Le duc de Guise (full title Le duc de Guise, ou Les ėtats de Blois (The Duke of Guise, or The Council of Blois)) is an opéra comique in three acts by George Onslow, to a libretto by François-Antoine-Eugène de Planard and Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, based on a play from 1809 of the same name by François Just Marie Raynouard. The opera received its premiere on 8 September 1837 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.[1]

The opera, which centres on the assassination of the Duc de Guise in 1588, was the third and last of Onslow's operas to be produced. The text and music were well received by the audience, but Gérard de Nerval complained in a review that they had not offered Jenny Colon the opportunity to display her talents.[2]

Onslow made an arrangement of extracts of the opera for string quartet (his Op. 60).[3][4]

Roles

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Role Voice type Premiere cast,[5]
8 September 1837
Henri III tenor Théodore-François Moreau-Santi
Henri, duc de Guise tenor Jean-Baptiste Chollet
Larchant, an officer of the King bass François-Louis Henry
Loignac, a Gascon tenor Paul-Jean Fargueil
Péricart, porter of the castle of Blois tenor Joseph-Antoine-Charles Couderc
Saint-Pol, one of Guise's officers Victor
Cathérine de Médicis Mme. Boulanger
La marquise de Sauve. mistress of the duc de Guise Mme. Prévost
Paulette, a milkmaid soprano Jenny Colon [fr]
Courtiers, bourgeois, soldiers, members of the council.

References

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Notes

  1. ^ Tamvaco (2000), pp. 735-6.
  2. ^ Tamvaco (2000), p. 736.
  3. ^ Le Salon Romantique website, accessed 5 October 2014.
  4. ^ Le duc de Guise (in French)
  5. ^ Tamvaco (2000), p. 736; le Planard (1838), p. 4

Sources

  • De Planard and Saint-Georges (1838). Guise, ou Les états de Blois: drame lyrique en trois actes , Brussels: J-A Lelong. Accessed on Google Books 6 October 2014.
  • Tamvaco, Jean-Louis (ed.) (2000). Les cancans de l'opėra. 2 vols. Paris: CNRS Editions. ISBN 9782271057426