Le Juif Errant (opera)
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''Le Juif errant'' (''The
Wandering Jew The Wandering Jew (occasionally referred to as the Eternal Jew, a calque from German ) is a mythical immortal man whose legend began to spread in Europe in the 13th century. In the original legend, a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Cruc ...
'') is a
grand opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and Orchestra, orchestras. The original productions consisted of spectacular design and stage effects with plots normally based on o ...
by
Fromental Halévy Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy (; 27 May 179917 March 1862), was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera ''La Juive''. Early career Halévy was born in Paris, son of the cantor ...
, with a
libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...
by
Eugène Scribe Augustin Eugène Scribe (; 24 December 179120 February 1861) was a French dramatist and librettist. He is known for writing "well-made plays" ("pièces bien faites"), a mainstay of popular theatre for over 100 years, and as the librettist of man ...
and
Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges (; 7 November 1799 – 23 December 1875) was a French playwright, who was born and died in Paris. He was one of the most prolific librettists of the 19th century, often working in collaboration with others. ...
. The opera is based extremely loosely on themes of the novel ''
Le Juif errant ''The Wandering Jew'' () is an 1844 novel by the French writer Eugène Sue. It tells the story of the descendants of a persecuted Huguenot whose fortune had been entrusted to a Jewish banker for 150 years. Scattered across the globe, they have ...
'', by
Eugène Sue Marie-Joseph "Eugène" Sue (; 26 January 18043 August 1857) was a French novelist. He was one of several authors who popularized the genre of the serial novel in France with his very popular and widely imitated '' The Mysteries of Paris'', whi ...
. Whilst the novel is set in 19th century Paris and the Wandering Jew is incidental to the main story-line, the opera begins in Amsterdam in 1190 and the Jew Ahasuerus (spelled Ashvérus in the opera) is a leading character.


Performance history

''Le Juif errant'' was premiered at the
Salle Le Peletier The Salle Le Peletier or Lepeletier (sometimes referred to as the Salle de la rue Le Peletier or the Opéra Le Peletier) was the home of the Paris Opera from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. The theatre was designed and con ...
of the
Paris Opera The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...
on 23 April 1852, and had 48 further performances over two seasons. The music was sufficiently popular to generate a ''Wandering Jew
Mazurka The Mazurka ( Polish: ''mazurek'') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character defined mostly by the prominent mazur's "strong accents unsystematically placed on the seco ...
'', a ''Wandering Jew
Waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...
'', a ''Wandering Jew
Polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...
'' and in France just in the several months after the opera was premiered an even more considerable quantity of piano works, including several called "Grande fantaisie dramatique" and similar titles, based on the opera.


Roles


References

Notes Sources * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* Jordan, Ruth (1994). ''Fromental Halévy: His Life & Music, 1799–1862''. London: Kahn & Averill. . * Macdonald, Hugh (2001). "Halévy, (Jacques-François-)Fromental(-Elie) romentin(-Elias) in ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...
'', 2nd edition, edited by
Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...
. London: Macmillan. (hardcover). (eBook). * Scribe, Eugène (1858). ''Le Juif errant'' in ''Oeuvres complètes de M. Eugène Scribe'', new edition, volume XVII, pp. 149–164. Paris: Adolphe Delahays
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at
Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...
.


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Juif errant, Le Operas French-language operas Operas by Fromental Halévy Grand operas 1852 operas Opera world premieres at the Paris Opera Wandering Jew Libretti by Eugène Scribe Adaptations of works by Eugène Sue