1831–97, French Henri Meilhac, the French dramatist and librettist, wrote most of his texts for operas in collaboration with other writers. Meilhac’s most renowned partnership, which began after a chance meeting outside a Paris theatre in 1860, was with Ludovic Halévy. They produced libretti for Bizet, Léo Delibes (1836–91) and most famously for Offenbach. Meilhac ...
(Shärl On-re’ Va-lon-tan’ Al-kan’) 1813–88 French pianist and composer One of the only virtuosos before whom Liszt, a contemporary, was believed to be anxious about playing, Alkan extended the technical challenges of piano repertory to astonishing new peaks. A child prodigy and young virtuoso, he performed alongside Frédéric François Chopin (1810–49), but thereafter became an eccentric recluse, ...
(On-re’ Düpärk’) 1848–1933 French composer Duparc’s small but exquisite output influenced the development of French ‘mélodie’ through Fauré and Debussy. Duparc studied with Franck, whose circle he joined alongside Chausson, Chabrier and D’Indy, absorbing the Wagnerian style through visits to Bayreuth and Munich. From 1868 to 1884 Duparc produced the 13 songs upon which his reputation is founded: each ...
(Hen’-ri Ven-yov’-ske) 1835–80 Polish composer Wieniawski was a child prodigy; after studies with Massart at the Paris Conservatoire, he was the youngest at 11 years old to graduate with the Gold Medal. He was also influenced by the Belgian School of Charles-Auguste de Bériot and Henri Vieuxtemps, whom he succeeded as professor at the Brussels Conservatory, following a post ...
1806–54, German The German soprano Henriette Sontag made her debut in 1821 as the princess in Boieldieu’s Jean de Paris (1812). In 1823, in Vienna, Weber asked Sontag to create the title role in his Euryanthe (1822–23) after seeing her in Rossini’s La donna del lago. He was justified when her appearance in Berlin in 1825 caused an ...
(On-re’ Dü-te-yö’) 1916–2013 French composer Despite success as a young composer, Dutilleux disowned almost his entire oeuvre before the Piano Sonata (1946–48). He followed a very different path from his compatriot Boulez, and his two symphonies (1950–51 and 1955–59) exhibit strong links with the traditional Germanic form. Variation was a key feature of Dutilleux’s music, but he tended ...
(On-re’ Poo-ser’) 1929–2009 Belgian composer During the 1950s and early 60s, Pousseur was at the forefront of the avant-garde, teaching at Darmstadt and working at the Studio di fonologia, Milan, with Berio and Maderna. Influenced, like many of his generation, by Webern, he nonetheless saw the composer’s importance as lying not in his serial ...
Carmen is the opera that has ensured Bizet’s lasting fame but which, somewhat uniquely, was partly fashioned by pressures from the directorate of the commissioning theatre, the Opéra-Comique. The revenue from this theatre was largely dependent on attracting the bourgeoisie, providing an evening out for chaperoned couples with an eye on marriage. Thus a setting including a ...
‘The Bat’ Composed: 1874 Premiered: 1874, Vienna Libretto by Carl Haffner and Richard Genée after Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy’s Le réveillon Prologue Falke wants revenge for a practical joke when Eisenstein left him sleeping, dressed as a bat, outside the Vienna law courts. Act I Eisenstein’s wife, Rosalinde, recognizes the voice serenading her as her ...
‘The Merry Widow’ Composed: 1905 Premiered: 1905, Vienna Libretto by Victor Léon and Leo Stein, after Henri Meilhac’s L’attaché d’ambassade Act I Baron Zeta, the Pontevedrin ambassador in Paris, must ensure that only a Pontevedrin marries Hanna Glawari, a rich, glamorous widow. All the French guests swoon over her at an embassy reception. Zeta thinks ...
‘Fair Helen’ Composed: 1864 Premiered: 1864, Paris Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy Act I Since Pâris awarded Vénus the golden apple, her cult has become more popular than Jupiter’s. Hélène, wife of King Ménélas of Sparta, is waiting for Pâris to come and claim her. Disguised as a shepherd, Pâris enlists the help of ...
Manon and Werther have become Massenet’s most frequently performed operas, but several others are gaining ground, among them Hérodiade, Thaïs, Sapho, Cendrillon, Grisélidis, Chérubin and Don Quichotte, all recently revived. Both Manon and Werther – and the other operas as well – are about relationships. The tale of Manon explores a theme that ...
1844–1918, Austrian Amalie Materna, the Austrian soprano, sang Brünnhilde at the first performance of the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen at Bayreuth in 1876. Wagner was deeply impressed by her performance – so much so that he declared Materna the only woman truly capable of singing the exceptionally demanding role. Materna, a singer of great stamina, ...
1838–75, French Out of 30 projected operas, Bizet only completed six but would no doubt have left more had his life not been cut short at the age of 36. Born in Paris into a musical family, he was prodigiously gifted and started lessons at the Conservatoire before he was 10. He was taught composition by Fromental Halévy ...
(Zhôrzh Be-za’) 1838–75 French composer When Bizet died at the age of 37, he was considered a failure by the French musical establishment. He had had several operas produced in Paris, but none of them had been wholly successful; now his latest work, Carmen, had caused a scandal. Bizet’s reputation was at its lowest ebb, but already ...
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