Dramatic Vocalise Database
Daniel Auber (1782–1871)
Haydée, ou Le secret (1847)
Haydée, ou Le secret is an opéra comique by French composer Daniel Auber, first performed by the Théâtre Royal de l’Opéra-Comique at the Salle Favart in Paris on 28 December 1847. The libretto (in three acts) is by Auber’s regular collaborator, Eugène Scribe and is based on a short story by Prosper Mérimée, La Partie de trictrac (1830).
In his discussion of the wordless chorus during the storm scene in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Julian Budden mentions that, “a precedent exists in Auber’s opéra comique Haydée (1848) [sic] which Verdi could certainly have seen during his stay that year in Paris.” 1
Act II, No. 8: Couplets et Chœur: C’est la corvette qui leste et coquette [piano/vocal score .pdf] 2
Auber, Haydée, act 2, no. 8, mm. 64–76 3
Compare this to Verdi’s Rigoletto from just a few years latter. [click here]
Also take a look at this passage from Vaughan Williams’s opera Sir John in Love, inspired by Verdi, or so I believe. [click here]
Examples | Comments |
| Act II, No. 8: Couplets et Chœur: C’est la corvette qui leste et coquette Filmed live at the Théâtre Imperial de la Musique Compiègne (France) Isabelle Philippe, Bruno Comparetti, Anne Sophie Schmidt, Paul Medioni, Mathias Vidal; conductor, Michael Swierczewski |
Footnotes
1 Julian Budden, The Operas of Verdi, Revised edition, vol. 1: From Oberto to Rigoletto, 3 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), 506, fn.
2 Daniel-François-Esprit Auber, Haydée, Plate B.a. 4823 (Paris: E. Benoit ainé, n.d.), 77–80.
3 Ibid., 80.