''La fée Urgèle, ou Ce qui plaît aux dames'' (, ''The Fairy Urgèle, or What Pleases Women'') is an ''

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 Théâtre de la foire, Fair Theatres of St Germain and S ...

'' (specifically a ''

comédie mêlée d'ariettes The French term (, '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 the mid 18th century following t ...

'') in four acts by the composer

Egidio Duni Egidio Romualdo Duni (or Egide Romuald Duny; 11 February 1708 – 11 June 1775) was an Italian composer who studied in Naples and worked in Italy, France and London, writing both Italian and French operas. Biography Born in Matera, Duni was tau ...

. The

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) 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 th ...

, by

Charles-Simon Favart Charles Simon Favart (; 13 November 1710 – 12 May 1792) was a French playwright and theatre director. The Salle Favart in Paris is named after him. Biography Born in Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in F ...

, is based on

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

's ' and

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He ...

's "

The Wife of Bath's Tale "The Wife of Bath's Tale" () is among the best-known of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''. It provides insight into the role of women in the Late Middle Ages and was probably of interest to Chaucer, himself, for the character is one of hi ...

Performance history

The opera was first performed at the Théâtre Royal de la Cour at the

Palace of Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau ( , ; ), located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the List of French monarchs ...

on 26 October 1765. The elaborate medieval staging cost 20,000

livres Livre may refer to: Currency * French livre, one of a number of obsolete units of currency of France * Livre tournois, one particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Livre parisis, another particular obsolete unit of currency of France * F ...

according to

Grimm Grimm may refer to: People * Grimm (surname) * Brothers Grimm, German linguists ** Jacob Grimm (1785–1863), German philologist, jurist and mythologist ** Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), German author, the younger of the Brothers Grimm * Christia ...

in his ''Correspondance littéraire''. It was revived at the

Comédie-Italienne Comédie-Italienne () or Théâtre-Italien () are French names which have been used to refer to Italian-language theatre and opera when performed in France. The earliest recorded visits by Italian players were ''commedia dell'arte'' companies ...

on 4 December 1765 and given over 100 times in the following years, popularizing medieval settings for other operas such as André Grétry's '' Aucassin et Nicolette'' (1779) and '' Richard Coeur-de-lion'' (1784). The opera was revived at the Opéra Comique for 8 performances from 12–20 April 1991 by Les Arts Florissants ensemble under the baton of

Christophe Rousset Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conducting, conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on Authentic performance, period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and ...

and with Monique Zanetti in the title role.Les Arts Florissants 1991
/ref> and preceded by ''La répétition interrompue'', also by Favart. The production toured Caen, Montpellier, Colmar, Mulhouse, and Strasbourg in February 1994.

Roles and role creators

*The Fairy Urgèle (

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

), Marie-Thérèse Laruette *Marton (soprano), Marie-Thérèse Laruette *Robinette (soprano), Marie Favart *Thérèse (soprano), Marie Favart *An old woman (soprano), Marie Favart *Robert, ''a knight'' (

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

), Clairval (Jean-Baptiste Guignard) *La Hire, Robert's squire (''

basse-taille ''Basse-taille'' (bahss-tah-ee) is an enamelling technique in which the artist creates a low-relief pattern in metal, usually silver or gold, by engraving or chasing. The entire pattern is created in such a way that its highest point is lower th ...

''), Joseph Caillot *Queen Berthe (soprano), Eulalie Desglands *Denise (spoken), Catherine Foulquier, 'Catinon' *The Lady-Attorney General of the Court of Love (spoken), Mlle Catinon *Old Lady-Councillors of the Court of Love (spoken ?), Gabriel-Éléonor-Hervé Dubus de Champville, 'Soli', and Antoine-Étienne Balletti ( travesti) *The usherette (?), Mlle Léonore *Philinte, shepherd (tenor), M. Lobreau *Licidas, another shepherd (tenor), Nicolas Beaupré *Lisette, shepherdess (soprano), Mlle Adélaïde *The chief huntsman (spoken ?),

Synopsis

Robert is a knight imprisoned in a 7th-century French court controlled by women. He must answer the question: what gives the most pleasure to women? He is obliged to agree to marry an old woman who is then transformed into the beautiful Marton.

Sources

*Original libretto
''La fée Urgele, ou Ce qui plait aux dames, Comédie en quatre actes mêlée d'ariettes''
Paris, Veuve Duchesne, 1766. Via

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

* Antoine de Léris, ''Dictionnaire portatif historique et littéraire des théatres, ...'' (2nd edition, revised, corrected and considerably augmented), Paris, Jombert, 1763. * *Cook, Elisabeth (1992), "Fee Urgèle, La" in ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...

'', ed.

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...

(London)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fee Urgele, La Operas by Egidio Duni Comédies mêlées d'ariettes Opéras comiques French-language operas Operas 1765 operas Operas based on works by Voltaire Works based on The Canterbury Tales Operas based on works by Geoffrey Chaucer