Esclarmonde
| Esclarmonde | |
|---|---|
| opéra romanesque by Jules Massenet | |
Original poster for the premiere
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| Librettist | |
| Language | French |
| Based on | medieval chivalric tale Parthénopéus de Blois |
| Premiere | 15 May 1889 Théâtre Lyrique, Paris |
Esclarmonde (French pronunciation: [ɛsklaʁmɔ̃d]) is an opéra (French: opéra romanesque) 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 on 15 May 1889 by the Opéra-Comique at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Place du Châtelet in Paris with American soprano Sibyl Sanderson in the title role in her professional debut. The original costumes were by Charles Bianchini, the sets by Antoine Lavastre and Eugène Carpezat, and Amable and Eugène Gardy.
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 is French to the core. 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 stratospheric coloratura passages that are possible for only the most gifted of performers.
The story of the opera is based on the medieval chivalric tale Parthénopéus de Blois, which was written in the middle of the 12th century by Denis Pyramus. In the original tale, however, the protagonist sorceress is called "Melior"; Esclarmonde's name was borrowed from another chanson de geste of the 13th century: Huon de Bordeaux. Although the Esclarmonde who appears in Huon is completely different from her operatic counterpart, Huon clearly served as the basis of at least part of the opera's libretto. Alfred Blau discovered Parthénopéus in 1871 in the library of Blois, where he took refuge during the time of the Paris Commune. The libretto was originally called Pertinax; it was first drafted in prose and later versified by Blau's collaborator, Louis de Gramont. In that form – a romantic melodrama in five acts – it was offered in 1882 to the Belgian composer François-Auguste Gevaert, who, however, declined to set it. Soon the libretto found its way into Massenet's hands, though the precise circumstances in which this occurred remain a mystery.
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