- La fée Urgèle
"La fée Urgèle, ou Ce qui plaît aux dames" ("The Fairy Urgèle, or What Pleases Women") is an "
opéra comique " (specifically a "comédie mêlée d'ariettes ") in four acts by the composerEgidio Duni . Thelibretto , byCharles-Simon Favart , is based onVoltaire 's "Ce qui plaît aux dames" andChaucer 's "The Wife of Bath's Tale ".Performance history
The opera was first performed at the Théâtre Royal de la Cour at
Fontainebleau on26 October 1765 . The elaborate medieval staging cost 20,000 livres according to Grimm in his "Correspondance littéraire". It was revived at theComédie-Italienne on 4 December 1765 and given over 100 times in the following years, popularizing medieval settings for other operas such as Richard Coeur-de-lion and Aucassin et Nicolette.Roles and role creators
*The old woman/Urgèle/Marton,
soprano Marie Favart
*Robert, "a knight"tenor
*Robinette, soprano
*Thérèse, soprano
*Berthe, soprano
*Lisette, soprano
*Philinte, tenor
*Licidas, tenor
*Lahire, bass
*Dennise, spokenynopsis
Robert is a knight imprisoned in a 7th century French court controlled by women. He must answer the question: what gives the most pleasure to women? He is obliged to agree to marry an old woman who is then transformed into the beautiful Marton.
ources
* [http://www.amadeusonline.net/almanacco.php?Start=0&Giorno=26&Mese=10&Anno=1765&Giornata=&Testo=&Parola=Stringa Amadeus Online (in Italian)]
*Cook, Elisabeth (1992), 'Fee Urgèle, La' in "TheNew Grove Dictionary of Opera ", ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
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