Guy and Louis Delaquerrière in the principal roles.
It was seen in Monte Carlo in 1901, at the
Théâtre Royal de la MonnaieThe Koninklijke Muntschouwburg , or le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
, Brussels on 9 November 1906, Montreal in 1912, and Chicago and New York in 1920.
Although using the same literary source as Puccini's
Madama ButterflyMadama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
,
Madame Chrysanthème contrasts strongly with the mainly internal world of the Puccini setting.
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Madame Chrysanthème is an
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, described as a comédie lyrique, with music by
André MessagerAndré Charles Prosper Messager , French composer and musician, was born at Montluçon.-Early years:André Messager was the son of Paul-Philippe-Émile Messager and Sophie-Cornélie Lhôte de Selancy. It was not a musical household but the young boy had his first musical exposure on a piano in the house...
to a libretto by
Georges HartmannGeorges Hartmann was a French dramatist and opera librettist who wrote under the pen name Henri Grémont.Since 1870 he was also a music publisher, publishing compositions of Jules Massenet...
and Alexandre André, after the semi-autobiographical
Madame Chrysanthème (1887) by
Pierre LotiPierre Loti , born January 14, 1850 in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime and died June 10, 1923 in Hendaye, was a French novelist and naval officer.-Biography:...
. It consists of four acts with a prologue and an epilogue and is set in
Nagasakiis the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the 16th century. It was formerly part of Nishisonogi District. It was a center of Portuguese and European influence in the 16th through 19th centuries...
, Japan.
It was first performed at the
Théâtre de la RenaissanceThéâtre de la Renaissance was used as a name for a Parisian theatre by several enterprises in the 19th and 20th centuries. As well as performances of musical theatre, Feydeau’s farces were first produced in this theatre, and plays by Victorien Sardou...
in Paris on 21 January 1893 with Jane Guy and Louis Delaquerrière in the principal roles.
It was seen in Monte Carlo in 1901, at the
Théâtre Royal de la MonnaieThe Koninklijke Muntschouwburg , or le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
, Brussels on 9 November 1906, Montreal in 1912, and Chicago and New York in 1920.
Although using the same literary source as Puccini's
Madama ButterflyMadama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
,
Madame Chrysanthème contrasts strongly with the mainly internal world of the Puccini setting. The alternation of acts in public and private spaces in Messager's work provides other aspects on the Japan as depicted in the opera, reminding the listener of a teeming world effectively beyond the reach of Europeans: in Messager there is a significant contrast between Pierre's failure to understand and master Chrysanthème and Pinkerton's dominance and possession of Butterfly.
A highlight of the score is the soprano air "Le jour sous le soleil béni...".
Roles
- Campanule (bass)
- Charles (bass)
- Jonquille (bass)
- Madame Chrysanthème (soprano)
- Madame Fraise (mezzo-soprano)
- Madame Prune (contralto)
- Monsieur Kangourou (tenor)
- Monsieur Sucre (tenor)
- Oyouki (soprano)
- Pierre, a sailor (tenor)
- Yves, Pierre's brother (baritone)
- Raoul (bass)