' (full title ' (''The

Duke of Guise Count of Guise and Duke of Guise (pronounced �ɥiz were titles in the French nobility. Originally a seigneurie, in 1417 Guise was erected into a county for René, a younger son of Louis II of Anjou. While disputed by the House of Luxembourg (1 ...

, or The Council of

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...

))'' 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 ...

in three acts by

George Onslow George Onslow may refer to: *George Onslow (British Army officer) (1731–1792), British politician and army officer *George Onslow, 1st Earl of Onslow (1731–1814), British peer and politician *George Onslow (composer) André George(s) Louis ...

, to a

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 François-Antoine-Eugène de Planard and

Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges (7 November 1799 – 23 December 1875) was a French playwright, who was born and died in Paris. He was one of the most prolific librettists of the 19th century, often working in collaboration with others. Sa ...

, based on a play from 1809 of the same name by

François Just Marie Raynouard François Just Marie Raynouard (18 September 1761–27 October 1836) was a French dramatist and linguist. Raynouard was born at Brignoles in Provence, trained for the bar, and practiced at Draguignan. In 1791 he represented the department of V ...

. The opera received its premiere on 8 September 1837 at 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 ...

in Paris. The opera, which centres on the assassination of the Duc de Guise in 1588, was the third and last of Onslow's operas to be produced. The text and music were well received by the audience, but

Gérard de Nerval Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855) was the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, a major figure of French romanticism, best known for his novellas and poems, especially the collection ''Les Fil ...

complained in a review that they had not offered Jenny Colon the opportunity to display her talents. Onslow made an arrangement of extracts of the opera for

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

(his Op. 60).''Le duc de Guise''

Roles

References

Notes Sources * De Planard and Saint-Georges (1838).
Guise, ou Les états de Blois: drame lyrique en trois actes
'', Brussels: J-A Lelong. Accessed on

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 ...

6 October 2014. * Tamvaco, Jean-Louis (ed.) (2000). ''Les cancans de l'opėra.'' 2 vols. Paris: CNRS Editions. {{DEFAULTSORT:duc de Guise, Le Operas 1837 operas French-language operas Operas set in France Operas based on plays Opéras comiques Opera world premieres at the Opéra-Comique Operas set in the 16th century Compositions by George Onslow Cultural depictions of Henry I, Duke of Guise Cultural depictions of Catherine de' Medici Cultural depictions of Henry III of France