''L'Aiglon'' is an
opera (''drame musical'') in five acts composed by
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 to ...
and
Jacques Ibert
Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert (15 August 1890 – 5 February 1962) was a French composer of classical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his firs ...
. Honegger composed acts 2, 3, and 4, with Ibert composing acts 1 and 5. A 2016 reviewer described it as "a singular piece of work" with its "blend of operetta, divertissement, conversation piece, historical pageant and, in the disturbingly powerful fourth act set on the Napoleonic battlefield at
Wagram
Deutsch-Wagram (literally "German Wagram", ), often shortened to Wagram, is a village in the Gänserndorf District, in the state of Lower Austria, Austria. It is in the Marchfeld Basin, close to the Vienna city limits, about 15 km (9 mi) northe ...
, phantasmagoria peopled with living figures onstage and dead voices off".
Background
The
libretto by
Henri Cain
Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry.
People with this given name
; French noblemen
:'' See the ' List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.''
* Henri I de Mon ...
was based on
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with t ...
's 1900 play, ''
L'Aiglon
''L'Aiglon'' is a play in six acts by Edmond Rostand based on the life of Napoleon II, who was the son of Emperor Napoleon I and his second wife, Empress Marie Louise. The title of the play comes from a nickname for Napoleon II, the French wo ...
'' ("The
Eaglet"), about the life of
Napoleon II, who was the son of Emperor
Napoleon I and his second wife, Empress
Marie Louise.
It premiered at the
Opéra de Monte-Carlo
The Opéra de Monte-Carlo is an opera house which is part of the Monte Carlo Casino located in the Principality of Monaco.
With the lack of cultural diversions available in Monaco in the 1870s, Prince Charles III, along with the Société des b ...
on 11 March 1937 in a production by Pierre Chéreau. The principal roles were sung by
Fanny Heldy and
Vanni Marcoux
Jean-Émile Diogène Marcoux (12 June 1877 – 22 October 1962) was a French operatic bass-baritone, known professionally as Vanni Marcoux (sometimes hyphenated as Vanni-Marcoux). He was particularly associated with the French and Italian re ...
.
[''L'Aiglon''](_blank)
art-lyrique.fr, accessed 24 June 2016.
At the
Paris Opera that August, Heldy repeated her performance alongside Vanni-Marcoux under
François Ruhlmann. The work was revived there in 1952 with
Géori Boué in the title role under
André Cluytens
André Cluytens (, ; born Augustin Zulma Alphonse Cluytens; 26 March 19053 June 1967)Baeck E. ''André Cluytens: Itinéraire d’un chef d’orchestre.'' Editions Mardaga, Wavre, 2009. was a Belgian-born French conductor who was active in the con ...
.
The work was revived in February 2016 at the
Opéra de Marseille
The Opéra de Marseille, known today as the Opéra Municipal, is an opera company located in Marseille, France. In 1685, the city was the second in France after Bordeaux to have an opera house which was erected on a tennis court.
However, the f ...
with
Stéphanie d'Oustrac
Stéphanie d'Oustrac (born 1974, in Rennes) is a French mezzo-soprano.
Biography
Stéphanie d'Oustrac was born in Rennes in 1974. She is the great great niece of Francis Poulenc and Jacques La Presle.
She was part of the '' Maîtrise de Bretagn ...
in the title role and conducted by Jean-Yves Ossonce.
[Laurent, François. "Le petit prince eview. '' Diapason'' No. 645, April 2016, p. 60.]
A 1956 French radio recording with Boué conducted by
Pierre Dervaux
Pierre Dervaux (born 3 January 1917 in Juvisy-sur-Orge, France; died 20 February 1992 in Marseilles, France) was a French operatic conductor, composer, and pedagogue. At the Conservatoire de Paris, he studied counterpoint and harmony with Marcel ...
was later issued on CD, and a full studio
Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...
recording under
Kent Nagano
Kent George Nagano GOQ, MSM (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and was Music Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 202 ...
, following concert performances in Montreal, was released in 2016.
Roles
Synopsis
The Duke of Reichstadt (Napoleon II), with his faithful footman Séraphin Flambeau, escapes from Austrian imprisonment and visits the old site of the
Battle of Wagram
The Battle of Wagram (; 5–6 July 1809) was a military engagement of the Napoleonic Wars that ended in a costly but decisive victory for Emperor Napoleon's French and allied army against the Austrian army under the command of Archduke Charles ...
, before eventually dying of tuberculosis.
References
Further reading
*
*
Kennedy, Michael (2006), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'', 985 pages,
* Spratt, Geoffrey K.
''The Music of Arthur Honegger'' Cork University Press, 1987, p. 544.
*
Warrack, John
John Hamilton Warrack (born 1928, in London) is an English music critic, writer on music, and oboist.
Warrack is the son of Scottish conductor and composer Guy Warrack. He was educated at Winchester College (1941-6) and then at the Royal College o ...
and West, Ewan (1992), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 782 pages,
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aiglon
Operas
French-language operas
1937 operas
Operas set in the 19th century
Operas set in Austria
Operas by multiple composers
Operas by Arthur Honegger
Operas by Jacques Ibert
Opera world premieres at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo
Adaptations of works by Edmond Rostand
Operas based on real people
Operas based on plays
Cultural depictions of Klemens von Metternich
Cultural depictions of Napoleon II