''Stradella'' is a

Grand Opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and orchestras, and (in their original productions) lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on o ...

in five acts by

Louis Niedermeyer Abraham Louis Niedermeyer (27 April 180214 March 1861) was a Swiss and naturalized French composer. He chiefly wrote church music and a few operas. He also taught music and took over the École Choron, renamed École Niedermeyer de Paris, a scho ...

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 ...

Emile Deschamps Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *''Emil and the Detective ...

and Émilien Pacini. Based on a highly romanticized version of the life of the composer

Alessandro Stradella Antonio Alessandro Boncompagno Stradella (Bologna, 3 July 1643 – Genoa, 25 February 1682) was an Italian composer of the middle Baroque period. He enjoyed a dazzling career as a freelance composer, writing on commission, and collaborating with ...

(1639–1682), it was premiered at the Paris Opera on 3 March 1837.

Background

The storyline of the opera is fashioned from the fanciful legend told by Pierre Bourdelot in his 1715 ''Histoire de la musique''. Interest in Stradella in Paris had been growing in 1830s Paris, after the musician

François-Joseph Fétis François-Joseph Fétis (; 25 March 1784 – 26 March 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, composer, teacher, and one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century. His enormous compilation of biographical data in the ''Biographie univers ...

had included an aria, (supposedly by Stradella but actually by Fétis himself), in an 1833 concert; the melody soon became extremely popular. In July 1836 the , run by

Maurice Schlesinger Moritz Adolf Schlesinger (30 October 1798 in Berlin – 25 February 1871 in Baden-Baden), generally known during his French career as Maurice Schlesinger, was a German music editor. He is perhaps best remembered for inspiring the character of M. Ar ...

, had serialised a work by

Jules Janin Jules Gabriel Janin (16 February 1804 – 19 June 1874) was a French writer and critic. Life and career Born in Saint-Étienne (Loire), Janin's father was a lawyer, and he was educated first at St. Étienne, and then at the lycée Louis-le-Gra ...

, ''Stradella, or the Poet and the Musician'', as 'advance publicity' (Schlesinger was to publish Niedermeyer's score in 1837). Moreover, a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

with music by

Flotow Friedrich Adolf Ferdinand, Freiherr von Flotow /flo:to/ (27 April 1812 – 24 January 1883) was a German composer. He is chiefly remembered for his opera ''Martha'', which was popular in the 19th century and the early part of the 20th. Life ...

on the same subject opened in Paris a month before Niedermeyer's opera. The opera was Niedermeyer's first venture in the Grand Opera vein. The leading roles were taken by two of the Opera's strongest singers,

Adolphe Nourrit Adolphe Nourrit (3 March 1802 – 8 March 1839) was a French operatic tenor, librettist, and composer. One of the most esteemed opera singers of the 1820s and 1830s, he was particularly associated with the works of Gioachino Rossini and Giacomo ...

and

Cornélie Falcon Cornélie Falcon (28 January 1814 – 25 February 1897) was a French soprano who sang at the Opéra in Paris. Her greatest success was creating the role of Valentine in Meyerbeer's ''Les Huguenots''. She possessed "a full, resonant voice"Warrack ...

, both then at the height of their careers. However for both of them it represented some of their last appearances in Paris singing full operatic roles. Falcon lost her voice catastrophically during the second performance of ''Stradella'' at the Opéra in March 1837. When Nourrit as Stradella asked her "Demain nous partirons – voulez-vous?", Falcon was unable to sing her line "Je suis prête", fainted, and was carried offstage by Nourrit.Cairns 1999, p. 151.

Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

, who was present, describes "raucous sounds like those of a child with

croup Croup, also known as laryngotracheobronchitis, is a type of respiratory infection that is usually caused by a virus. The infection leads to swelling inside the trachea, which interferes with normal breathing and produces the classic symptoms o ...

, guttural, whistling notes that quickly faded like those of a flute filled with water". Her career never recovered from this disaster, and after 1840 she never performed publicly again. Nourrit gave a farewell performance in April 1837 after the first performances of ''Stradella'', and later that year travelled to Italy, where he committed suicide in 1839. The opera had a mixed reception. In a letter Berlioz was more frank than he would be in a review, saying: "In a few days' time I have to find a way of writing indulgent nonsense about an appalling non-work called ''Stradella'', of which I saw a rehearsal yesterday evening at the Opéra. A thousand reasons force me to, quite apart from the fact that it would not be decent, in my position, to slate a young composer iedermeyerwho has for a long time been in the same situation vis-à-vis the theatre as I am. But I must warn you not to believe a word I say." The opera was revised to suit

Gilbert Duprez Gilbert-Louis Duprez (6 December 180623 September 1896) was a French tenor, singing teacher and minor composer who famously pioneered the delivery of the operatic high C from the chest (''Ut de poitrine'', as Paris audiences called it). He also c ...

when he took over the title role from Nourrit in 1837, and successfully revived in a three-act form in 1840. It is now almost totally forgotten.

Roles

Synopsis

The opera takes place in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, about 1660. In Act I, in Venice, Stradella shields Léonor who is pursued by the Duke of Pesaro. They plan to flee together but the Duke recaptures Léonor. In Act II Stradella rescues Léonor from the Duke by threatening him with a pistol. Act III takes place in Rome during

Holy Week Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...

, where Stradella is to sing during the celebrations amongst the pilgrims. Léonor rejects an offer of marriage from the Duke, conveyed by Spadoni, who secures two assassins to murder Stradella, but Stradella's singing of his hymn ('Pleure, Jérusalem') in the church of Santa Mara Maggiore so moves them that they drop their daggers and flee. In Act IV, preparing to be crowned with laurel for his singing and to marry Léonor, Stradella is captured by the Duke and conveyed again to Venice. In Act V, the Duke becomes

Doge A doge ( , ; plural dogi or doges) was an elected lord and head of state in several Italian city-states, notably Venice and Genoa, during the medieval and renaissance periods. Such states are referred to as " crowned republics". Etymology The ...

of Venice, and condemns Stradella to execution. However he is forced to relent by the pleas of Léonor and of the people.Hibberd 2009, pp. 98-99.

External links

References

Notes Sources * Cairns, David (1999). ''Berlioz. Volume Two. Servitude and greatness 1832–1869''. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. . *

Chouquet, Gustave Gustave Chouquet (16 April 1819 – 30 January 1886)Grove & Charlton 2001. was a French music historian, music critic, and teacher of French. Early life and career Born Adolphe-Gustave Chouquet in Le Havre, he spent six years in Paris studying ...

(1873). ''Histoire de la musique dramatique en France'' (in French). Paris: Didot
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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 ...

. * Deschamps, Émile; Pacini, Émilien (1840). ''Stradella'' (libretto). Paris: Pacini
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at Gallica. * Ferchault, Guy and Jacqueline Gachet, ''Niedermeyer, Louis'' in

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 ...

, (subscription only, consulted on 14.6.2011) * Hibberd, Sarah (2009). ''French Grand Opera and the Historical Imagination'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . *

Smart, Mary Ann Mary Ann Smart (29 March 1964 in Toronto) is a Canadian-born musicologist. Smart earned a doctorate from Cornell University and is the Terrill Professor of Music at the University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley ...

(2003). "Roles, reputations,shadows: singers at the Opéra, 1828-1849", in '' The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera'', ed. David Charlton, Cambridge:Cambridge University Press , pp. 108–128. Operas Grand operas 1837 operas French-language operas Operas by Louis Niedermeyer Operas set in Italy Opera world premieres at the Paris Opera Operas set in Venice {{Authority control