Les deux aveugles de Tolède

Méhul in 1799 – portrait by Antoine Gros

Les deux aveugles de Tolède (The Two Blind Men of Toledo) is an opéra comique in one act by the French composer Étienne Méhul. It premiered at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on 28 January 1806. The libretto, by Benoît-Joseph Marsollier, is a revision of the same author's Les deux aveugles de Bagdad, set by A.J. Fournier in 1782.[1]

Contemporary reviewers praised Méhul's music while criticising the weakness of the libretto.[2] The opera only enjoyed limited success, with 19 performances in 1806, plus one on 28 October 1809 and a final one on 22 May 1810.[3] The overture provides local Spanish colour through the use of a bolero rhythm (in the older Spanish sense).[4]

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere Cast
Nuguez, a blind musician, uncle of Flora basse-taille (bass-baritone) Simon Chénard
Don Brusco, another blind musician, engaged to Flora baritone[5] Jean-Pierre Solié
Mendoce, who goes under the assumed name of Pedro; he is Flora's lover, pretending to be a pupil of the blind musicians baritone[5] Jean-Blaise Martin
Flora, Nuguez's niece soprano Madame Gavaudan[6]
Jacinthe, the blind men's housekeeper soprano Marie Desbrosses

Recordings

The overture appears on: Méhul Overtures, Orchestre de Bretagne, conducted by Stefan Sanderling (ASV, 2002).

References

  1. ^ Bartlet, p.xiii
  2. ^ Pougin pp.236-7
  3. ^ Pougin p.238
  4. ^ Ates Orga in the booklet to the Sanderling recording.
  5. ^ a b Both Solié and Martin were high baritones: the former had begun his career as a tenor, the latter gave rise to a new type of French light baritone, called 'baryton-Martin' after him. However, having the baritone clef fallen into disuse at the beginning of the Eighteenth Century, both Brusco and Mendoce parts are notated in the bass clef.
  6. ^ She was born Alexandrine-Marie-Agathe Ducamel (1781-1850) and became known as Mme Gavaudan after marrying tenor Jean-Baptiste-Sauveur Gavaudan (1772-1840).

Sources

  • Adélaïde de Place Étienne Nicolas Méhul (Bleu Nuit Éditeur, 2005)
  • Arthur Pougin Méhul: sa vie, son génie, son caractère (Fischbacher, 1889)
  • General introduction to Méhul's operas in the introduction to the edition of Stratonice by M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet (Pendragon Press, 1997)
  • Ates Orga: booklet notes to the Sanderling recording
  • Score: Les Deux aveugles de Tolède, opéra-comique en 1 acte et en prose, paroles de Mr Marsolier, représenté pour le 1re fois à Paris, sur le Théâtre de l'opéra-comique par les comédiens ordinaires de l'Empereur, le mardi 28 janvier 1806, Paris : Magasin de Musique dirigé par MM.rs Cherubuni, Méhul Kreutzer, Rode, N. Edouard et Boieldieu , [s.d.] (Gallica - B.N.F.)