''Le Cheval de bronze'' (''The Bronze Horse'') is an '' opéra comique'' by the French composer

Daniel Auber Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (; 29 January 178212 May 1871) was a French composer and director of the Paris Conservatoire. Born into an artistic family, Auber was at first an amateur composer before he took up writing operas professionally when ...

, first performed on 23 March 1835 by the Opéra-Comique at the Salle de la Bourse in Paris. The libretto (in three acts) is by Auber's regular collaborator,

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 the piece was a great success in its day. In 1857, it was transformed into an opera-ballet, but this did not hold the stage. The overture is one of Auber's most popular. The first-act finale expands on the final phrases from the first-act finale of Mozart's '' Così fan tutte''. The composer tried to reflect the Chinese setting of the story in the music.

Performance history

The opera was first performed in England on 14 December 1835 at the Covent Garden Theatre in London, and in the United States on 15 April 1836 at the

Théâtre d'Orléans The Théâtre d'Orléans (English: Orleans Theatre) was the most important opera house in New Orleans in the first half of the 19th century. The company performed in French and gave the American premieres of many French operas. It was located on ...

in New Orleans. In March 2012 a production was staged by the Komische Oper Berlin (German version by Bettina Bartz und Werner Hintze) and later broadcast by Kultur
/ref> Deutschlandradio Kultur.

Roles

Synopsis

:Place: China :Time: Péki is due to be married against her will to the mandarin Tsing-Sing, who already has four wives. Péki meets Prince Yang and tells him she is really in love with the poor young farmhand Yan-Ko, but six months earlier he mysteriously disappeared into the sky riding a bronze horse. Yan-Ko returns on the horse but refuses to say where he has been. The prince interrupts Péki's wedding by ordering Tsing-Sing to fly away with him on the horse. Undeterred by the ruined wedding, Péki's father finds another rich old man for her to marry. She decides to elope with Yan-Ko. Tsing-Sing returns on the bronze horse without the prince and refuses to reveal anything about his adventure because if he does he will be transformed into a statue. Unfortunately, he mumbles some details during his sleep and is turned into stone, as is Péki's beloved, Yan-Ko. She decides to ride away on the horse to try to save him. The horse takes Péki (who is disguised as a man) to the palace of Princess Stella on the planet Venus. Péki needs Stella's magic bracelet to rescue her beloved from the spell. She easily passes the task Stella sets her to resist seduction by a group of beautiful women. Péki returns to earth to find the statues of Yan-Ko, Tsing-Sing and Prince Yang (who was unable to resist kissing Stella). She uses the bracelet to free Yan-Ko and the prince but she will not fully release Tsing-Sing until he promises to give up his marriage claims on her. This leaves her free to marry Yan-ko and Prince Yang marries Princess Stella.

Ballet

In 1857

Lucien Petipa Lucien Petipa (December 22, 1815 – July 7, 1898) was a French ballet dancer in the early 19th century ( Romantic period), who was the brother of Marius Petipa, the famous ballet master of the Russian Imperial Ballet. He was born in Marseilles ...

staged a ballet to the music of the second version of the opera ''Le cheval de bronze'' (on September 21, 1857,

Académie royale de musique 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 k ...

, Paris); in the main role is Amalia Ferraris; in a month, she has been replaced by a Russian dancer Zinaida Richard (she became the wife of Louis Mérante).

Recordings

*''Le cheval de bronze'' Grosses Wiener Rundfunkorchester, conducted by Kurt Richter (recorded 1953; reissued on CD by Walhall, 2008) *''Le cheval de bronze'' Chorus and New Philharmonic Radio Orchestra, conducted by Jean-Pierre Marty (recorded 1979; reissued on CD by Gala, 2002)

References

Notes Sources * * Chouquet, Gustave (1889)
"Valentino, Henri Justin Armand Joseph", vol. 4, p. 214
in '' A Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 4 volumes. London: Macmillan. * Holden, Amanda (Ed.), ''The New Penguin Opera Guide'', New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. * Palmer, Andrew. Booklet notes to the Gala recording * Pierre, Constant, editor (1900). ''Le Conservatoire national de musique et de déclamation. Documents historiques et administratifs''. Paris: Imprimerie National. 1031 pages
View
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 ...

. * Pougin, Arthur (1880)
"Valentino (Henri-Justin-Joseph)", pp. 597–598
in ''Biographie universelle des musiciens et Bibliographie générale de la musique par F.-J. Fétis. Supplément et complément'', vol. 2. Paris: Firmin-Didot
View
at Google Books. *

Warrack, John John Hamilton Warrack (born 1928, in London) is an English music critic, writer on music, and oboist. Warrack is the son of Scottish conductor and composer Guy Warrack. He was educated at Winchester College (1941-6) and then at the Royal College o ...

; West, Ewan (1992). ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .

External links

*
French libretto (Paris, 1835?)
at Google Books
French libretto (Brussels, 1837)
at Google Books
French libretto
in ''Théâtre de Eugène Scribe'', vol. 6 (Paris, 1856) at Google Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheval de bronze, Le Opéras comiques French-language operas Operas by Daniel Auber 1835 operas Operas Opéras féeries Libretti by Eugène Scribe Opera world premieres at the Opéra-Comique Operas set in China Works based on Così fan tutte