"Mathilde von Guise", opera by J.N. Hummel
- from: 23.11.2008
- to: 26.11.2008
- In: Laon
Recreation of the concertante version on antique instrumetns in a world 1st
agenda
23/11/2008
24/11/2008
26/11/2008
Practical
Laon
Chantilly
Saint-Etienne
The composor
Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837), a child prodigy born in Bratislava (Slovakia, at the time Austria-Hungary), was Motzart's most gifted student, the successor to Haydn as cantor at Eisenstadt/Esterhaza and Beethoven's friend and "rival", one of the great vituosos of his time on piano and a leading composer.
He had links to France (he played there during major European tours, received the Légion d'honneur and was a member of the Institute of France) and Germany (he spent the last twenty years of his life in Weimar as a music teacher and along with Goethe was one of the very first personalities of this town in the 1820s and 30s).
The work
"Mathilde von Guise", an opera in 3 acts, J.N. Hummel's 100th opus, was created in Vienna in 1810 and revised for Weimar in 1821. The original libretto is in French and was due to Emmanuel Mercier-Dupaty. Several manuscript sources remain in the libraries of Weimar, Berlin, London and Budapest.
It is the only one of around 10 operas by Hummel to have been published while he was alive, in German and Italian.
After Weimar's revision, the work was played in Prague, Riga and Berlin.
The performers
The Bratislava Solamente Naturali Orchestra of antique instruments, the Picardie Regional Choir (conducted by Bernard Spizzi) the Slovak soloists (Eva Suskova, Ondrej Saling, Martin Mikus) and French soloists (Hjördis Thébault, Pierre-Yves Pruvot, Philippe Do) will be conducted by Didier Talpain.
- Updated: 24.11.2008
