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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 ...

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dialogue was replaced by recitatives. More recently, productions prefer its richer version with the details of the full dialogue retained. Composed: 1873–74 Premiered: 1875, Paris Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy after Prosper Mérimée’s novel Act I Micaëla, a country girl, approaches a corporal, Moralès, in Seville and asks where she may find another ...

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‘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 ...

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• Turn of the Century

‘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 ...

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‘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 ...

• Major Operas
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• Turn of the Century

moment by having Manon lose her singing voice: she speaks the words above highly emotional music from the orchestra. Composed: 1882–83; rev. 1884 Premiered: 1884, Paris Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille after Abbé Prévost’s novel Act I Guillot, an elderly roué, and Brétigny, a tax collector, are entertaining three actresses at an inn in Amiens. ...

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1876, she also created the role of Kundry, the wild woman and temptress in Wagner’s last opera Parsifal (1882). Introduction | High Romantic | Opera Personalities | Henri Meilhac | High Romantic | Opera Houses & Companies | The Birth of the Metropolitan Opera | Turn of the Century | Opera ...

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work established the composer’s reputation at the Opéra-Comique after its premiere in 1872, and he was offered a full-length commission, on condition he used the established librettists Henri Meilhac (1831–97) and Halévy. Much to the dismay of the directorate of the Opéra-Comique, Bizet put forward the idea of an opera based on Prosper Mérimée’s Carmen. Compromises were reached ...

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• Late Romantic

, Bizet’s next and final opera, performed there in March 1875, most certainly did not. Adapted from a story by Prosper Mérimée (1803–70), Carmen’s libretto was by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, authors of several Offenbach operettas. They watered down the original story’s plot, but nothing could disguise the tragic ending, when the gypsy Carmen is ...

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become friendly with Jacques Offenbach and in 1858, together with Hector Crémieux (1828–92), he wrote the libretto for Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers. Another even more fruitful partnership, with Meilhac, began in 1860. Their witty, provocative and irreverent writing as displayed in La belle Hélène and La grande duchesse de Gérolstein (‘The Grand Duchess of Gérolstein’, 1867) – ...