Organization

Festival Palazzetto Bru Zane à Paris

Conductor

Hervé Niquet

Singer

Soprano

Anne-Catherine Gillet

Phryné

Tenor

Cyrille Dubois

Nicias

Bass

Thomas Dolié

Dicéphile

Anaïs Constans

Lampito

Matthieu Lécroart

Agoragine

Camille Tresmontant

Cynalopex

Le Héraut

Orchestra

Orchestre National d'Île de France

Palazzetto Bru Zane

Others

Choeur du Concert Spirituel

Opéra Comique

Paris

France

Opéra-Comique

Phryné Saint-Saëns

Public

Private

Approved

Phryné was one of Saint-Saëns’s most performed and esteemed operas until the First World War. The score, completed in Algiers in March 1893, was originally intended for the Théâtre Lyrique de la Renaissance. But when its manager went bankrupt, the composer turned to the Opéra-Comique, where the work was premiered on 24 May 1893. Two fellow-composers expressed their admiration for Saint-Saëns when they discovered this little gem: André Messager (‘My God, how delicious your [first] act is!’) and Charles Gounod (‘Thank you for your delightful Phryné. I am now going to hear it through the eyes (those two second ears of the musician) after my ears, those eyes of the music, have already been intoxicated by it’). The work enjoyed immediate success, which quickly spread to the provinces. Its publisher, Durand, then began to invest in translations in order to solicit performances abroad: French and Italian vocal scores were issued in June 1896, followed by a German version. As the linguistic specificity of the spoken dialogue risked putting off the managements of some opera houses, Messager composed recitatives which were published in August 1909 and are skilfully interwoven into Saint-Saëns’s music with great care over continuity. It is this extremely rare version that the Palazzetto Bru Zane offers an opportunity to discover.

English

Phryné by Saint-Saëns, From (2022/2022), Conductor Hervé Niquet, Opéra-Comique, Paris, France

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Ensemble

Co-Producer

Programme, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues