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La muette de Portici
Grand opera by Daniel Auber
Anna Pavlova in the mute title role
Librettist	Germain Delavigne Eugène Scribe
Language	French
Premiere	29 February 1828 (1828-02-29) Salle Le Peletier, Paris

La muette de Portici (The Mute Girl of Portici, or The Dumb Girl of Portici), also called Masaniello (Italian pronunciation: [mazaˈnjɛllo]) in some versions, is an opera in five acts by Daniel Auber, with a libretto by Germain Delavigne, revised by Eugène Scribe.

The work has an important place in music history as the earliest French grand opera. It is also known for its alleged role in the Belgian Revolution of 1830.

Background

The opera was first given at the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opéra on 29 February 1828. The role of Masaniello was taken by the famous tenor Adolphe Nourrit and Princess Elvire was sung by Laure Cinti-Damoreau. The dancer Lise Noblet played the mute title role, a part later taken by other dancers such as Marie Taglioni, Fanny Elssler and Pauline Leroux, also the actress Harriet Smithson (the future wife of Hector Berlioz). Alphonse was created by Alexis Dupont, who was Lise Noblet's brother-in-law. The conductor at the premiere was Henri Valentino.

La muette was innovative in several ways. First, it marked the introduction into opera of mime and gesture as an integral part of an opera plot (these aspects were already familiar to Parisian audiences from ballet and mélodrame). Additionally, the historic setting, liberal political implications, use of popular melodies, handling of large orchestra and chorus, and spectacular stage effects immediately marked this opera as different from preceding types, later earning it the title of the first of the genre of "grand opera". The journal Pandore commented after the premiere, "for a long time, enlightened critics have thought that alongside the old tragédie lyrique it was possible to have a more realistic and natural drama which might suit the dignity of this theatre." The new genre was consolidated by Rossini's Guillaume Tell (1829) and Meyerbeer's Robert le diable (1831).

Richard Wagner remarked, in his 1871 Reminiscences of Auber, that the opera "whose very representation had brought about, was recognised as an obvious precursor of the July Revolution, and seldom has an artistic product stood in closer connection with a world-event." La muette was revived in Paris immediately after the French July Revolution of 1830.

Belgian revolution

The opera was chosen for a performance at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels on 25 August 1830, as part of King William I's festival in celebration of the 15th year of his reign. The opera would cap the three-day festival of fireworks, feasts, and processions. William I had been present at the Brussels premiere of the opera in 1829, and it enjoyed several successful performances in the city. When nationalist disturbances occurred during a performance around the time of the July Revolution in Paris, the opera was temporarily banned. The ban was lifted for the 25 August performance.

The king's festival announcement was met with open plans for revolt. Posters were put up around Brussels that advertised, "Monday, the 23rd, fireworks; Tuesday, the 24th, illuminations; Wednesday, the 25th, revolution." However, the king's only concession to public safety was to cancel the fireworks and procession on the final night, which left Auber's opera as the last public event in the king's honor. Though the subject of the opera is revolution, its role in the riots may have been more a marriage of convenience because the rebels had pre-ordained the final day of the festival as the start of the Belgian Revolution.

Prior to the performance of Auber's opera, the Courrier des Pays-Bas [fr] newspaper issued a coded call for attendees to leave prior to the fifth act. There are some disagreements about when in the opera the exodus actually began, but the most commonly cited moment is the second act duet "Amour sacré de la patrie". One contemporary account describes what happened in the theater during the duet:

When Lafeuillade and Cassel began singing the celebrated duet. "Amour sacre de la patrie" enthusiasm exploded irresistibly and found it necessary to start afresh in the midst of the cheering. Finally, when Masaniello (Lafeuillade) launched into his entreaty, the invocation Aux armes!, the public could no longer be restrained. They acclaimed aria and actor, they booed the fifth act in order to stop the performance, and the delirious crowd out of the hall—into history. Welcomed by the other crowd which waited outside, it joined in the demonstrations which loosed the revolution of 1830.

Roles

Synopsis

The opera is loosely based on the historical uprising of Masaniello against Spanish rule in Naples in 1647. The character of Fenella, the opera's eponymous heroine, was borrowed from Walter Scott's Peveril of the Peak, which features a deaf and dumb dwarf of the same name.

Act 1

The square before a chapel

We witness the wedding of Alfonso, son of the Viceroy of Naples, with the Spanish Princess, Elvire. Alfonso, who has seduced and abandoned the mute Fenella, sister to the Neapolitan Masaniello, is tormented by doubts and remorse, fearing she has committed suicide. During the festival Fenella rushes in asking Elvire protection from Alfonso's father, who has kept her a prisoner for the past month. She has escaped from her prison and through gesture, narrates the story of her seduction, showing a scarf which Alfonso gave her. Elvire promises to protect her and proceeds to the altar, Fenella vainly trying to follow. In the chapel, Fenella recognizes her seducer as the bridegroom. When the newly married couple come out of the church, Elvire presents Fenella to her husband and Fenella reveals that he was her faithless lover. She flees, leaving Alfonso and Elvire in sorrow and despair.

Act 2

On the beach

The Neapolitan fishermen, brooding over the tyranny of the Viceroy, begin to organize an uprising. Pietro, Masaniello's friend, has sought for Fenella in vain, but eventually she appears and confesses her wrongs. Masaniello is infuriated and swears to have revenge, but Fenella, who still loves Alfonso, does not mention his name. Then Masaniello calls the fishermen to arms and they swear perdition to the enemy of their country.

Act 3

The Naples marketplace

The people's revolt go to and fro, selling and buying, all the while concealing their revolutionary purpose under a show of merriment and carelessness. Selva, the viceroy's body-guard, from whom Fenella had escaped, discovers her and attempts to re-arrest her. This arrest attempt is the signal for the revolution to openly revolt. They do, victoriously.

Act 4

Masaniello's house

Fenella comes to her brother's home and describes the horrors taking place in the town. The news fills his noble soul with sorrow and disgust. When Fenella retires to rest, Pietro enters with comrades and tries to excite Masaniello to further violence, but he only wants liberty and shrinks from murder and cruelties.

They tell him that Alfonso has escaped and that they are resolved to find and kill him. Fenella, who hears all, decides to save her unfaithful lover. At this moment Alfonso arrives at her door and begs for a hiding-place. He enters with Elvire, and Fenella, though at first disposed to avenge herself on her rival, pardons her for Alfonso's sake. Masaniello, reentering, assures Elvire and Alfonso of his protection and even when Pietro denounces Alfonso as the viceroy's son, holds his promise sacred. Pietro with his the other revolutionaries leave filled with rage and hate.

Meanwhile, Masaniello is presented with the royal crown and is proclaimed king of Naples by the magistrate of the city.

Act 5

Before the Viceroy's palace

In a gathering of fishermen, Pietro confides to Moreno that he has administered poison to Masaniello, in order to punish him for his treason, and that the king will soon die. While he speaks, Borella rushes in to tell of fresh soldiers, marching against the people with Alfonso at their head. Knowing that only Masaniello can save them, the fishermen entreat him to take the command of them once more and Masaniello, though deadly ill and half mad, complies. The combat takes place while Vesuvius erupts. Masaniello dies in battle saving Elvire's life. Hearing this terrible news Fanella rushes to the terrace, and leaps to her death, while the fugitive noblemen take again possession of the city.

Influence

La muette de Portici played a major role in establishing the genre of grand opera. Many of its elements – the five-act structure, the obligatory ballet sequence, the use of spectacular stage effects, the focus on romantic passions against a background of historical troubles – would become the standard features of the form for the rest of the 19th century. Grand opera would play a far more important role in the subsequent career of the librettist than that of the composer. Auber went on to write three more works in the genre: Le Dieu et la bayadère (1830), Gustave III (1833) and Le lac des fées (1839). But their fame would be eclipsed by the grand operas for which Scribe provided the libretti: Meyerbeer's Robert le diable (1831) and Les Huguenots (1836) and Halévy's La Juive (1835). Nevertheless, Auber's pioneering work caught the attention of the young Richard Wagner, who was eager to create a new form of music drama. He noted that in La muette, "arias and duets in the wonted sense were scarcely to be detected any more, and certainly, with the exception of a single prima-donna aria in the first act, did not strike one at all as such; in each instance it was the ensemble of the whole act that riveted attention and carried one away...".

This opera is the inspiration for Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poem "Fenella's Escape". published in The Keepsake, 1836.

The material has been used for several films: the American silent film The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916), the German silent film Die Stumme von Portici, the Italian film La muta di Portici (1952).

Recordings and performances

• La muette de Portici: June Anderson, Alfredo Kraus, John Aler, Ensemble Choral Jean Laforge, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, conducted by Thomas Fulton, recorded in September 1986 at the Salle Garnier in Monte Carlo (EMI). OCLC 605508655. 2 Hours 29 Mins.
• La muette de Portici Oscar de la Torre (tenor) – Alphonse, Angelina Ruzzafante (soprano) – Elvire, Angus Wood (tenor) – Lorenzo, Ulf Paulsen (baritone) – Selva, Anne Weinkauf (mezzo) – Eine Holdame, Diego Torre (tenor) – Masaniello, Wiard Witholt (bass) – Pietro, Kostadin Arguirov (baritone) – Borella, Stephan Biener (bass) – Moreno; Opernchor des Anhaltischen Theaters, Anhaltische Philharmonie [de]/Anthony Hermus; recorded 24–26 May 2011, Großes Haus of the Anhaltisches Theater, Dessau, Germany CPO 777 694-2

References

Notes

1. Tamvaco 2000, p. 1273. For example, Covent Garden performed it in English as Masaniello; or, The Dumb Girl of Portici on 4 May 1829 (Loewenberg 1978, column 712) and in Italian as Masaniello on 10 March 1849 (Tamvaco 2000, p. 957). It was given the title Mazaniello on certain repetitions at the Paris Opéra (Lajarte 1878, p. 129).
2. ^ Schneider 1992.
3. ^ Pougin 1880, pp. 597–598; Chouquet 1889, p. 214; Tamvaco 2000, pp. 87, 619; Cooper & Ellis 2001. Other sources credit François Habeneck as the conductor: Parouty; Wolff 1962, p. 152; Casaglia
4. Hibberd 2003, p. 154.
5. Hibberd 2003, p. 150.
6. Wagner, Richard. "Reminiscences of Auber", in Richard Wagner's Prose Works, Volume V: Actors and Singers. Translated by William Ashton Ellis. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1896. 53.
7. Slatin 1979, p. 47.
8. Mallinson 1970, p. 54.
9. Slatin 1979, p. 60.
10. Slatin 1979, p. 50.
11. Slatin 1979, pp. 53–54.
12. Renieu, Lionel (1928). Histoire des théâtres de Bruxelles depuis leur origine jusqu'à ce jour. France: Duchartre & Van Buggenhoudt. 744–5.
13. Scribe 1875, p. 26.
14. Auber 1828 ("Personnages").
15. Kutsch & Riemens 2002, p. 3763; Tamvaco 2000, p. 87. Tamvaco gives the full name of this singer as Antoine-Nicolas-Thérèse Prévost in the index (p. 1287).
16. Tamvaco 2000, p. 87, lists Pouilley in the bass role of Moreno. In his index on p. 1286, Tamvaco gives this singer's full name as Charles-Louis Pouilley but classifies him as a tenor. Gourret 1982, p. 60, confirms that the singer Pouilley was a bass, and also mentions that he joined the company in 1809. Tomvaco also mentions that the company employed a soprano, Mme Pouilley, who was his wife. Casaglia in the Amadeus Almanac lists this singer as Beltrame Pouilley, possibly an error.
17. Tamvaco 2000, pp. 87, 1270.
18. Daniel-François-Esprit Auber: La Muette de Portici, Edited and Introduced by Robert Ignatius Letellier, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (2011).
19. Charles Annesley (1902) The Standard Operaglass, Low, Marston & Co., Ltd., London
20. Parker, pp. 143–145

Sources

• Auber, Daniel (1828). La muette de Portici, full score. Paris: E. Troupenas. OCLC 21809057. Copy at Gallica.
• Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "La muette de Portici, 29 February 1828". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
• Chouquet, Gustave (1889). "Valentino, Henri Justin Armand Joseph". A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (4 volumes). Vol. 4. London: Macmillan.
• Cooper, Jeffrey; Ellis, Katharine (2001). "Valentino, Henri Justin Armand Joseph". In Stanley Sadie (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (hardcover) (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 9781561592395. OCLC 419285866.
• Gourret, Jean (1982). Dictionnaire des chanteurs de l'Opéra de Paris. Paris: Albatros. OCLC 10018314.
• Hibberd, Sarah (2003). "La Muette and her context". In David Charlton (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Kutsch, Karl-Josef; Riemens, Leo (2002). Großes Sängerlexikon (in German) (fourth ed.). Munich: K. G. Saur. ISBN 9783598115981.
• Lajarte, Théodore de (1878). Bibliothèque musicale du Théâtre de l'Opéra. Vol. 2 . Paris: Librairie des Bibliophiles..
• Loewenberg, Alfred (1978). Annals of Opera 1597–1940 (third, revised ed.). Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 9780874718515.
• Mallinson, Vernon (1970). Belgium. Praeger.
• Parouty, Michel. Fulton recording (Media notes).
• Pougin, Arthur (1880). "Valentino (Henri-Justin-Joseph)". Biographie universelle des musiciens et Bibliographie générale de la musique par F.-J. Fétis (Supplément et complément). Vol. 2. Paris: Firmin-Didot.
• Schneider, Herbert (1992). "Muette de Portici, La". In Stanley Sadie (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Vol. 3. London. pp. 505–507. ISBN 0-333-73432-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Scribe, Eugène (1875). Oeuvres complètes: Operas, Ballets. Paris: E. Dentu. Copy at HathiTrust; copy at Google Books.
• Slatin, Sonia (1979). "Opera and Revolution: La Muette de Portici and the Belgian Revolution of 1830 Revisited". Journal of Musicological Research. 3 (3): 45–62. doi:10.1080/01411897908574506.
• Tamvaco, Jean-Louis (2000). Les Cancans de l'Opéra. Chroniques de l'Académie Royale de Musique et du théâtre, à Paris sous les deux restorations (2 volumes) (in French). Paris: CNRS Editions. ISBN 978-2-271-05685-6.
• Wolff, Stéphane (1962; reprint 1983). L'Opéra au Palais Garnier (1875–1962). Paris: Deposé au journal L'Entr'acte OCLC 7068320, 460748195. Paris: Slatkine (1983) ISBN 9782050002142.

Further reading

• Macdonald, Hugh (2001). "Daniel Auber". In Amanda Holden (ed.). The New Penguin Opera Guide. New York: Penguin Putnam. pp. 24–26. ISBN 0-14-029312-4.
• Mondelli, Peter (2013). "The Sociability of History in French Grand Opera: A Historical Materialist Perspective", in 19th Century Music vol. 37, no. 1.
• Parker, Roger, The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, Oxford University Press, 1994
• Renieu, Lionel, L'Histoire des Théâtres de Bruxelles: depuis leur origine jusqu'à ce jour, Duchartre & Van Buggenhoudt, 1928.
• Warrack, John and West, Ewan, The Oxford Dictionary of Opera New York: Oxford University Press: 1992 ISBN 0-19-869164-5

External links

• La muette de Portici: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• The Standard Opera Glass Synopsis
• La muette de Portici, French libretto (Brussels, 1833) at Google Books
• Masaniello, ovvero, La muta di Portici, Italian libretto (Palermo, 1860) at Google Books
• Masaniello, English and Italian libretto (Boston, 1865) at Google Books
• The Escape of Fenella., a painting by Alfred Edward Chalon of a scene from the opera, engraved by J. C. Edwards for The Keepsake annual, 1836, combined with a poetical illustration (Fenella’s Escape) by Letitia Elizabeth Landon.

• Grand operas
• French-language operas
• Operas by Daniel Auber
• 1828 operas
• Opera world premieres at the Paris Opera
• Operas set in Naples
• Operas set in the 17th century
• Operas
• Libretti by Germain Delavigne
• Libretti by Eugène Scribe
• Art works that caused riots
• Opera controversies
• Operas adapted into films