''Messidor'' is a four-act

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 ...

tic ''drame lyrique'' by Alfred Bruneau to a French

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 ...

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 ...

. The opera premiered on 19 February 1897 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 opera title comes from the tenth month of the French Republican Calendar.Smith, Richard Langham: "Messidor (i)", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'' ed. L. Macy (Retrieved on February 11, 2009), Although initially successful, the popularity of ''Messidor'' was adversely affected by the

Dreyfus Affair The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...

which was occurring at the time of the opera's premiere. Because both Bruneau and his good friend Zola were active supporters of

Alfred Dreyfus Alfred Dreyfus ( , also , ; 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history. ...

during his trial for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

, the French public did not welcome the composer's music for several years afterward.Smith, Richard Langham: "Bruneau, (Louis Charles Bonaventure) Alfred", ''

'' ed. L. Macy (Retrieved on February 11, 2009), "Adieux du berger" and "Chanson du semeur" (from act II) and the prelude to act IV remained popular, though. The collaborations between Bruneau and Zola, of which ''Messidor'' is the most notable, were considered an attempt at a French alternative to the Italian

verismo In opera, ''verismo'' (, from , meaning "true") was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini. ''Verismo'' as an ...

movement in opera.Smith, Richard Langham: "Zola, Emile", ''

'' ed. L. Macy (Retrieved on February 11, 2009),

Roles

Synopsis

Set in Ariège, a region in the south-west of France, the opera tells the story of a greedy peasant, Gaspard, who has appropriated for himself a gold-bearing stream, which had previously provided income for the entire community. His daughter, Hélène, and Guillaume, a young and virtuous man, fall in love, but Guillaume's mother, Véronique, has accused Gaspard of murdering her husband. Ultimately Gaspard's mining operation fails, and his cousin Mathias is found to be the real murderer.Kelly, Barbara
''French music, culture, and national identity, 1870-1939''
Boydell & Brewer, 2008, p. 114.

Vocal score

The

vocal score The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

was published in 1897 and is now available onlin
''Messidor''
at IMSLP.

Notes and references

{{Authority control Operas 1897 operas French-language operas Operas by Alfred Bruneau Operas set in France