''Le timbre d'argent'' (, ''The Silver Bell'') is an in four acts by composer

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

to a 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 ...

Jules Barbier Paul Jules Barbier (; 8 March 182516 January 1901) was a French poet, writer and opera librettist who often wrote in collaboration with Michel Carré.

and Michel Carré. Although completed in 1865, the

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

did not receive its premiere performance until 23 February 1877, when it was presented by Albert Vizentini's Théâtre National Lyrique at the Théâtre de la Gaîté in Paris.Saint-Saëns 1877, p. 3; Boston Public Library 1916
p. 339
Langham-Smith 1992, p. 874; Harding 1980, p. 202. It includes the well-known aria "Le bonheur est chose légère".

History

''Le timbre d'argent'' is the first opera that Saint-Saëns composed. The opera was commissioned by the

Théâtre Lyrique The Théâtre Lyrique () was one of four opera companies performing in Paris during the middle of the 19th century (the other three being the Paris Opera, Opéra, the Opéra-Comique, and the Théâtre-Italien (1801–1878), Théâtre-Italien). ...

and he began composing the music for it in 1864, finishing in 1865. The work's premiere was delayed, first by the financial difficulties of the opera house and then later by the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

. Over the next 12 years Saint-Saëns recomposed the dialogue to form a

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

version, but Albert Vizentini and his Théâtre National Lyrique, who finally staged it, decided to use the original 1865 rendition for the opera's premiere in 1877. The grand opera version was first performed in 1913. Hugh Macdonald: "''Le timbre d'argent''", ''

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 t ...

'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed February 28, 2009),

Roles

Synopsis

Conrad, an artist, has an unhealthy obsession for gold, and is further engrossed by his own painting of

Circe In Greek mythology, Circe (; ) is an enchantress, sometimes considered a goddess or a nymph. In most accounts, Circe is described as the daughter of the sun god Helios and the Oceanid Perse (mythology), Perse. Circe was renowned for her vast kn ...

, embodied in the living world by Fiametta, a ballerina. Conrad is given a silver bell by Dr Spiridion: when he strikes the bell he will receive all the gold he craves for, but at the cost of someone's death. The opera concludes with the realization that all of the events have only occurred within Conrad's own fevered mind.

Textual and musical analysis

The librettists for ''Le timbre d'argent'' also notably penned the librettos for

Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

's ''

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

'' and Offenbach's ''

Les contes d'Hoffmann ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in ...

'', and Saint-Saëns's opera serves as a "significant link" between these two. All three of these operas explore the hero's reliance on a menacing older man imposed by a diabolic pact. The character of Conrad is similar in many ways to that of Hoffman in Offenbach's opera, and the villainous character of Dr. Spiridion correspond well to Offenbach's villains (Lindorf, Coppélius, Dapertutto, and Dr Miracle). While the music of ''Le timbre d'argent'' is both "versatile and fluent", the drama at times poses difficulties, especially the mimed part of Fiametta and the somewhat weak revelation of truth at the opera's end. However, there are several effectively bold scenes such as a theatre viewed from the back of the stage and a number of imaginative transformations. A number of the positive aspects of this opera undoubtedly influenced Offenbach's ''Les contes d'Hoffmann'', as his first focused efforts on composing ''Hoffman'' took place during the first 18 performances of ''Le timbre d'argent'' in 1877.

Recordings

''Le Timbre d'argent'' (in the version without cuts for La Monnaie, 1914), was revived at the

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 ...

Salle Favart The Salle Favart (), officially the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique (), is a Paris opera house and theatre, the current home of the Opéra-Comique. It was built from 1893 to 1898 in a neo-Baroque style to the designs of the French architect Louis ...

in June 2017 by

Les Siècles Les Siècles is a French symphony orchestra founded in 2003 by François-Xavier Roth, with ambition to put works from the 17th to 21st centuries into today's perspective. The musicians of the orchestra play each repertoire on the historical instru ...

orchestra, Accentus choir, conducted by

François-Xavier Roth François-Xavier Paul Roth (born 6 November 1971) is a French conductor. Biography Roth is the son of the organist Daniel Roth—the two share the same first name. His brother Vincent is a violist. Before turning to conducting, he was a flauti ...

and was recorded with the support of the

Centre de musique romantique française The Centre de musique romantique française ("centre for French Romantic music") is a French-administered cultural institution, research centre and concert hall, in Venice, in north-eastern Italy. It is housed in the Palazzetto Bru Zane, an annex t ...

References

Notes Sources * Boston Public Library, Trustees of the, publisher (1916). ''Catalogue of the Allen A. Brown Collection of Music'' (volume 4 supplement)
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 that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

. * Harding, James (1980). ''Jacques Offenbach: A Biography''. London: John Calder. New York: Riverrun Press. . * Langham-Smith, Richard (1992). "Paris. 5. 1870–1902. (iv) Other companies" in Sadie 1992, vol. 3, pp. 874, 879. * Sadie, Stanley, editor (1992). ''

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 ...

'' (4 volumes). London: Macmillan. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Timbre dargent, Le Operas by Camille Saint-Saëns French-language operas 1865 operas Operas Opera world premieres at the Théâtre Lyrique Libretti by Jules Barbier Libretti by Michel Carré