Esclarmonde
Sign in to saveEsclarmonde () is an opéra () in four acts and eight tableaux, with prologue and epilogue, by Jules Massenet, to a French libretto by Alfred Blau and Louis Ferdinand de Gramont. It was first performed at the Exposition Universelle on 15 May 1889 by the Opéra-Comique at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Place du Châtelet in Paris.
Key facts
- Opera.name
- Esclarmonde
- Opera.composer
- Jules Massenet
- Opera.image
- Esclarmonde.jpg
- Opera.image_upright
- 1.3
- Opera.caption
- Original poster for the premiere
- Opera.type
- opéra romanesque
- Opera.language
- French
- Opera.based_on
- medieval chivalric tale Parthénopéus de Blois
- Opera.premiere_location
- Théâtre Lyrique, Paris
via Wikipedia infobox
~20 min read
Encyclopedic overview
9 sectionsContents
- Background
- Performance history
- Roles
- Synopsis
- Recordings
- Instrumentation
- Notes
- References
- External links
Esclarmonde () is an opéra () in four acts and eight tableaux, with prologue and epilogue, by Jules Massenet, to a French libretto by Alfred Blau and Louis Ferdinand de Gramont. It was first performed at the Exposition Universelle on 15 May 1889 by the Opéra-Comique at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Place du Châtelet in Paris.
Esclarmonde is perhaps Massenet's most ambitious work for the stage and is his most Wagnerian in style and scope. In orchestral coloring and structure of melody, however, it follows French traditions. The opera has been revived sporadically in the modern era, most notably during the 1970s with Joan Sutherland, conducted by Massenet champion Richard Bonynge. The role of Esclarmonde is notoriously difficult to sing, with challenging stratospheric coloratura passages.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Esclarmonde” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.