La Navarraise

Jules Massenet
Operas La grand'tante (1867) Don César de Bazan (1872) Le roi de Lahore (1877) Hérodiade (1881) Manon (1884) Le Cid (1885) Esclarmonde (1889) Le mage (1891) Werther (1892) Thaïs (1894) Le portrait de Manon (1894) La Navarraise (1894) Sapho (1897) Cendrillon (1899) Grisélidis (1901) Le jongleur de Notre-Dame (1902) Chérubin (1903) Ariane (1906) Thérèse (1907) Bacchus (1909) Don Quichotte (1910) Roma (1912) Panurge (1913) Cléopâtre (1914) Amadis (1922)
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La Navarraise is an opera in one act by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Jules Claretie and Henri Cain, based on Claretie's novel La Cigarette.^[1] It was first performed at Covent Garden in London on June 20, 1894, with Emma Calvé in the title role.

La Navarraise is widely agreed to be Massenet's answer to Italian verismo and was very popular in its day, often being performed on a double bill with Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana. Its popularity has waned since operatic tastes changed in the early part of the twentieth century, and today the opera is rarely performed. It has, however, been recorded a number of times, most notably in the 1970s with Marilyn Horne and Plácido Domingo.

Roles

Synopsis

The story takes place in Spain during the Carlist War in 1874. A lowly-born girl from Navarre, Anita (La Navarraise), is in love with a soldier, Araquil. Araquil's father finds Anita unacceptable and insists she pay a sum of 200 duros as a dowry, knowing she will not be able to raise the money. Anita hears that there is a reward for the assassination of the Carlist leader, Zuccaraga, and decides to attempt the deed. She is successful and obtains her reward, but is told to tell no one. Just then, Araquil is brought in, having been mortally wounded searching for Anita. When he sees the money she has received he accuses her of selling herself, and only when the death bells sound does he understand the truth. But it is too late, he dies and Anita goes mad, collapsing on his body with wild laughter.

References

• Upton, George P.; Borowski, Felix (1928). The Standard Opera Guide. New York: Blue Ribbon Books. pp. 194–97. 

External links

• La Navarraise at Bob's Universe