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Madame Gonthier (cropped)
Rose Françoise Carpentier called Madame Gonthier (4 March 1747 – 7 December 1829), was a French actress and lyrical artist. Life Born in Metz in 1747, her aptitude for theatrical arts is said to have been apparent from childhood, and a few society successes proved her aptitude for comic roles. She played in the provinces and in Brussels from 1771 to 1777, where she was a member of theatre La Monnaie's company, which was sponsored by Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, governor of the Austrian Netherlands In 1778 she made her debut in Paris, at the Comédie-Italienne (into which the Opéra-Comique had been merged) being engaged for the roles of ''duègnes'' (duennas) : on 18, 19 and 21 Mars she performed the role of Simone in ''Le sorcier'' by Philidor, then the mother Bobi, in ''Rose et Colas'' by Monsigny, and finally Alix, in the premiere of ''Les trois fermiers'' by Dezède. Thanks to her success, on 2 May of the same year, with an act signed by the Duke of Ric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madame Gonthier (cropped)
Rose Françoise Carpentier called Madame Gonthier (4 March 1747 – 7 December 1829), was a French actress and lyrical artist. Life Born in Metz in 1747, her aptitude for theatrical arts is said to have been apparent from childhood, and a few society successes proved her aptitude for comic roles. She played in the provinces and in Brussels from 1771 to 1777, where she was a member of theatre La Monnaie's company, which was sponsored by Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, governor of the Austrian Netherlands In 1778 she made her debut in Paris, at the Comédie-Italienne (into which the Opéra-Comique had been merged) being engaged for the roles of ''duègnes'' (duennas) : on 18, 19 and 21 Mars she performed the role of Simone in ''Le sorcier'' by Philidor, then the mother Bobi, in ''Rose et Colas'' by Monsigny, and finally Alix, in the premiere of ''Les trois fermiers'' by Dezède. Thanks to her success, on 2 May of the same year, with an act signed by the Duke of Ric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be known more simply as the . Classical ballet as it is known today arose within the Paris Opera as the Paris Opera Ballet and has remained an integral and important part of the company. Currently called the , it mainly produces operas at its modern 2,723-seat theatre Opéra Bastille which opened in 1989, and ballets and some classical operas at the older 1,979-seat Palais Garnier which opened in 1875. Small scale and contemporary works are also staged in the 500-seat Amphitheatre under the Opéra Bastille. The company's annual budget is in the order of 200 million euros, of which €100M come from the French state and €70M from box office receipts. With this money, the company runs the two houses and supports a large permanent staff, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques Marie Boutet
Jacques Marie Boutet (25 March 1745 – 13 February 1812) was a French actor and comic playwright from Lunéville. His pseudonym was Monvel. He was a small, thin man without good looks or voice, and yet he became one of the greatest comedians of his time. Biography After some years of apprenticeship in the provinces, he made his debut in 1770 at the Comédie-Française in Merope and Zenaide; he was received sociétaire in 1772. For some unknown reason, Monvel secretly left Paris for Sweden in 1781, as the head of a troupe of French actors. He became reader to the king, a post which he held for several years. Until 1786, he was the director for the French theatre in Bollhuset and had a great importance for the development for the organisation of the native Swedish theater as the educator of the first Swedish actors for the Royal Dramatic Theatre, such as Fredrique Löwen, Lars Hjortsberg and Maria Franck, in the modern style of acting; among his troupe of French actors was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicolas Dalayrac
Nicolas-Marie d'Alayrac (; bapt. 13 June 175326 November 1809), nicknamed the Musician poet, more commonly Nicolas Dalayrac, was a French composer of the Classical period. Intended for a military career, he made the acquaintance of many musicians in the Parisian salons, which convinced him of his true vocation. Among his most popular works, '' Nina, or The Woman Crazed with Love'' (1786), which tackles the theme of madness and arouses real enthusiasm during its creation, premiered on 23 November at the Stroganov Palace. '' The Two Little Savoyards'' (1789), which deals with the rapprochement of social classes, a theme bearing the ideals of the French Revolution, Camille ou le Souterrain (1791), judged as his best production or even Léon ou le Château de Monténéro (1798) who by his leitmotifs announces a new genre. If he forges an international reputation, he remains nevertheless less known in the lyrical field than André Grétry. His first compositions were violin du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Nicolas Bouilly
Jean-Nicolas Bouilly (24 January 1763 – 14 April 1842) was a French playwright, librettist, children's writer, and politician of the French Revolution. He is best known for writing a libretto, supposedly based on a true story, about a woman who disguises herself as a man to rescue her husband from prison, which formed the basis of Beethoven's opera ''Fidelio'' as well as a number of other operas. Life Bouilly was born near Tours, and was briefly a lawyer for the Parlement de Paris. At the outbreak of the Revolution he held office under the new government and was head of the military commission in Tours during the Reign of Terror. In 1795, he served as a member of the Committee of Public Instruction having a considerable share in the organization of primary education, but retired from public life four years later in order to devote himself to literature. Bouilly died in Paris. Works ;Theatre *1790: ''Pierre le Grand'', comedy in 4 acts and in prose,mingled with singing, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass (liturgy), Mass, requiem and sacred cantata, or the story line of a ballet. ''Libretto'' (; plural ''libretti'' ), from Italian, is the diminutive of the word ''wiktionary:libro#Italian, libro'' ("book"). Sometimes other-language equivalents are used for libretti in that language, ''livret'' for French works, ''Textbuch'' for German and ''libreto'' for Spanish. A libretto is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot, in that the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot. Some ballet historians also use the word ''libretto'' to refer to the 15 to 40 page books which were on sale to 19th century ballet audiences in Paris and contained a ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
André Grétry
André Ernest Modeste Grétry (; baptised 11 February 1741; died 24 September 1813) was a composer from the Prince-Bishopric of Liège (present-day Belgium), who worked from 1767 onwards in France and took French nationality. He is most famous for his '' opéras comiques''. Biography He was born at Liège, his father being a poor musician. He was a choirboy at the church of St. Denis (Liège). In 1753 he became a pupil of Jean-Pantaléon Leclerc and later of the organist at St-Pierre de Liège, Nicolas Rennekin, for keyboard and composition and of Henri Moreau, music master at the collegiate church of St. Paul. But of greater importance was the practical tuition he received by attending the performance of an Italian opera company. Here he heard the operas of Baldassarre Galuppi, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, and other masters; and the desire of completing his own studies in Italy was the immediate result. To find the necessary means he composed in 1759 a mass which he dedicat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre Le Grand
''Pierre le Grand'' (''Peter the Great'') is an ''opéra comique'' by André Grétry. The libretto, by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, is based on the early life of the Russian tsar Peter the Great. It was first performed in Paris on January 13, 1790, with Louise-Rosalie Lefebvre, known as Madame Dugazon, as Catherine. Roles Synopsis The plot tells how the young Tsar Peter disguised himself as a carpenter to work in a Russian shipyard where he fell in love with and married a peasant girl, Catherine (later the Empress Catherine I). Bouilly was working on his play at the time the French Revolution was breaking out in 1789 and the work reflects the political events of the day. Tsar Peter is intended to symbolise King Louis XVI, Catherine is Marie Antoinette and the Swiss Le Fort alludes to the Genevan financier Jacques Necker, who had attempted to reform the French economy. Peter and Catherine are depicted as ideal figures, deeply concerned for the welfare of the common people, and the lib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
De Beaunoir
Alexandre-Louis-Bertrand Robineau, called ''de Beaunoir'', (4 April 1746 – 5 August 1823) was an 18th-century French playwright. Biography Intended for the service of the Church, he indeed became abbot, but quickly turned away, fascinated by the life of Paris. Passionate about theater, he began writing for the fair troupe of Jean-Baptiste Nicolet. His first play, ''La Bourbonnaise'' (1768), was highly applauded, to the point that Nicolet hired him to replace Toussaint-Gaspard Taconet. He wrote up to three plays a week, under the name Abbé Robineau, and earned 18 pounds per play. In 1777, he had his ''L'Amour quêteur'' presented, little play quite scandalous but an immediate success. The Archbishop of Paris made Robineau disrobed, who immediately took the pseudonym Beaunoir, anagram of his name. Beaunoir served Nicolet until 1780, then composed more ambitious plays which were given at the Théâtre des Variétés-Amusantes and the Comédie Italienne. Around 1770, he had b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henri-Joseph Rigel
Henri-Joseph Rigel (9 February 1741 – 2 May 1799) was a German-born composer of the Classical era who spent most of his working life in France. He was born in Wertheim am Main where his father was musical intendant to the local prince. After an education in Germany, where his teachers included Niccolò Jommelli, Rigel moved to Paris in 1767. He quickly acquired a reputation in musical circles and published harpsichord pieces, string quartets, symphonies and concertos. He began composing for the Concert Spirituel, most notably four hiérodrames (oratorios on sacred themes): ''La sortie d'Egypte'' (1774), ''La destruction de Jericho'' (1778), ''Jephté'' (1783) and ''Les Macchabées'' (score lost). These show the influence of Christoph Willibald Gluck, and Gluck himself praised ''La sortie d'Égypte''. Between 1778 and 1799 Rigel also wrote 14 operas, including the ''opéra comique'' ''Le savetier et le financier'' (1778). Recordings *''Six quatuors dialogués, Opus 10'': Quatuo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Pierre Claris De Florian
Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (March 6, 1755 in the château of Florian, near Sauve, Gard – September 13, 1794 in Sceaux) was a French poet, novelist and fabulist. Life Florian's mother, a Spanish lady named Gilette de Salgues, died when he was a child. He was brought up by his grandfather and studied at St. Hippolyte. His uncle and guardian, the Marquis of Florian, who had married a niece of Voltaire, introduced him at the château de Ferney and in 1768 he became page at Anet in the household of the Duc de Penthièvre, who remained his friend throughout his life. Having studied for some time at the artillery school at Bapaume he obtained from his patron a captain's commission in the dragoon regiment of Penthièvre. He left the army soon after and began to write comedies, and was elected to the Académie française in 1788. On the outbreak of the French Revolution he retired to Sceaux, but he was soon discovered and imprisoned; and though Robespierre's death spared h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
