Henry VIII (opera)

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Henry VIII
Opera by Camille Saint-Saëns
File:Saint-Saëns-Henry-VIII-1883.jpg
Setting for the premiere, evoking Westminster Hall
Librettist <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Language French
Based on El cisma en Inglaterra
by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Premiere 5 March 1883 (1883-03-05)
Académie Nationale de Musique, Paris

Henry VIII is an opera in four acts by Camille Saint-Saëns, from a libretto by Léonce Détroyat and Armand Silvestre, based on El cisma en Inglaterra (The Schism in England) (1627) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca.

The opera covers the period in Henry VIII's life when the king was attempting to divorce Queen Catherine of Aragon in favour of marrying Anne Boleyn, a move rejected by the Church.

Composition history

File:Saint-Saëns (1914) (14771058731).jpg
Fragment of the sheet music as depicted in Saint-Saëns (1914) by Lucien Augé de Lassus (fr)[1]

In an effort to evoke the historical context, Saint-Saëns researched English music from the period and incorporated several English, Scottish, and Irish folk melodies into his score, as well as two airs by William Byrd (c. 1540–1623), contained in The Will Forster Virginal Book (1624),[2] the "Carman's Whistle" and a section of a tune called "The New Medley". He also sampled from the Benjamin Cosyn's Virginal Book (1620), using the opening from the tune "Mr Beauins Service", along with "Te Deum".[3] Henry VIII died in 1547, about 70 years before these compositions were published.

Performance history

Henry VIII was premiered on 5 March 1883 by the Paris Opera at the Palais Garnier in Paris. The choreography was by Louis Mérante, the costumes were designed by Eugène Lacoste, and the settings were by Antoine Lavastre and Eugène Carpezat (act 1), Jean-Baptiste Lavastre (act 2 and act 4, scene 2), and Auguste Alfred Rubé and Philippe Chaperon (act 3, scene 2, and act 4, scene 1).[4] The opera was revived in three acts on 19 July 1889 with the ballet organized by Joseph Hansen. A new production in the original four-act version, directed by Paul Stuart, premiered on 18 June 1909, with choreography by Léo Staats, costumes by Charles Bianchini, and sets by Carpezat, Marcel Jambon and Alexandre Bailly. Henry VIII remained in the repertoire of the Opéra until 1919.[4]

File:Btv1b70010199 Saint-Saëns - Henry VIII - Esquisse de décor de l'acte III, tableau 1 - Chaperon 1882.jpg
Scene design act 3 by Chaperon

It was also seen at the Royal Opera House, London, in 1889 with Maurice Renaud in the title role, Lina Pacary as Catherine d'Aragon, and Meyriane Héglon as Anne Boleyn. It was revived in 1991 at the Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne in a production by Pierre Jourdan, with Philippe Rouillon as Henry VIII, Michèle Command (fr) as Catherine of Aragon and Lucile Vignon as Anne Boleyn. The production was made into a film.[5]

The United States premiere was presented by Bel Canto Opera in New York City on 27 April 1974 with Jason Byce as Henry VIII, Francesca Lawton-Sherman as Queen Catherine, Katherine Basler as Anne Boleyn under the musical direction of Susan Peters.

Performances were given at the Liceu in Barcelona in 2002 where it was staged once again by Pierre Jourdan with Montserrat Caballé as Catherine, Simon Estes as Henry and Nomeda Kazlaus as Anne Boleyn, with José Collado conducting.

A concert performance was given at the Bard College Music Festival, Annandale-on-Hudson, on 20 August 2012, with Ellie Dehn as Catherine, Jason Howard as Henry, and Jennifer Holloway as Anne Boleyn. Leon Botstein conducted.[6] Botstein also conducted a fully staged performance of the work at the 2023 Bard Summerscape festival.

Roles

File:Btv1b8405782w 1 Saint-Saëns - Henry VIII - Illustrations de presse 1903 - M. Jean Lassalle, créateur du rôle d’Henry VIII.jpg
Jean Lassalle

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File:Btv1b8405782w 1 Saint-Saëns - Henry VIII - Illustrations de presse 1903 - Mme Gabrielle Krauss, créatrice du rôle de Catherine d’Aragon.jpg
Gabrielle Krauss
<templatestyles src="Screen reader-only/styles.css" />Roles, voice types, premiere cast
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 5 March 1883[4][7]
Conductor: Ernest Altès[4]
Henry VIII baritone Jean Lassalle (fr)
Catherine d'Aragon soprano Gabrielle Krauss
Anne Boleyn mezzo-soprano Alphonsine Richard
Lady Clarence soprano Mlle Nastorg
Don Gomez de Féria tenor Étienne Dereims
Cardinal Campeggio, papal legate bass Auguste Boudouresque
Le duc de Norfolk bass Eugène Lorrain
Le comte de Surrey tenor Étienne Sapin
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury bass M. Gaspard
Garter King of Arms tenor M. Malvaut
Bailiff bass M. Boutens

Recordings

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Wolff, Stéphane (1962). "Henry VIII", pp. 111–112, in L'Opéra au Palais Garnier (1875–1962). Paris: L'Entr'acte. OCLC 7068320 and 460748195. Paris: Slatkine (1983 reprint) ISBN 978-2-05-000214-2 OCLC 233656332
  5. ↑ Henry VIII (1991) at IMDbLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 30: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  6. ↑ "Leon Botstein Mounts Saint-Saëns' Henry VIII / Ellie Dehn as Catherine Wins at Bard", berkshirefinearts.com
  7. ↑ Piotr Kamiński (fr; pl), 1001 opéras, Fayard, 2003, p. 1383 Script error: No such module "In lang".
  8. ↑ Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII, 2005 ASIN B000BP86V4
  9. ↑ "Véronique Gens: Tragediennes 3 (Les Héroïnes Romantiques)", Presto Music
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Further reading

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External links

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