''La fée Urgèle, ou Ce qui plaît aux dames'' (''The Fairy Urgèle, or What Pleases Women'') is an ''

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 Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a l ...

'' (specifically a ''

comédie mêlée d'ariettes The French term ''comédie mêlée d'ariettes'' ('comedy mixed with little songs') was frequently used during the late ''ancien régime'' for certain types of '' opéra comique'' (French opera with spoken dialogue). The term became popular in th ...

'') in four acts by the composer Egidio Duni. 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

Charles-Simon Favart Charles Simon Favart (13 November 1710 – 12 May 1792) was a French playwright and theatre director. The Salle Favart in Paris is named after him. Biography Born in Paris, the son of a pastry-cook, he was educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, a ...

, is based on

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

's ' and

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

's "

The Wife of Bath's Tale "The Wife of Bath's Tale" ( enm, The Tale of the Wyf of Bathe) is among the best-known of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''. It provides insight into the role of women in the Late Middle Ages and was probably of interest to Chaucer himsel ...

Performance history

The opera was first performed at the Théâtre Royal de la Cour at the

Palace of Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau (; ) or Château de Fontainebleau, located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The medieval castle and subsequent palace served as a residence ...

on 26 October 1765. The elaborate medieval staging cost 20,000

livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 gr ...

according to

Grimm Grimm may refer to: People * Grimm (surname) * Brothers Grimm, German linguists ** Jacob Grimm (1785–1863), German philologist, jurist and mythologist ** Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), German author, the younger of the Brothers Grimm * Christia ...

in his ''Correspondance littéraire''. It was revived at 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 employed b ...

on 4 December 1765 and given over 100 times in the following years, popularizing medieval settings for other operas such as André Grétry's ''

Aucassin et Nicolette ''Aucassin et Nicolette'' (12th or 13th century) is an anonymous medieval French fictional story. It is the unique example of a ''chantefable'', literally, a "sung story", a combination of prose and verse (similar to a ''prosimetrum''). History ...

'' (1779) and '' Richard Coeur-de-lion'' (1784). The opera was revived at the Opéra Comique for 8 performances from 12–20 April 1991 by Les Arts Florissants ensemble under the baton of

Christophe Rousset Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 18 ...

and with

Monique Zanetti Monique Zanetti (born 13 June 1961) is a French soprano. She studied at the University of Metz, then with Elisabeth Grümmer. She first came to attention singing in the same first generation of French early music singers with Agnès Mellon and Gé ...

in the title role.Les Arts Florissants 1991
/ref> and preceded by ''La répétition interrompue'', also by Favart. The production toured Caen, Montpellier, Colmar, Mulhouse, and Strasbourg in February 1994.

Roles and role creators

*The Fairy Urgèle (

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

Marie-Thérèse Laruette Marie-Thérèse Laruette (1744 –1837) was a French opera singer and playwright from Paris. She was a member of the troupe of the Comédie-Italienne, with which the Opéra-Comique was merged in 1762. Biography She was born Marie-Thérèse Vil ...

*Marton (soprano), Marie-Thérèse Laruette *Robinette (soprano), Marie Favart *Thérèse (soprano), Marie Favart *An old woman (soprano), Marie Favart *Robert, ''a knight'' (

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

Clairval Clairval, real name Jean-Baptiste Guignard, (27 April 1735, Étampes – 1795, Paris) was an 18th-century French operatic singer (tenor), comedian and librettist. He played with the same authority drama, comedy and opera, in a considerable numb ...

(Jean-Baptiste Guignard) *La Hire, Robert's squire (''

basse-taille ''Basse-taille'' (bahss-tah-ee) is an enamelling technique in which the artist creates a low-relief pattern in metal, usually silver or gold, by engraving or chasing. The entire pattern is created in such a way that its highest point is lower ...

''),

Joseph Caillot Joseph Caillot (24 January 1733, in Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris – 30 September 1816, in Paris) was a French actor and singer. He was endowed with a very wide compass which enabled him to sing as a basse taille ( bass-baritone), while al ...

*Queen Berthe (soprano), Eulalie Desglands *Denise (spoken), Catherine Foulquier, 'Catinon' *The Lady-Attorney General of the Court of Love (spoken), Mlle Catinon *Old Lady-Councillors of the Court of Love (spoken ?), Gabriel-Éléonor-Hervé Dubus de Champville, 'Soli', and Antoine-Étienne Balletti (

travesti Travesti may refer to: * Travesti (gender identity), a transgender identity in South America * Travesti (theatre), a performance while wearing clothes of the opposite sex * "Travesti", a section of Arca's 2020 single "@@@@@" See also

* Tr ...

) *The usherette (?), Mlle Léonore *Philinte, shepherd (tenor), M. Lobreau *Licidas, another shepherd (tenor), Nicolas Beaupré *Lisette, shepherdess (soprano), Mlle Adélaïde *The chief huntsman (spoken ?),

Synopsis

Robert is a knight imprisoned in a 7th-century French court controlled by women. He must answer the question: what gives the most pleasure to women? He is obliged to agree to marry an old woman who is then transformed into the beautiful Marton.

Sources

*Original libretto
''La fée Urgele, ou Ce qui plait aux dames, Comédie en quatre actes mêlée d'ariettes''
Paris, Veuve Duchesne, 1766. Via

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

Antoine de Léris Antoine de Léris ( Mont-Louis, Roussillon, 28 February 1723 — 1795) was a French journalist and drama critic of the 18th century and a historian of the French theatre, author of the ''Dictionnaire portatif historique et littéraire des théâtr ...

, ''Dictionnaire portatif historique et littéraire des théatres, ...'' (2nd edition, revised, corrected and considerably augmented), Paris, Jombert, 1763. * *Cook, Elisabeth (1992), "Fee Urgèle, La" in ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'', ed.

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...

(London)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fee Urgele, La Operas by Egidio Duni Comédies mêlées d'ariettes Opéras comiques French-language operas Operas 1765 operas Operas based on works by Voltaire Works based on The Canterbury Tales