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Colinette à la cour (1782) - André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry
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Background
A comparison of the scores for Colinette à la cour and Barbe-bleue illustrates the primary distinguishing factor between the genres of comédie lyrique and opera comique: the method of dialogue delivery. In Paris, the issue of genre was tied to the performance venue of a particular opera, due to government regulations. Although comic opera was traditionally presented with spoken dialogue, as in opera comique, when Grétry composed for the Opéra, where recitative was expected, he merged comic subject matter with the sung dialogue heard in serious opera.
Grétry commented on his contributions at the Opéra in his memoirs, explaining, “When I took lyric comedy on to the stage of the Opéra I was regarded as a reprehensible innovator. However, I saw the public tired of endless tragedies.” He continued, “I declared on all sides that two opposing genres had complementary attractions,” noting that spoken drama at the Comédie-Française could be either tragic or comic.[1] Thus, the comédie lyrique represented one more step in the development of opera in France from the time of Lully, when the difference between serious and comic opera was clearly marked.
[1] August-E.-Modest Grétry, Mémoires, ou Essais sur la musique, vol. 1 (Paris: An v, 1796-97), 360-61. Quoted in translation in David Charlton, Grétry and the Growth of Opéra-Comique (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 201.
Plot
Julien and Colinette are to be married the following day, as are Bastien and Justine. At the same time, their town is celebrating the feast of the Prince of Milan.
As the lovers walk in the countryside, Julien denounces the frivolities of the court, while Colinette muses on the pleasures of court life. Julien, fearing that he will lose Colinette to another man if she joins in the court festivities, forbids her to go. As the two argue, they hear the trumpets announcing the Prince’s hunting party.
Prince Alphonse is trying to convince Countess Amélie to marry him, but she offers him only her friendship. The two come across Colinette, and the Prince soon invites her to join the court festivities. Julien witnesses the scene and confronts Colinette in a jealous rage, declaring an end to their relationship before leaving Colinette alone in tears. The Prince arrives and proposes a plan to help them both: it would eliminate Julien’s jealousy of Colinette and make Amelie admit her love for the Prince. Colinette agrees to the plan.
At the opening of Act Two, the Countess rejects the Prince’s renewed offer of love. The Prince announces he will try to love someone else. Fabrice, a friend of the Prince, suggests that the Prince feign interest in Colinette; soon after, in the presence of the Countess, the Prince offers Colinette a crown with the promise of his love. The young girl accepts the gift, at which point the Countess leaves the room in disgust. Once alone with the Prince, Colinette asks about Julien, who soon arrives in lavish attire. The Prince sings to Colinette, and Julien, though jealous, is overcome by his love for Colinette and begs for her forgiveness. Colinette refuses, demanding that Julien go to the ball in order to prove his trust in her.
On their way to the ball, the Prince again admits his love to the Countess, who becomes incensed, convinced that the Prince is now in fact in love with Colinette. The Prince insists on his love for the Countess and she appears to believe him. However, she asks to dance with Julien at the ball, with the intention of asking him to reconcile with Colinette and take her away from the court. At the masquerade ball, Julien and the Prince switch masks, and each dances with the woman he loves. Both the Countess and Colinette are duped, and they admit to their dance partners their true feelings. When the masks are removed, all the lovers are delighted.
As Act Three begins, Justine is waiting for the news of Colinette. Bastien arrives and reports that he only saw Colinette dancing with the Prince at the ball; he declares that this turn of events has not changed his desire to marry Justine. However, Justine refuses to marry if Colinette is not happy. Colinette returns, and recounts the story of the ball to Justine.
Bibliography
Title from title page: COLINETTE A LA COUR / OU LA / DOUBLE EPREUVE / COMÉDIE LYRIQUE / en Trois Actes
Genre: Comédie lyrique
Composer: André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry, 1741-1813
Librettist (French): Jean-Baptiste Lourdet de Santerre, 1735-1815
Libretto based on: Favart’s Ninette é la cour
Setting: A town in France
Premiere: Paris, Opéra, 1 January 1782
First published: Paris: Houbaut, n.d.
Volume in the UNT Collection: First edition, Paris: Houbaut, n.d.
For further reading on Colinette à la cour, see:
Brenet, Michel. Grétry, sa vie et ses œuvres. Paris, 1884.
Charlton, David. Grétry and the Growth of Opéra-comique. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Charlton, David and Elizabeth C. Bartlet. “Grétry, André-Ernest-Modeste.” Grove Music Online, ed. by Laura Macy. [Accessed 17 December 2003]. <http://www.grovemusic.com>
Vendrix, Philippe, ed. Grétry et l’Europe de l’opéra-comique. Liège: Mardaga, 1992.
Physical
Dimensions: 32.5 x 24.5 cm.
Conservation: Foxing; stains, discoloration and some holes; Slight bleed-across; cover somewhat worn with evidence of past Dewey Decimal number.
Binding: Blue marble paper on board with spine that reads "Gretry - Colinette - A. La Coub."
Comments: North Texas property stamps.