''Le maître de chapelle, ou Le souper imprévu'' (''The Chapelmaster, or The Unexpected Supper'') 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 ...

in two acts by the Italian composer

Ferdinando Paer Ferdinando Paer (1 June 1771 – 3 May 1839) was an Italian composer known for his operas. He was of Austrian descent and used the German spelling Pär in application for printing in Venice, and later in France the spelling Paër. Life He was bor ...

. The French

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 Sophie Gay, is based on ''Le souper imprévu, ou Le chanoine de Milan'' by Alexandre Duval (1796). ''Le maître de chapelle'' was premiered by the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris on 29 March 1821 with the famous

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

Jean-Blaise Martin as Barnabé. By 1900 the work had been performed by the Opéra-Comique over 430 times.Wolff S. ''Un demi-siècle d'Opéra-Comique (1900-1950).'' André Bonne, Paris, 1953. It was given at the Royal Opera in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 13 June 1845, and at the Théâtre d'Orléans,

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

on 21 November 1848. It became Paer's most popular work, albeit usually performed in an abridged version of only the first act.

Roles

Synopsis

1797, near

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. The chapelmaster Barnabé has composed an opera entitled ''Cléopâtre'' which he hopes will be staged in Milan, however he is worried that someone in the invading French army will take it away from him.

Recordings

Paer: ''Le maître de chapelle '' - ORTF Chamber Orchestra *Conductor: Jean-Paul Kreder *Principal singers: Jean-Christophe Benoît (Barnabé),

Mady Mesplé Mady Mesplé (7 March 1931 – 30 May 2020) was a French opera singer who was considered the leading coloratura soprano of her generation in France, and sometimes heralded as the successor to Mado Robin, with ''Lakmé'' by Delibes becoming her si ...

(Coelénie), Isabel Garcisanz (Gertrude), Michel Sénéchal (Benetto), Pierre Pégaud (Firmin), Yves Bisson (Sans Quartier) *Recording date: 1970 *Label: Black Disc - Inedits ORTF - 995 004 (LP)

References

Sources

* *Balthazar, Scott L (1992), 'Maître de chapelle, Le' 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 (London) *Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 782 pages, {{DEFAULTSORT:Maitre De Chapelle, Le Operas by Ferdinando Paer Opéras comiques French-language operas 1821 operas Operas Opera world premieres at the Opéra-Comique Operas set in Italy

Roles

Synopsis

Recordings

See also

References

Sources