''Ali Baba, ou Les quarante voleurs'' is a ''

tragédie lyrique 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 ...

'' in four acts plus a prologue, with libretto by

Eugène Scribe Augustin Eugène Scribe (; 24 December 179120 February 1861) was a French dramatist and librettist. He is known for writing "well-made plays" ("pièces bien faites"), a mainstay of popular theatre for over 100 years, and as the librettist of ma ...

and

Mélesville Baron Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier, pen-name Mélesville (13 December 1787 in Paris – 7 November 1865 in Marly-le-Roi) was a French dramatist. The playwright Mélesville fils was his son. Life The son of Honoré-Nicolas-Marie Duveyrier, M� ...

and music by

Luigi Cherubini Luigi Cherubini ( ; ; 8 or 14 SeptemberWillis, in Sadie (Ed.), p. 833 1760 – 15 March 1842) was an Italian Classical and Romantic composer. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the gre ...

. The story is based on the tale ''

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" ( ar, علي بابا والأربعون لصا) is a folk tale from the '' One Thousand and One Nights''. It was added to the collection in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard ...

'' (''

One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

''). It was premiered by the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...

in the

Salle Le Peletier The Salle Le Peletier or Lepeletier (sometimes referred to as the Salle de la rue Le Peletier or the Opéra Le Peletier) was the home of the Paris Opera from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. The theatre was designed and con ...

on 22 July 1833. It was Cherubini's last opera, though he lived for nearly a decade longer. It is also his longest opera, lasting for about three and a half hours at the premiere. Some of the music was adapted and rewritten from his '' Koukourgi'' (written in 1793, but unproduced; first performed in 2010).

Performance history

It was premiered in Paris on 22 July 1833. It was not successful, with

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 ...

calling it "one of the feeblest things Cherubini ever wrote". It ran for five performances.

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

discussed the opera in his letter of 25 December 1834 to

Ignaz Moscheles Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (; 23 May 179410 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer. He was based initially in London and later at Leipzig, where he joined his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as professor of piano at the Co ...

, stating, that Cherubini was so craven to serve the new style envogue in Paris that time. It was resurrected by

La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

in 1963, but again faced negative reviews. A live recording was made and was subsequently issued. The overture has found a place in the concert repertoire for symphony orchestras.

Roles

Synopsis

Nadir is in love with Delia, the daughter of wealthy merchant Ali Baba, but desperate to marry her because he is poor. Ali Baba has promised Delia to the head collector Aboul-Hassan. However, Nadir found a treasure hidden in a cave by a gang of robbers and asks for Delia's hand. Ali Baba wants to know the secret of Nadir's wealth and is led to the cave, where it remains trapped and is captured by the thieves. While the robbers have taken possession of a load of bales of coffee Ali Baba was smuggling, Aboul-Hassan, furious at the thought of not being able to have Delia, kidnapped her. The robbers then ask a ransom to release Ali Baba and try to storm the house of the merchant hiding in bales of coffee. The situation seems to change for the worse for Nadir and his men, but Aboul-Hassan and his soldiers come and order that the bales be burned and the leaders of the gang arrested.

Releases

*1963: Wladimiro Ganzarolli (Alì Babà), Teresa Stich-Randall (Delia), Orianna Santunione (Morgiane), Alfredo Kraus (Nadir), Paolo Montarsolo (Aboul-Hassan), Piero de Palma (Calaf), Lorenzo Testi (Ours-Kan), Agostino Ferrin (Thamar), Virgilio Carbonari (Phaor). Conductor: Nino Sanzogno. Orchestra and chorus of La Scala – live recording – LP: E. J. Smith ''The Golden Age of Opera'' EJS 393; Mauro R. Fuguette MRF C 05; Melodram MEL 170. CD: Nuova Era 2361/2

Notes

External links