| Charles Gounod |
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Operas
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La reine de Saba ("The Queen of Sheba") is a grand opera in four or five[1] acts by Charles Gounod to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré inspired by Gérard de Nerval's Le voyage en Orient.
It premiered at the Paris Opera on February 28, 1862.
Contents |
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, February 28, 1862[2] (Conductor: Pierre-Louis Dietsch) |
|---|---|---|
| Balkis, the queen | soprano | Pauline Guéymard-Lauters |
| Benoni | mezzo-soprano | Hamäckers |
| Sarahil | mezzo-soprano | Tarby |
| Adoniram, sculptor and architect of the first temple | tenor | Louis Guéymard |
| Soliman, the biblical Solomon | bass | Jules-Bernard Belval |
| Amrou | tenor | Raphaël-Auguste Grisy |
| Phanor | baritone | Mécène Marié de l'Isle |
| Méthousaël | bass | Théodore-Jean-Joseph Coulon |
| Sadoc | bass | Frèret |
English version by Henry Farnie
An English reworking of the libretto by Henry Farnie "interwoven [with] certain legends and traditions of freemasonry" was titled Irene. It transposed the action to Istanbul in the time of Suleyman the Magnificent and the building of the Great Mosque and used almost all of Gounod's music.
Highlights
The big song from La reine de Saba is the tenor aria 'Inspirez-moi, race divine!', in which the hero invokes the example of the sons of Tubal-Cain (son of Lamech and Zillah, the founder of metalworking) as the molten metal flows into its mould. In its English version 'How vain and weak a thing is man... Lend me your aid, O race divine', this became a war-horse of the concert repertoire, surviving into the 20th century in the recordings of Edward Lloyd and Walter Widdop. It was also recorded by Enrico Caruso, in one of whose versions the English text was re-translated back into French with the exceptionable formula: 'Prêtes-moi ton aide'.
Sources
Steven Huebner. "La reine de Saba", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed Jan 2008), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
References
- ^ Partition Chant et Piano par Georges Bizet, Choudens fils, Paris nd.; Grove says five acts and other printings of the Chouens score apparently divide the two scenes of the third act.
- ^ Information from AmadeusOnline.net
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