Le songe d'une nuit d'été
| Le songe d'une nuit d'été | |
|---|---|
| Opéra comique by Ambroise Thomas | |
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| Librettist | |
| Language | French |
| Premiere | 20 April 1850 Opéra-Comique, Paris |
Le songe d'une nuit d'été (A Midsummer Night's Dream) is an opéra-comique in three acts composed by Ambroise Thomas to a French libretto by Joseph-Bernard Rosier and Adolphe de Leuven. Although it shares the French title for Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, its plot is not based on the play. Shakespeare himself is a character in the opera as are Elizabeth I and Falstaff.
The opera was premiered on 20 April 1850 by the Opéra-Comique at the second Salle Favart in Paris. The role of Elizabeth was intended for Delphine Ugalde, who was too ill to sing at the premiere but later took over the part. English commentators often find certain aspects of the plot in questionable taste, however, the opera was very successful in France. It was revived at the Opéra-Comique on 22 September 1859 and again during the International Exposition of 1867 with Marie Cabel, Victor Capoul, Léon Achard, and Pierre Gailhard in the cast.
A revised version was mounted on 17 April 1886 with Adèle Isaac as the Queen. According to The New York Times reviewer in Paris, she acted "with rare discretion and dignity, and the wide scope of the register taxed by the composer is wonderfully served by her natural voice, in which the low tones are as full and reliable as the upper notes are easy, sweet, and flutelike. Her perfect vocalization permits the wildest flights into the most elevated realm of stacatti and trill, while the many dramatic recitatives are just as well served by her sure instinct and by the homogeneous quality and range of her registers. From the beginning to the end, even in the taxation of the cadenze of the second act, her full, rich tones were as sure, as melodious, as velvety, and as flexible as if she were not accomplishing almost impossible feats of execution." The cast also included Victor Maurel as Shakespeare and the baritone Émile-Alexandre Taskin as "the stout, ponderous … Falstaff, and the extension of his voice permits him to give full value to the part originally written for a bass."
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