Nina (Dalayrac)
Nina | |
---|---|
Benoît-Joseph Marsollier des Vivetières | |
Language | French |
Based on | Short story by Baculard d'Arnaud |
Premiere | 15 May 1786 , Paris |
Nina, ou La folle par amour (Nina, or The Woman Crazed with Love) is an
Background and performance history
Nina was Dalayrac's first collaboration with Marsollier des Vivetières, who would go on to write many more librettos for him, including
Its most famous aria, "Quand le bien-aimé reviendra" ("When my sweetheart returns to me"), is mentioned by Hector Berlioz in his Memoirs as his "first musical experience" (he heard an adaptation of the melody sung during his First Communion).[5][6]
In 1813 Dalayrac's score for Nina was adapted as a ballet by Louis Milon and Louis-Luc Loiseau de Persuis with Émilie Bigottini in the title role. In the ballet version, "Quand le bien-aimé reviendra" is played as a solo for cor anglais. It was at one of the early performances of this ballet that Berlioz remembered the melody he had heard in his childhood.[5]
Giovanni Paisiello had also set the libretto in an Italian version adapted by Giambattista Lorenzi. Paisiello's Nina, which premiered in 1789 is still performed today, while Dalayrac's has fallen into obscurity.
Roles
Cast[7] | Voice type | Premiere, 15 May 1786 |
---|---|---|
Nina, the Count's daughter, having lost her mind some months beforehand | soprano | Louise Dugazon |
The Count, her father | taille (baritenor)[8] | Philippe Cauvy, called 'M. Philippe' |
Georges, the Count's foster-father | basse-taille (bass-baritone) | Pierre-Marie Narbonne[9] |
Elise, Nina's confidante and housekeeper | soprano | Mme Gonthier (née Françoise Carpentier) |
Germeuil, Nina's sweetheart, believed dead | taille[8] | Louis Michu |
Mathurine, a peasant woman | soprano | Mme La Caille (also spelled Lacaille) |
Peasant girls | sopranos | Rosalie de Saint-Évreux ('Mlle Rosalie'), Mlle Méliancourt, Mlle Lefevre, Mlle Renaud 'Cadette' (the younger),[10] Mlle Chevalier |
Peasants, old men, youth |
Synopsis
Nina is in love with Germeuil but her father, Count Lindoro, favours another suitor. Germeuil and his rival fight a duel. Nina believes that Germeuil has been killed and goes mad, forgetting aspects of the traumatic incident in a manner consistent with a diagnosis of
Recordings
Although there are no full-length recordings of Nina, its most famous aria, "Quand le bien-aimé reviendra", can be heard on Serate Musicali (Joan Sutherland (soprano), Richard Bonynge (piano), Decca, 2006)
In popular culture
The opera is referenced by name and synopsis in Episode 5, Season 4 of the science fiction series
References
- ^ Wild & Charlton 2005, pp. 340–341.
- ^ Loewenberg (1943), Annals of Opera
- ^ Bampton Classical Opera (1999). It was also performed in Russia in french in 1780s (on the scenes of the private theatres of S.-Petersbourg and Moscow) and in 1797 in translation on the scenes of the Gatchina and Petersbourg Imperial theatres.Programme Notes for Giovanni Paisiello: Nina
- ^ Castelvecchi, Stefano (1996)."From "Nina" to "Nina": Psychodrama, Absorption and Sentiment in the 1780s". Cambridge Opera Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2 (July 1996), pp. 91-112 (subscription required)
- ^ ISBN 0-486-21563-6
- ISBN 0-7546-5392-7
- ^ Cast list from the original libretto, excepting the performer of the Count, whose name has been drawn from this subsequent libretto: Nina, Ou La Folle Par Amour : Comédie En Un Acte, En Prose, Mêlée D'Ariettes , Paris, Peytieux, 1789 (accessible for free online at Bayerischen StaatsBibliothek digital).
- ^ a b According to David Charlton the roles of the Count and Germeuil are baritone parts. In fact, both are notated in the tenor clef in the original printed score.
- Académie Royale de Musique, where Narbonne began his career (L'Académie Royale de Musique au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Berger-Levrault, 1884, II, p. 193). The name 'Louis' is given instead by Georges de Froidcourt in his collection of Grétry's correspondence (La correspondance générale de Grétry, Bruxelles, Brepols, 1962, p. 145, footnote 8).
- ^ There were another two sisters Renaud, Rose, called 'l'Ainée' (the elder), and Sophie, called 'la jeune' (the youngest), acting at the Comédie Italienne towards the end of the eighties (Campardon, article Renaud (Mlles), II, pp. 78-82).
- Sources
- Original libretto: Nina, ou la Folle par amour, Comédie en un acte, en prose, mêlée d'ariettes, Paris, Brunet, 1786 (accessible for free online as a Google ebook-gratis)
- Original printed score: Nina, ou la Folle par amour, Comédie en un acte, en prose, Paris, Le Duc, s.d. (accessible for free on-line at Internet Archives)
- The Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)
- Campardon, Émile (ed), Les Comédiens du roi de la troupe italienne pendant les deux derniers siècles: documents inédits recueillis aux Archives Nationales, Paris, Berger-Levrault, 1880 (accessible for free online at Internet Archive: Volume I (A-L); Volume II (M-Z))
- Charlton, David (1992), 'Nina, ou La folle par amour' in The ISBN 0-333-73432-7
- Wild, Nicole; Charlton, David (2005). Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique Paris: répertoire 1762-1972. Sprimont, Belgium: Editions Mardaga. ISBN 9782870098981.
External links
- Libretto in the original French.