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celebrating three hundred years of music by women |
Henriette Adélaïde Villard de Beaumesnil (1748-1813)
The French opera singer and composer Henriette Beaumesnil specialised from the age of seven in soubrette roles in comedies. She made a successful début at the Paris Opéra in November 1766 in the title rôle of the opera Sylvie, and sang in many premières and revivals until her retirement in 1781. She was the third woman to have a work of hers performed at the Paris Opéra.
Her first composition, a one-act opera Anacreon received a private performance in 1781; (Overture and ballet music Kalmus.
In 1784 she acheived public success with her ballet Tibulle et Délie, ou Les Saturnales, following a private premiegrace;re at Court. Her oratorio Les Israelites poursuivis par Pharaon was performed at the Concert Spirituel in December 1784. Les Israélites poursuivis par Pharaon, the only known Oratorio by a woman of the 18th century, was given at the Concert spirituel in December 1784.Her two-act Plaire, c’est commander (opéra comique on a libretto by Marquis de La Salle) ran for 21 performances at the Théâtre Montansier, Paris, from 12 May 1792. The story is about women living in a colony, believing they have lost their husbands in a shipwreck. Satisfied with recovering their freedom, they form the project of fulfilling all public functions themselves, and of assuming authority. The Governor of the island laughs at their plan, lets them form an Assembly, and in the middle of this, he comes to announce that a band of savages is arriving on the colony: fear seizes all minds; they abandon the armour with which they were clothed; but in vain they hurry, they solicit, the soldiers remain motionless, and the savages have time to fall on the females: but, the surprise is that the savages are none other than the husbands who were believed to be dead: then the women recognize that their power is in their charms, and that to please is to command. She is also remembered for her part in a (possibly legendary) duel au pistolet with the dancer Mlle Theodore (1760-1796). Back to Contents Overture to Tibulle et Délie, 1784 2 tpt, 2 hn, 2 fl, 2 ob, strings. 8 mins 1. Allegro, E major. 2. Andante Gracioso, E major. 3. Allegro, E major The ballet was premièred at court and then given at the Paris Opéra in March 1784. The Overture has three brief movements, like an Italian Sinfonia, with bright energy and some effective harmonic changes; it can be heard on Youtube. Writing Dictionnaire des cantatrices de l'Opéra de Paris, 1987 Jean Gourret.
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