Le diable à quatre (opera)

"Le diable à quatre" ("The Devil to Pay") is an opéra comique in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck. The French-language libretto is by Michel-Jean Sedaine and Pierre Baurans, after the ballad opera by Charles Coffey entitled "The Devil to Pay, or The Wives Metapmorhos’d". It was first performed at Laxenburg on May 28, 1759. The work was a popular success. Joseph Haydn used a melody from it, "Je n’aimais pas le tabac beaucoup" (I didn’t like tobacco much)” in the first movement of his symphony "Le soir". [Clark, Caryl, Review of "New Directions for Haydn Research: Internationaler Joseph Haydn Kongress, Wien, 1982" (edited by Eva Badura-Skoda) (Spring 1988). "The Journal of Musicology", 6 (2): pp. 245-257.] [Churgin, Bathia, "Music Reviews: "Six Symphonies a più strumenti", opus 4 (Pierre van Maldere; edited by Craig Lister) and "Sinfonien 1761 bis 1763" (Joseph Haydn; edited by Jürgen Braun and Sonja Gerlach)" (June 1993). "Notes" (2nd Ser.), 49 (4): pp. 1630-1632.]

Klaus Hortschansky has noted that "Le diable à quatre" is one of Gluck's few stageworks where the composer did not use musical material from prior works, or recycled material from it into future works. [Selden, Margery Stomne, Review of "Parodie und Entlehnung im Schaffen Christoph Willibald Glucks" by Klaus Hortschansky (Spring 1976). "Journal of the American Musicological Society", 29 (1): pp. 148-151.] Bruce Brown has discussed Gluck's authorship of the music in detail, [Smith, Marian, Review of "Gluck and the French Theatre in Vienna" by Bruce Alan Brown ( Autumn 1993). "Dance Research Journal", 25 (2): pp. 34-36.] and has also edited the work for the Gluck "Sämtliche Werke". [Charlton, David, Review of "Gluck and the French Theatre in Vienna" by Bruce Alan Brown (March 1995). "Cambridge Opera Journal", 7 (1): pp. 73-79.]

ynopsis

The story concerns an ill-natured Marquise. An astrologer, to whom she had refused shelter at her chateau, transforms her into the wife of a surly cobbler named Jacques and transforms the cobbler’s sweet-natured wife into the Marquise. After the Marquise learns her lesson, the astrologer reverses the spell. [ [http://www.naxos.com/education/opera_synopses.asp?char=D Synopsis] on Naxos Records]

References

* [http://www.amadeusonline.net/almanacco.php?Start=0&Giorno=28&Mese=05&Anno=1759&Giornata=&Testo=&Parola=Stringa Amadeus Almanac]