Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber (1782-1871) was long considered one of the most typically French as well as one of the most successful of the opera composers of the 19th century. Although musically gifted, he initially chose commerce as a career, but soon realized that his future lay in music. He studied under Cherubini, and it was not long before his opera-comique La Bergere Chateleine (1820), written at the age of 38, established him as an operatic composer. Perhaps the greatest turning point in Auber's life was his meeting with the librettist Eugene Scribe (1791-1861), with whom he developed a long and illustrious working partnership that only ended with Scribe's death. Success followed success; works such as Le Macon (1825) and La Muette de Portici (1828) brought Auber public fame and official recognition. In 1829 he was appointed a member of the Institut, in 1839 Director of Concerts at Court, in 1842 Director of the Conservatoire, in 1852 Musical Director of the Imperial Chapel, and in 1861 Grand Officer of the Legion d'Honneur. Auber seems to have been fated to live in revolutionary times; during his long life no less than four revolutions took place in France (1789, 1830, 1848, 1870). Auber's famous historical grand opera La Muette de Portici (also known by its hero's name as Masaniello) is perhaps unsurprisingly based on revolution, depicting the 1647 Neapolitan uprising against Spanish rule. It is a key work in operatic history, and has a revolutionary history itself: it was a performance of this work in Brussels in 1830 that helped spark the revolution that led to the separation of Belgium from Holland. It was a revolution that hastened Auber's death at the old age of 89. He died on 12 May 1871 as a result of a long illness aggravated by the privations and dangers of the Siege of Paris. He had refused to leave the city he had always loved, even after his house had been set on fire by the petroleurs et petroleuses. In a twist of fate, a mark had been placed on the house of the composer of Masaniello, the very voice of Romantic liberty! Auber's overtures were once instantly recognizable, favourites of the light Classical repertoire. His gracious melodies and dance rhythms had a huge influence, both on piano and instrumental music, and on the genre of Romantic comic opera, especially in Germany. Musical tastes and fashions have changed, and contemporary audiences are more accustomed to the heavier fare of verismo, Wagnerian transcendentalism, and twentieth-century experimentalism. The operas themselves, apart from Fra Diavolo (1830), are seldom performed, yet Auber's elegant, delicate and restrained art remains as appealing to the discerning listener as ever it was. Le Serment, an opera in three acts, with libretto by Eugene Scribe and Edouard Mazeres, was first performed at the Academie Royale de Musique (Salle de la rue Le Peletier), on 1 October 1832. The story is set in Toulon, in 1800. The village innkeeper Andiol prefers, as his future son-in-law, an unknown man who is secretly a brigand and leader of a band of counterfeiters (Capitaine Jean), to the young farmer Edmond, who is loved by his daughter Marie. Edmond learns Jean's secret but is induced to promise that he will not reveal Jean's true identity. He goes off to be a soldier, returning as a successful officer. Marie is about to marry Jean, but when the truth about Jean's identity is revealed, they are able to be married at last. The proportions of the Opera were far too grandiose for the modest subject of Le Serment. The opera was not a great success, but maintained its place in the repertoire without interruption until 1849, although most often given without the last act. The mise en scene was much admired, depicting the interior of an inn, a Gothic chamber, and a busy street where merchants of various races dressed in native costume peddled their wares. The opera enjoyed particular popularity in Germany as Die Falschmunzer. The music is full of ingenious details and the orchestration is refined. The overture became well-known. It establishes three distinct thematic worlds: the pastoral world of Marie and Andiol, the busy world of the counterfeiters, and the military world of Edmond's patriotic adventures. There are several extended solo numbers, like the opening air for Andiol; some fine choral writing for male voices; and Capitaine Jean's nautical ballad. The role of the counterfeiters presents another variant on the favoured Romantic topoi of robbers and smugglers; their activities are hidden behind stories of hauntings to keep away the curious. The tenor is given excellent opportunities in Edmond's arias in act 2 (En avant conscrit) and act 3 (Salut o mon pays). The most famous piece in the opera is Marie's grand air a vocalises for the soprano (Des enfance les memes chaines) in which all the most arduous difficulties of the art of singing are displayed. It was a triumph for Madame Damoreau, and served for a long time as a test piece, and was later introduced into the beginning of act 2 of the Italian version of Fra Diavolo as a more substantial and challenging alternative to Zerline's aria. The original cast was: Adolphe Nourrit (Edmond); Laure Cinti-Damoreau (Marie); Henri-Bernard Dabadie (Jean); Prosper Derivis and Nicholas-Prosper Levasseur (Andiol); Ferdinand Prevot (a brigadier of the gendarmerie); and Trevaux (an officer). The opera remained in the repertoire from 1832 to 1849, with the 100th performance taking place on 30 March 1849. There were 102 performances in total. It was translated into English, German, Italian, Hungarian, Czech and Russian, and produced in many European cities.
About the Author: Robert Ignatius Letellier has specialized in the music and literature of the Romantic Period. He has studied the work of Giacomo Meyerbeer (a four-volume English edition of his diaries, a collection of critical and biographical studies, a guide to research, two readings of the operas, as well as compiling and introducing editions of the complete libretti and non-operatic texts, and a selection of manuscripts facsimiles). He has also written on the ballets of Ludwig Minkus, compiled a series of scores on the Romantic Ballet, and produced studies of the opera-comique and Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber.