''L'attaque du moulin'' (''The Attack on the Mill'') is a ''drame lyrique'' (

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

) in four acts by the French composer Alfred Bruneau. The

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 t ...

, by

Louis Gallet Louis Gallet (14 February 1835 in Valence, Drôme – 16 October 1898) was a French writer of operatic libretti, plays, romances, memoirs, pamphlets, and innumerable articles, who is remembered above all for his adaptations of fiction —and ...

with the collaboration of

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

, is based on a short story by Zola (included in the collection ''

Les soirées de Médan ''Les Soirées de Médan'' ("Evenings at Médan") is a collection of six short stories by six different writers associated with Naturalism, first published in 1880. All the stories concern the Franco-Prussian War. The contents of the book are as ...

''). Zola's story is about the Franco-Prussian War, but the setting of the opera was changed to the period of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

Performance history

''L'attaque du moulin'' was first performed on 23 November 1893 by the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...

at the former Théâtre Lyrique (the present

Théâtre de la Ville (meaning the City Theatre) is one of the two theatres built in the 19th century by Baron Haussmann at Place du Châtelet, Paris, the other being the Théâtre du Châtelet. It is located at 2, place du Châtelet in the 4th arrondissement. Inc ...

) on the Place du Châtelet in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. The ''

mise-en-scène ''Mise-en-scène'' (; en, "placing on stage" or "what is put into the scene") is the stage design and arrangement of actors in scenes for a theatre or film production, both in visual arts through storyboarding, visual theme, and cinematography, ...

'' was by

Léon Carvalho Léon Carvalho (18 January 1825 – 29 December 1897) was a French impresario and stage director. Biography Born Léon Carvaille in Port Louis, British Mauritius, he came to France at an early age. He studied at the Paris Conservatory and sa ...

, the scenery by Marcel Jambon, and the costumes by Théophile Thomas. The original production was performed a total of 39 times. The Gaîté Lyrique revived the opera on 16 December 1907, and the Opéra-Comique, on 25 March 1922 (14 performances). By 1917 the opera had been presented outside France in eleven different cities, including Brussels (27 January 1894), London (4 July 1894, at the

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

theatre), Breslau (5 November 1805, in German), Geneva (11 December 1896), Milan (8 January 1898, at the Teatro Lirico, in Italian),

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

(November 1903), Barcelona (7 January 1909), New York (8 February 1910), New Orleans (19 January 1911), Vienna (13 March 1914, at the

Volksoper The Vienna Volksoper (''Volksoper'' or ''Vienna People's Opera'') is an opera house in Vienna, Austria. It produces three hundred performances of twenty-five German language productions of opera, operetta, musicals, and ballet, during an annual s ...

, in German),

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

(15 October 1915, in English), and again London (18 May 1917, at the

Garrick Theatre The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick. It opened in 1889 with ''The Profligate'', a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play ...

, in English).

Roles

References

Notes Sources * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Attaque du moulin, L' French-language operas 1893 operas Operas by Alfred Bruneau Operas based on literature Operas Opera world premieres at the Opéra-Comique Operas set in France Operas set in the French Revolution