Proserpine (Paisiello)
Proserpine is a French-language
Background
Paisiello was the favourite composer of
Paisiello arrived in Paris in 1802. Here the Opéra proposed he should write a setting of Guillard's reworking of Proserpine, a libretto by Philippe Quinault originally set by
Performance history
Napoleon and the Opéra management admired Paisiello's score but it was not a success with the Parisian public. In writing the opera, Paisiello was hampered by his unfamiliarity with the French language and he found it hard to adapt his own style to the conventions of the tragédie lyrique. Proserpine was withdrawn from the Opéra stage after its 13th performance (on 6 December 1803) and was never revived there.[5] Paisiello never wrote another French-language opera and in 1804 he returned to Italy.[6]
Some time between 1806 and 1808, Paisiello asked Giuseppe Sanseverino to translate the libretto into Italian, but this version remained unperformed until 1988 when it was staged at Bagni di Lucca as part of the Marlia International Festival.[7] The original French version was revived at the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca in 2003.[8] A live recording was issued the following year.[9]
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 28 March 1803[10] |
|---|---|---|
| Pluton (Pluto) | baritone | François Lays |
| Ascalaphe (Ascalaphus) | tenor | M Laforêt |
| Proserpine | soprano | Alexandrine-Caroline Branchu |
| Cérès (Ceres) | soprano | Anne-Aimée Armand |
Jupiter
|
basse-taille (bass-baritone) | Jean-Honoré Bertin |
| Cyané | soprano | Mlle Chollet |
| Furies | 2 tenors and a basse-taille | MM. Lefebvre, Martin and Picard[11] |
| Judges of the Underworld | 2 tenors and a basse-taille | M Bonnet, Casimir Éloy and Nicolas Roland |
| A blessed spirit | soprano | |
| A nymph | soprano |
Plot
 | This article needs a plot summary. (May 2022) |
Recording
- Proserpine Sara Allegretta (Proserpine), Piero Guarnera (Pluton), Maria Laura Martorana (Cérès), Bratislava Chamber Choir, Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia, conducted by Giuliano Carella (Dynamic, 2004)
References
- ^ Blanchetti, pp. 1055-1056
- ^ Pierre Serié, pp. 74-76
- ^ Serié, p. 76
- ^ Blanchetti, pp. 1055-1056
- ^ Pitou, p.450
- ^ Blanchetti, pp. 1055-1056
- ^ Blanchetti, pp. 1055-1056
- ^ Corriere della sera, 26 July 2003
- ^ For details see the "Recording" section.
- ^ According to Pitou, p. 451.
- ^ Members of the choir, respectively as an haute-contre, a taille (baritenor) and a basse-taille.
Sources
- (in Italian) Francesco Blanchetti, Proserpine, in Piero Gelli and Filippo Poletti (editors), Dizionario dell'Opera 2008 (new edition), Milan, Baldini Castoldi Dalai, 2007, pp. 1055-1056, )
- Spire Pitou, The Paris Opéra. An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers – Rococo and Romantic, 1715-1815, Westport/London, Greenwood Press, 1985. ISBN 0-313-24394-8
- Essay by Pierre Serié in the book accompanying ISBN 978-84-939-6860-1
