Adèle de Ponthieu is a French-language opera by the composer Niccolò Piccinni, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique, Paris (the Paris Opera) on 27 October 1781, to inaugurate the new venue of the theatre near the Saint-Martin gate.[1] It takes the form of a tragédie lyrique in three acts. The libretto, by Jean-Paul-André Razins de Saint-Marc, had been previously set by the composers Jean-Benjamin de La Borde and Pierre Montan Berton in 1772.
| Adèle de Ponthieu | |
|---|---|
| Tragédie lyrique by Niccolò Piccinni | |
 Niccolò Piccinni, engraving by Hippolyte Pauquet | |
| Librettist | Jean-Paul-André Razins de Saint-Marc |
| Language | French |
| Premiere | 27 October 1781 |
Roles
edit| Cast | Voice type | Premiere, 27 October 1781[2] |
|---|---|---|
| Guillaume III, Count of Ponthieu | basse-taille (bass-baritone) | Henri Larrivée |
| Adèle, the Count's daughter | soprano | Marie-Joséphine Laguerre |
| Alphonse of Est, an Italian knight | bass-baritone | Moreau |
| Raimond de Mayenne, a relative of the Count and a humble squire | haute-contre | Joseph Legros |
| Gérard d'Alsace, an old Knight, judge of the camp | bass-baritone | Auguste-Athanase (Augustin) Chéron |
| Enguerrand de Couci, another old Knight, judge of the camp | haute-contre | Cavalies (or Cavalier) |
| Renaud de Sarcus, another old Knight, judge of the camp | baritone | Louis-Claude-Armand Chardin ("Chardiny") |
| A lady of the court/a troubadour | soprano | Anne-Marie Jeanne Gavaudan, l'ainée (the Elder) |
| Ladies of the court | sopranos | Gertrude Girardin, Thaunat, Rosalie, Ancé |
| Chorus: The court of the Count, knights, squires, pages, king of arms, heralds, officers of the joust, fiddlers, jongleurs, youths and girls, people | ||
References
edit- ^ Pitou, Spire (1985). The Paris Opéra. An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers – Rococo and Romantic, 1715-1815. Westport/London: Greenwood Press. p. 9. ISBN 0-313-24394-8.
- ^ 1782 libretto: Adele de Ponthieu, Tragédie-lyrique en trois actes, Remise en Musique par M. Piccini, Paris, Michel, 1782 (copy at Warwick Digital Library)
Further reading
edit- Dictionnaire des Opéras by Félix Clément and Pierre Larousse, p. 6 (in French)
