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''Esclarmonde'' ((:ɛsklaʁmɔ̃d)) is an opéra ((フランス語:opéra romanesque)) in four acts and eight tableaux, with prologue and epilogue, by Jules Massenet, to a French libretto by Alfred Blau and Louis Ferdinand de Gramont. It was first performed on May 15, 1889 by the Opéra-Comique at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Place du Châtelet in Paris〔Wild & Charlton 2005, pp. 95, 240.〕 with American soprano Sibyl Sanderson in the title role in her professional debut.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=SYBIL SANDERSON'S TRIUMPH. )〕〔("Miss Sanderson in Massenet's opera" ), ''New York Times'', June 1, 1889.〕 ''Esclarmonde'' is perhaps Massenet's most ambitious work for the stage and is his most ''Wagnerian'' in style and scope.〔To describe it as ''Wagnerian'' is a little overstatement. Leitmotivs are clear and distinct, "Wagner-like", but beyond some melodic or harmonic resemblance to ones used by Wagner (particularly in his ''Tristan und Isolde'', ''Das Rheingold'', or ''Götterdämmerung''), they are nevertheless very original. Unlike in Wagner, and in so many other composers, there is no tragedy, death or self-sacrifice involved.〕 In orchestral coloring and structure of melody, however, it is French to the core. The opera has been revived sporadically in the modern era, most notably during the 1970s with Joan Sutherland, conducted by Massenet champion Richard Bonynge. The role of Esclarmonde is notoriously difficult to sing,〔 Upton describes one of Esclarmonde's arias in the third act as "extremely brilliant and difficult, making exacting demands upon the voice." And no wonder: in Act 3, for instance, are some numerous moments requiring voice range, as written, from the middle C up to top G (over top C)! Even though Massenet himself allowed some "scale down" on the highest note used (from G6 to "only" E6), still it is higher than average soprano can go. Moreover, long lasting legato, jumps from high register to the low (with full dynamic range), trills and staccato on high notes, make all that role unusually difficult and taxing for average soprano to sing.〕 with stratospheric coloratura passages that are possible for only the most gifted of performers. ==Composition history== The story of the opera is based on the medieval chivalric tale ''Parthénopéus de Blois'', which was written in the middle of the 12th century by Denis Pyramus. In the original tale, however, the protagonist sorceress is called "Melior"; Esclarmonde's name was borrowed from another ''chanson de geste'' of the 13th century: ''Huon de Bordeaux''. Although the Esclarmonde who appears in ''Huon'' is completely different from her operatic counterpart, ''Huon'' clearly served as the basis of at least part of the opera's libretto. Alfred Blau discovered ''Parthénopéus'' in 1871 in the library of Blois, where he took refuge during the time of the Paris Commune. The libretto was originally called ''Pertinax''; it was first drafted in prose and later versified by Blau's collaborator, Louis de Gramont. In that form – a romantic melodrama in five acts – it was offered in 1882 to the Belgian composer François-Auguste Gevaert, who, however, declined to set it. Soon the libretto found its way into Massenet's hands, though the precise circumstances in which this occurred remain a mystery. On August 1, 1886, Massenet and his publisher Georges Hartmann attended a performance of ''Parsifal'' at the Bayreuth Festival, an event which deeply impressed the composer and had a significant influence on his music. He had already seen the entire ''Ring cycle'' when it was produced in Brussels in 1883. In his ''Memoirs'', which were compiled in 1911 near the end of his life, Massenet ascribes the creation of the role of ''Esclarmonde'' to a chance meeting with Sybil Sanderson sometime in the spring of 1887. He recounts how he was astonished by the range and capacity of her voice, realizing at once that she was the perfect choice for the heroine of his new opera, which he had begun to compose at end of 1886. It is almost certain, however, that he had received the libretto to ''Esclarmonde'' much earlier than that,〔 〕 and the meeting with Sybil Sanderson served rather as an additional catalyst – a stimulus to complete the opera. The work was commissioned as a spectacular event to open the Paris Exposition of 1889. During the most intensive period of creation in the summer of 1887, Massenet moved into the Grand Hotel in Vevey, where Miss Sanderson was also staying; there he rehearsed with her each evening the various sections of his new opera as he composed them. The opera was completed by the end of 1888, and stage rehearsals started at Opéra-Comique. Massenet dedicated the work to Sybil Sanderson in gratitude, allowing her signature to stand alongside his own in the manuscript of the score. After a very successful initial run, however, the opera disappeared from the repertoire and fell into almost complete oblivion. Soon afterwards Sybil Sanderson fell ill. When she died around the start of the 20th century, it seems that Massenet himself lost interest in the opera he had written for her and he discouraged any further productions. The work was not revived until 1923, well after the composer's death. Some short-lived revivals then followed, either staged or in concert performance. It was only in the 1970s that the efforts of Richard Bonynge and Joan Sutherland brought ''Esclarmonde'' back to life. Since then the work has been performed more frequently, but it has failed to recapture its former glory. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Esclarmonde」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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