''La rencontre imprévue, ou Les pèlerins de la Mecque'' Wq. 32 (''The Unexpected Encounter, or The Pilgrims to Mecca'') is a three-act ''

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 ...

'', composed in 1763 by

Christoph Willibald 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, he g ...

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 Louis Dancourt after the 1726 '' comédie en vaudeville'' ''Les pèlerins de la Mecque'' by

Alain-René Lesage Alain-René Lesage (; 6 May 166817 November 1747; older spelling Le Sage) was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel '' The Devil upon Two Sticks'' (1707, ''Le Diable boiteux''), his comedy ''Turcaret'' (170 ...

and d'Orneval. The death of

Isabella of Parma Isabella of Bourbon-Parma (, ; 31 December 1741 – 27 November 1763) was a princess of Parma and infanta of Spain from the House of Bourbon-Parma as the daughter of Philip, Duke of Parma. She became an archduchess of Austria and princess of B ...

, the archduke's wife, occasioned a revision of the spoken text downplaying the feigned death by which princess Rezia tests her beloved. The work was first performed in this form as ''La rencontre imprévue'' at the

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...

, Vienna on 7 January 1764. Dancourt's original text, titled ''Les pèlerins de la Mecque'' and designated as 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 ...

'', was not premiered until 1990 (see Recordings).

Performance history

Gluck's longest ''opéra-comique'' and considered his finest, ''La rencontre imprévue'' was his most popular work in the genre in the 18th century. It was performed in French in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

(1766),

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

(as ''Ali et Rezia'', 19 May 1766),

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

(1768),

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 ...

(1768),

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

(1768),

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

(1772),

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

(23 December 1776),

Cassel Cassel may refer to: People * Cassel (surname) Places ;France * Cassel, Nord, a town and commune in northern France ** Battle of Cassel (1071) ** Battle of Cassel (1328) ** Battle of Cassel (1677) ;Germany * Cassel, Germany, a city in Hesse re ...

(1780),

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

(17 November 1783), and

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

(1784). It was translated into German as ''Die unvermuthete Zusammenkunft oder Die Pilgrimme von Mecca'' and performed in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

(16 April 1771), Vienna (1776 at the Kärntnertor Theater; 26 July 1780 at the Burgtheater),

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

(9 March 1779),

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

(17 October 1783, the first Gluck opera to be performed there), and many other cities.Loewenberg 1978, columns 275–276. The opera was first performed in Paris on 1 May 1790 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 first Salle Favart in an arrangement by

Jean-Pierre Solié Jean-Pierre Solié (also Soulier, Solier, Sollié; 1755 in Nîmes – 6 August 1812 in Paris) was a French cellist and operatic singer. He began as a tenor, but switched and became well known as a baritone. He sang most often at the Paris Op ...

with the title ''Les fous de Médine, ou La rencontre imprévue''. It was revived by the Opéra-Comique in Gluck's arrangement (as ''Les pèlerins de la Mecque'') on 20 December 1906, and also produced at the Trianon Lyrique on 8 November 1923. A new German translation by with the title ''Die Pilger von Mekka'' was performed in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

(October 1922),

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

(26 September 1924), Berlin (18 February 1928), and Vienna (June 1931).''Die Pilger von Mekka'',

Legacy

''La rencontre imprévue'' was adapted and supplied with new music by Haydn as ''

L'incontro improvviso ''L’incontro improvviso'' (The unexpected encounter) (Hob. XXVIII:6) is an opera in three acts by Joseph Haydn first performed at Eszterháza on 29 August 1775 to mark the four-day visit of Archduke Ferdinand, Habsburg governor of Milan and his ...

'' (1775) and the 1780 Vienna revival of Gluck's version presumably inspired the plot of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

's ''

Die Entführung aus dem Serail ' () ( K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's ''Belmont und Constanze, oder Die ...

''. In 1784 Mozart wrote a set of variations for piano ( K. 455) on Calender's aria "Unser dummer Pöbel meint" ("Les hommes pieusement"). In 1887 the variations were orchestrated by

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

as the final movement of his orchestral Suite No. 4 ''Mozartiana''.

Roles

Recordings

* ''Les pèlerins de la Mecque ou La rencontre imprévue'' (Dancourt's previously unperformed version, restored by

Bruce Alan Brown Bruce Alan Brown is a professor of musicology at the USC Thornton School of Music Los Angeles, California. Life and career Bruce Alan Brown acquired degrees from the University of California at Berkeley (BA 1977, MA 1979, PhD 1986), and also studi ...

): Lynne Dawson (Rezia); Claudine Le Coz (Balkis); Catherine Dubosc (Dardané); Sophie Marin-Degor (Amine); Guy de Mey (Ali); Jean-Luc Viala (Osmin); Guy Flechter (Le Sultan d'Égypte); Jean-Philippe Lafont (Vertigo);

Gilles Cachemaille The Gilles are the oldest and principal participants in the Carnival of Binche in Belgium. They go out on Shrove Tuesday from 4 am until late hours and dance to traditional songs. Other cities, such as La Louvière and Nivelles, have a traditi ...

(Un calendar); Francis Dudziak (Le chef de caravane); Orchèstre de l'

Opéra de Lyon This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...

John Eliot Gardiner Sir John Eliot Gardiner (born 20 April 1943) is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Life and career Born in Fontmell Magna, Dorset, son of Rolf Gardiner and Marabel Hodgkin, Gard ...

conductor; recorded in Auditorium Maurice Ravel, Lyon, 18–24 March 1990;

Erato In Greek mythology, Erato (; grc, Ἐρατώ) is one of the Greek Muses, which were inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius o ...

References

Notes Sources * Brown, Bruce Alan (1992). "''La rencontre imprévue''" in Sadie 1992, vol. 3, pp. 1288–1289. * Loewenberg, Alfred (1978). ''Annals of Opera 1597–1940'' (third edition, revised). Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield. . *

Rushton, Julian Julian Gordon Rushton (born 22 May 1941) is an English musicologist, born in Cambridge. He has contributed the entry on Mozart in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' and several other articles in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians' ...

(2001). "Christoph Willibald Gluck", pp. 313–327, in ''The New Penguin Opera Guide'', edited by

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

. London: Penguin Books. . *

Sadie, Stanley 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 ...

, editor (1992). ''

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 ...

'' (4 volumes). London: Macmillan. . *

Wild, Nicole Nicole Wild (20 June 1929 – 29 December 2017) was a French musicologist, chief curator at the Paris Opera Library and Museum, and a specialist in the history and iconography of opera in France in the 19th century. Early life and education Bor ...

; Charlton, David (2005). ''Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique Paris: répertoire 1762–1972''. Sprimont, Belgium: Editions Mardaga. . * Wolff, Stéphane (1953). ''Un demi-siècle d'Opéra-Comique (1900–1950).'' Paris: André Bonne.

External links

Amazon review
of

's recording
ms full score
(n.d. 764 or later at Gallica
1767 libretto
(Munich: Mayrin) at

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 ...

1768 libretto
(The Hague: Constapel, et le Febure) at Google Books
1776 libretto
(Paris: Duchesne) at Google Books
1780 libretto: ''Die unvermuthete Zusammenkunft oder die Pilgrime von Mecca''
(Vienna: Logenmeister) at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Recontre imprevue, La Operas by Christoph Willibald Gluck French-language operas Operas Comédies mêlées d'ariettes 1764 operas Opera world premieres at the Burgtheater