La fausse esclave

La fausse esclave (The False Slave) is an opéra comique in one act by Christoph Willibald Gluck. Its French-language libretto based on Louis Anseaume and Pierre-Augustin Lefèvre de Marcouville's libretto for La fausse aventurière (The False Adventuress), an opéra comique by Jean-Louis Laruette [fr]. It was first performed on 8 January 1758 at the Burgtheater in Vienna.[1] The full score is lost, but a keyboard version is extant.

Klaus Hortschansky has noted that La fausse esclave is one of Gluck's few stageworks where the composer did not use musical material from prior works, or recycle material from it into future works.[2]

Roles

Roles, voice types
Role Voice type
Agathe soprano
Lisette soprano
Valère tenor
Chrisante baritone

Synopsis

The story is of an intrigue undertaken to secure a father's assent to his daughter's marriage.

References

  1. ^ Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "La fausse esclave, 8 January 1758". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
  2. ^ Selden, Margery Stomne, "Review of Parodie und Entlehnung im Schaffen Christoph Willibald Glucks by Klaus Hortschansky" (Spring 1976). Journal of the American Musicological Society, 29 (1): p. 148–151.