Brett at 08:56, 26 August 2023

2023-08-26T08:56:09Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:56, 26 August 2023
Line 1:		Line 1:
	{{picture\|file=~~Daniel~~-François-Esprit ~~Auber~~.jpg\|caption='''Daniel-François-Esprit Auber''' (1782-1871)}}		{{picture\|file=Auber_Daniel-François-Esprit.jpg\|caption='''Daniel-François-Esprit Auber''' (1782-1871)}}
	French composer (b. 29 January 1782 {{NS}} in Caen; d. 12 or 13 May 1871 {{NS}} in [[Paris]]).		French composer (b. 29 January 1782 {{NS}} in Caen; d. 12 or 13 May 1871 {{NS}} in [[Paris]]).

Brett at 18:56, 12 August 2023

2023-08-12T18:56:55Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:56, 12 August 2023
Line 1:		Line 1:
	{{picture\|file=Daniel-François-Esprit Auber.jpg\|caption='''Daniel-François-Esprit Auber''' (1782-1871)}}		{{picture\|file=Daniel-François-Esprit Auber.jpg\|caption='''Daniel-François-Esprit Auber''' (1782-1871)}}
	French composer (b. 29 January 1782 in Caen; d. 12/13 May 1871 in [[Paris]]).		French composer (b. 29 January 1782 {{NS}} in Caen; d. 12 or 13 May 1871 {{NS}} in [[Paris]]).

	==Tchaikovsky and Auber==		==Tchaikovsky and Auber==

Brett at 18:31, 7 August 2023

2023-08-07T18:31:37Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:31, 7 August 2023
Line 24:		Line 24:
	* [[wikipedia:Daniel-François-Esprit_Auber\|Wikipedia]]		* [[wikipedia:Daniel-François-Esprit_Auber\|Wikipedia]]
	* {{IMSLP\|Auber,_Daniel_François_Esprit}}		* {{IMSLP\|Auber,_Daniel_François_Esprit}}
			* {{viaf\|7573044}}

	==Notes and References==		==Notes and References==

Brett: 1 revision imported

2022-07-12T11:20:01Z

1 revision imported

← Older revision	Revision as of 13:20, 12 July 2022
(No difference)

Brett at 00:06, 16 February 2019

2019-02-16T00:06:49Z

New page

{{picture|file=Daniel-François-Esprit Auber.jpg|caption='''Daniel-François-Esprit Auber''' (1782-1871)}}
French composer (b. 29 January 1782 in Caen; d. 12/13 May 1871 in [[Paris]]).

==Tchaikovsky and Auber==
Tchaikovsky always had a soft spot for the comic operas of Auber, which, thanks to the Frenchman's graceful melodies, as well as the witty librettos provided by Eugène Scribe (1791–1861), were very popular across all Europe in the 19th century. One reason for the affection which Tchaikovsky felt for Auber's music obviously had to do with his nostalgic memories of [[Désirée Artôt]]'s first performances in [[Moscow]] in the autumn of 1868. Tchaikovsky had been so infatuated with the Belgian mezzo-soprano (to whom he would propose at the end of the year) that he even accepted a commission from Eugenio Merelli, the manager of the Italian Opera Company who had brought [[Artôt]] to [[Moscow]], to write some additional recitatives and choruses for Auber's comic opera ''Le Domino noir'', which was to be staged as a benefit performance for [[Artôt]] (see [[TH 175]]). Even if Tchaikovsky's hostility towards Merelli was not as pronounced then as it would become in the 1870s, when this ruthless impresario effectively secured a hegemony over the Bolshoi Theatre in [[Moscow]] that Tchaikovsky would attack time and time again in his articles, it does seem rather significant that the magic of [[Désirée Artôt]]'s personality and Auber's music combined to induce the Russian composer to collaborate with this future bugbear of his!

A staging of ''Fra Diavolo'' by Merelli's company at the Bolshoi Theatre on 19/31 October 1872, with the Franco-Italian tenor Emilio Naudin (whom Tchaikovsky greatly admired) in the role of the bandit chief, prompted Tchaikovsky to put to paper some very interesting reflections on the late Auber's musical personality (see the reference given below). Curiously, Auber's 1828 masterpiece, ''La muette de Portici'' (which exerted such a strong influence on [[Meyerbeer]] and Halévy, and even on [[Wagner]], not to speak of its role in triggering the Belgian Revolution of 1830!) seems to have been less to Tchaikovsky's liking, as he considered that Auber lacked the passion necessary for such a dramatic subject.

Together with his brother [[Modest]], Tchaikovsky attended a performance of ''Le Domino noir'' at the Opéra-Comique in [[Paris]] on 22 February 1883 {{NS}} <ref name="note1"/>. The 'sentimental' value of Auber's music for Tchaikovsky is also reflected in the way that when [[Herman Laroche]] visited the composer at [[Maydanovo]] in February 1886, they "started recalling the past, talked about Auber etc." <ref name="note2"/>. It is therefore very likely that one of the things Tchaikovsky brought up in his conversation with [[Désirée Artôt-Padilla]], when after many years he met her again at a concert in [[Berlin]] on 30 December 1887 {{NS}} (see also Chapter XII in [[TH 316]]), was their tentative collaboration on Auber's comic opera twenty years earlier <ref name="note3"/>.

==Arrangements by Tchaikovsky==
* ''[[Le Domino noir (Auber)|Le Domino noir]]'' (1868) — additional recitatives and an introduction to a chorus for an Italian production of Auber's ''opéra comique'' in three acts (1837).

==General Reflections on Auber==
Bold references indicate particularly detailed or interesting references.

===In Tchaikovsky's Music Review Articles===
* '''[[TH 266]]''' – In this article, written a year after Auber's death, Tchaikovsky reviews his career as a composer, praising his "elegant clarity" and "beautiful instrumentation" and reflecting on how his personality was very much tinged by the "aristocratic scepticism" of the 18th century. Tchaikovsky emphasizes that Auber's strength lay in ''opéra-comique'', singling out'' Fra Diavolo'' (1830) and ''Le Domino noir'' (1837) for special praise, whereas in the powerfully dramatic plot of ''La muette de Portici'' (1828) he was somewhat out of his depth.

==Bibliography==
* {{bib|1971/101}} (1971)

==External Links==
* [[wikipedia:Daniel-François-Esprit_Auber|Wikipedia]]
* {{IMSLP|Auber,_Daniel_François_Esprit}}

==Notes and References==
<references>
<ref name="note1">See {{bib|1940/107|Дни и годы П. И. Чайковского. Летопись жизни и творчества}} (1940), p. 287.</ref>
<ref name="note2">Diary entry for 27 February/11 March 1886, quoted in {{bib|1993/231|Дневники П. И. Чайковского, 1873-1891}} (1993), p. 41.</ref>
<ref name="note3">'Tentative' because [[Artôt]] did not actually appear in the version of ''Le Domino noir'' for which Tchaikovsky had written those extra recitatives. Lucinde Lauer has suggested that the nostalgic value of Auber's music for Tchaikovsky later induced him to take as the model for Tomsky's ballad in '' [[The Queen of Spades]]'' (1890) the strophic song with refrain, which in French ''opéra-comique'' was frequently used for the exposition of the plot and to hint at an important secret, as in Auber's ''Fra Diavolo''. See {{bib|1995/89|Čajkovskijs Pikovaja Dama und die Tradition der französischen Opéra-comique-Ballade}} (1995), pp. 202–203.</ref>
</references>
[[Category:People|Auber, Daniel Francois Esprit]]
[[Category:Composers|Auber, Daniel Francois Esprit]]

Daniel-François-Esprit Auber - Revision history

Brett at 08:56, 26 August 2023

Brett at 18:56, 12 August 2023

Brett at 18:31, 7 August 2023

Brett: 1 revision imported

Brett at 00:06, 16 February 2019