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Hamlet is an opera in five acts by the French composer Ambroise Thomas, with the libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on Shakespeare's Hamlet and a French adaptation of the play by Alexandre Dumas and Paul Meurice. Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto (Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas ( Metz August 5, 1811 - Paris, February 12, 1896) was a French Opera A libretto is the text used in an extended Musical work such as an Opera, Operetta, Masque, sacred or secular Oratorio and Michel Carré ( 20 October, 1821 - 27 June, 1872) was a prolific French librettist Paul Jules Barbier ( 8 March, 1825 - 16 January, 1901) was a French poet writer and Opera librettist who often wrote in William Shakespeare ( baptised Hamlet is a Tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601 The work was premiered at the Paris Opéra on 9 March 1868. Events 590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as king Barham VI of Persia. Year 1868 ( MDCCCLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap Among the noted singers in the original cast were Jean-Baptiste Faure as Hamlet and Christine Nilsson as Ophelia. Jean-Baptiste Faure ( 15 January, 1830 - 9 November, 1914) was a celebrated French Baritone and Composer [1] The opera was staged at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden (later the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) in 1870. WikipediaWikiProject Opera --> The Royal Opera House is an Opera house and major performing [2] Hamlet was Thomas's greatest success, along with Mignon, and was further staged in Leipzig, Budapest, Brussels, Prague, New York City, Saint Petersburg, Berlin, and Vienna within five years of the Paris premiere. Mignon is an Opera in three acts by Ambroise Thomas to a French Libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on

The opera fell into neglect after Thomas' death and World War I. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All However, since 1980, interest in the opera has increased, and the work has enjoyed a notable number of revivals, including Vienna (1992-1994, 1996), Opera North (1995)[3], Geneva (1996), San Francisco Opera (1996), Copenhagen (1996 and 1999), Amsterdam (1997), Karlsruhe (1998), Washington Opera (1998), Tokyo (1999), Paris (2000), Toulouse (2000), Moscow (2001), Prague (2002), Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (2002), and London (2003). Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) Year 1992 ( MCMXCII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar) Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) This is about the British organisation for the unrelated American one see Opera North (U Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 Geneva (Genève is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French -speaking Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) San Francisco Opera (SFO is the second largest Opera company in North America. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Copenhagen (ˌkəʊpənˈheɪgən ˌkəʊpənˈhɑːgən ˈkəʊpənˌheɪgən ˈkəʊpənˌhɑːgən kʰøb̥ənˈhɑʊ̯ˀn kʰøb̥m̩ˈhɑʊ̯ˀn is the capital and largest city Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar Karlsruhe (ˈkaɐ̯lsʁuːə population 285812 in 2006 is a city in the south west of Germany, in the Bundesland Baden-Württemberg, located near Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) The Washington National Opera ( WNO) is a world-class opera company in Washington D Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) officially, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL is a summer opera festival held in St [4]

Contents

Changes to original story

The opera's libretto contains considerable changes to the plot from the original play, which include:

Most notably, the original version did not end with the death of Hamlet after his duel with Laertes. Instead, the original version had provided a 'happy ending', where Hamlet did not die and was instead crowned king after the death of Claudius. For Covent Garden, Thomas provided an alternate ending which included the death of Hamlet. Overall, the changes to the original story led to criticism at the time of the opera such as an 1890 quote from the Pall Mall Gazette:

"No one but a barbarian or a Frenchman would have dared to make such a lamentable burlesque of so tragic a theme as Hamlet. "[5]

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere cast,
9 March 1868
(Conductor: - )
Claudius, King of Denmark, brother of the late King Hamlet
Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, widow of the late King Hamlet and mother to Prince Hamlet
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark baritone Jean-Baptiste Faure
Polonius, court chancellor
Ophélie, daughter of Polonius Christine Nilsson
Laërte, son of Polonius
Horatio, friend of Hamlet
Marcellus, friend of Hamlet
Ghost of the late King Hamlet
First gravedigger
Second gravedigger

Synopsis

The setting is Denmark at the castle of Elsinore. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. Jean-Baptiste Faure ( 15 January, 1830 - 9 November, 1914) was a celebrated French Baritone and Composer The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe

The royal Danish court is celebrating the marriage of Claudius, brother of the late King Hamlet, to Gertrude, widow of the late King Hamlet, and Claudius' subsequent accession to the throne. Claudius then "offers" the crown to Gertrude, an action on which the court does not look favourably. Prince Hamlet, son of the late King and Gertrude, has deliberately not attended the festivities. Ophélie is worried about Hamlet's spells of melancholy. Her father, Polonius, disdains her relationship with Hamlet. Laërte is en route to battle against the Norwegians and gives his farewells.

Horatio and Marcellus tell Hamlet that they have seen the ghost of the late King, Hamlet's father, on three successive nights. The ghost then appears to the Prince himself, and tells his son that Claudius poisoned him. The ghost exacts from his son a promise of vengeance on Claudius, but Gertrude must be left out of that revenge. However, Hamlet is indecisive on the need to take action, and feigns madness to disguise this situation. This behaviour causes Ophelia to despair further. Claudius and Gertrude begin to wonder if Hamlet suspects the truth of his father's death.

A traveling group of actors visits Elsinore, and Hamlet welcomes them. He persuades them to present the story of "The Murder of Gonzago", which parallels the story of King Hamlet, Claudius and Gertrude, to see if Claudius reveals his guilt. This does happen during the enactment of the play.

Later, Claudius is at prayer, and Hamlet sees a chance to kill him and fulfill his vow to his late father. However, Hamlet does not take action then. Gertrude then tries to persuade Hamlet to marry Ophélie. Hamlet rejects the idea strongly, and then confronts Gertrude to extract from her an admission of guilt in the killing of King Hamlet. The Ghost appears, to Hamlet alone, and rebukes him for his tardiness in taking revenge, as well as reminding him not to take vengeance on Gertrude.

Ophélie has gone insane as a result of Hamlet's rejection, and has drowned herself in the river. Hamlet does not know this when he sees two gravediggers digging a new grave. Laërte has learned of his sister's death and the role of Hamlet's behaviour in leading to it. Urged by Claudius, Laërte challenges Hamlet to a duel. However, the funeral procession for Ophélie interrupts the duel.

Selected recordings

See also

Hamlet Opera by Carson Kievman, Commissioned by Joseph Papp for the New York Shakespeare Festival http://silvertone.princeton.edu/~carson/hamlet.html

References

  1. ^ Obituary for Ambroise Thomas, The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, 37(637), pp. Welsh National Opera ( WNO) is a touring Opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1946 Richard Bonynge, CBE (last name pronounced "bonning" (born 29 September 1930 is an Australian Conductor and pianist June Anderson (born December 30, 1952) is a Grammy -award winning American Coloratura Soprano. The American Opera singer Samuel Edward Ramey (born March 28, 1942 in Colby Kansas) is Denyce Graves (born March 7, 1964 in Washington DC) is an American Opera singer The London Philharmonic Orchestra ( LPO) based in London, is one of the major Orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal 165-166, 1 March 1896.
  2. ^ Henry C. Lunn, "The London Musical Season". The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, 14(331), pp. 583-586, 1 September 1970.
  3. ^ Julian Rushton, Reviews of Bizet, Thomas and Janáček. Musical Times, 136(1834), pp. 680-681, 683 (1995).
  4. ^ Joe Keith Law, "Three Hamlets". The Opera Quarterly, 19(3), 587-591 (2003).
  5. ^ Barbara Fischer-Williams, "Hamlet à la Française". Opera News, 43(4) 42 (1978).
  6. ^ Hugh MacDonald, "Mostly French" (record reviews). The Musical Times, 126(1703), 30 (1985).
  7. ^ C.P. Gerald Parker, "Hamlet. Ambroise Thomas" (recording review). The Opera Quarterly, 3(1), 143-145 (1985).
  8. ^ Roland Graeme, "Hamlet. Ambroise Thomas" (CD review). The Opera Quarterly, 11(3), 180-185 (1995).

Source

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