- Le Pré aux clercs
Le Pré aux clercs ("The Clerks' Meadow") is an
opera in three acts byFerdinand Hérold with alibretto by François-Antoine-Eugène de Planard that is based onProsper Mérimée 's "Chronique du temps de Charles IX".Performance history
First performed in
Paris , at theOpéra-Comique , onDecember 15 ,1832 . It was Herold's last completed opera, it was very successful at its appearance and enjoyed some 1000 performances in Paris during the following 40 years. It is now all but forgotten.Principal roles
* Marguerite de Valois -
mezzo-soprano
* Isabelle de Béarn -soprano
* Baron de Mergy -tenor
* Comte de Comminges -baritone ynopsis
The action takes place in Paris, in 1572, at the time of the
St Bartholomew's Day Massacre .The Baron de Mergy and the Comte de Comminges are rivals for the love of Isabelle de Béarn, the ward of
Marguerite de Valois . The two men fight a duel at the field know as Pré aux clercs and Comminges is killed. The Baron and Isabelle are reunited.ources
* "The Complete Dictionary of Opera and Operetta", James Anderson, (Wings Books, 1993) ISBN 0-517-09156-9
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