''Euphrosine, ou Le tyran corrigé'' (''Euphrosine, or The Tyrant Reformed'') is an opera, designated as a 'comédie mise en musique', by the French composer

Étienne Nicolas Méhul Étienne, a French analog of Stephen or Steven, is a masculine given name. An archaic variant of the name, prevalent up to the mid-17th century, is Estienne. Étienne, Etienne, Ettiene or Ettienne may refer to: People Artists and entertainers * ...

with a

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) 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 th ...

by François-Benoît Hoffman. It was the first of Méhul's operas to be performed, and established his reputation as a leading composer of his time. The premiere was given by the

Comédie-Italienne Comédie-Italienne () or Théâtre-Italien () are French names which have been used to refer to Italian-language theatre and opera when performed in France. The earliest recorded visits by Italian players were ''commedia dell'arte'' companies ...

at the first Salle Favart in Paris on 4 September 1790.

Performance history

''Euphrosine'' was not the first opera that Méhul had written. The Académie Royale de Musique (the

Paris Opéra 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 kn ...

) had accepted his work ''Cora'' in 1789, but rehearsals had been abandoned on 8 August of that year, probably because of the Académie's financial difficulties. Méhul turned instead to the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

, offering the theatre a new opera, ''Euphrosine'', with a libretto by François-Benoît Hoffman, who would collaborate with the composer on many more works in the 1790s. The premiere, on 4 September 1790, was a great success, praised by critics such as the composer

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 ...

. The original version was the first ever ''

opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular ''opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Théâtre de la foire, Fair Theatres of St Germain and S ...

'' to have five acts, but Méhul and Hoffman later trimmed it down to three acts in 1792/1793 and completely revised the third act in order to get rid of the comic elements in 1795 (after ''Euphrosine'', Méhul preferred to compose works which were either comedies or tragedies, but not a mixture of the two).Holden 1993, p. 643

Roles

Synopsis

The opera is set in

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

at the time of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

. The tyrant Coradin is the guardian of three orphaned girls, including Euphrosine, who live in his castle. Euphrosine decides to persuade Coradin to marry her so she can reform his character. But the Countess of Arles is jealous of Euphrosine and turns Coradin against her, encouraging him to give her poison. The doctor warns Euphrosine about the plot against her life and she merely pretends to die of the poison. Believing he has killed Euphrosine, Coradin is suddenly seized with remorse. He asks the doctor to prepare him some more poison so he can commit suicide. At this point Euphrosine enters, alive and well, and forgives Coradin, who agrees to marry her.

The work and its influence

Winton Dean Winton Basil Dean (18 March 1916 – 19 December 2013) was an English musicologist of the 20th century, most famous for his research on the life and works—in particular the operas and oratorios—of George Frideric Handel, as detailed in his bo ...

has described ''Euphrosine'' as "an uneven work that reveals the sources of éhul'sstyle (Grétry, the Neapolitans,

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

, but not much

Gluck Christoph Willibald ( Ritter von) Gluck (; ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire at ...

) before the full impact of Cherubini or the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

. It has a brilliantly witty libretto by François Hoffman, in which the young heroine sets out to tame the surly tyrant Coradin in the manner of Anne Whitefield in ''

Man and Superman ''Man and Superman'' is a four-act drama written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903, in response to a call for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. ''Man and Superman'' opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 21 May 1905 as a fou ...

'' ... much of the music is as light-fingered as the libretto; but the emotions of jealousy and remorse released in Méhul a remarkable concentration of power and originality, as they were often to do later (for example in the characters of Othon in '' Ariodant'' and Siméon in ''

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

''). Dean is one of many critics who have singled out the "Jealousy Duet" (''Gardez-vous de la jalousie'') in Act II for particular praise.

Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

wrote that "this amazing piece is the worthy paraphrase of Iago's speech: 'Beware of jealousy, it is the green-eyed monster,' in the ''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

'' of Shakespeare" and recounted the anecdote that when Grétry heard the piece at the dress rehearsal he exclaimed: "It's enough to break open the roof of the house with the skulls of the audience."Berlioz p. 350 David Charlton comments that the duet "established a new standard of psychological realism for the post-Gluckian age." Berlioz regarded ''Euphrosine'' as Méhul's masterpiece: "It has grace, delicacy, dash, plenty of dramatic movement, and passionate outbursts of terrific violence and veracity. The character of Euphrosine is delightful, that of the physician Alibour of a somewhat satirical geniality. As for the rugged knight Coradin, everything he sings is magnificently headlong." Berlioz was not the only Romantic composer to be impressed by ''Euphrosine''. Edward J. Dent suggested that the plot had a great influence on

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and Music criticism, critic in the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Best known for List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, h ...

's '' Euryanthe'' (1823).Dent p. 84

References

Notes Sources * Hector Berlioz, ''Evenings with the Orchestra'', translated by

Jacques Barzun Jacques Martin Barzun (; November 30, 1907 – October 25, 2012) was a French-born American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, ...

(University of Chicago Press, 1973; 1999 reprint) *

, chapter on French opera in Gerald Abraham (ed.) ''The New Oxford History of Music Volume 8: The Age of Beethoven 1790–1830'' (Oxford University Press, 1988) *

Edward Joseph Dent Edward Joseph Dent (16 July 1876 – 22 August 1957), generally known as Edward J. Dent, was an English musicologist, teacher, translator and critic. A leading figure of musicology and music criticism, Dent was Professor of Music at the Univer ...

, ''The Rise of Romantic Opera'' (Cambridge University Press, 1979 edition) * ''The Viking Opera Guide'', ed.

Amanda Holden Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English media personality, actress and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent competition show '' Britain's Got Talent'' on ITV. She also co-hosts the national ''H ...

(Viking, 1993) * Adélaïde de Place, ''Étienne Nicolas Méhul'' (Bleu Nuit Éditeur, 2005)

External links

* {{Authority control Operas 1790 operas French-language operas Opera world premieres at the Opéra-Comique Operas by Étienne Méhul Opéras comiques Rescue operas