Poursuivant la petite histoire de l'art lyrique français, Germaine Tailleferre et Denise Centore évoquent maintenant le grand style réaliste tel que l'ont pratiqué, entre autres compositeurs, Gustave Charpentier et Alfred Bruneau, qui ont osé amener sur la scène lyrique, le langage de tous les jours et le costume du prolétaire. L'action de la Pauvre Eugénie se situe à Paris en 1905, dans un atelier de lingerie, celui de Madame Phémie, qui a un mari, Monsieur Ernesse, et trois ouvrières : Titine la gavroche, Paula la sentimentale, et Eugénie, l'héroïne de cette histoire, ou plutôt, de ces tranches de vie, selon le style de l'époque. C'est le pendant musical des Rougon-Macquart de Zola. Gégène n'apparaîtra qu'à l'heure du dénouement. Au début de l'opéra, dans l'atelier, les trois ouvrières travaillent à des jupons de linon ennuagés de dentelle, et la mauvaise humeur de Monsieur Ernest s'exprime à la cantonade. Madame Phémie, la femme de ce dernier, presse ses ouvrières et découvre qu'Eugénie mange du saucisson à l'ail. Eugénie est mise à la porte pour cette faute grave et, désespérée, elle veut se jeter dans la Seine. Titine et Paula, horrifiées, lui parlent de l'enfant qu'elle a eu avec Monsieur J. Duplan, qui devait l'épouser. Elle ne peut pas l'abandonner. Soudain, on frappe à la porte, et apparaît Gégène qui vient livrer un boa pour Madame Phémie. Indignation de Titine et Paula, Madame Phémie va mettre un boa alors qu'elle a mis à la porte une fille-mère ! Gégène, indigné, veut voir Eugénie, dont il tombe amoureux ! Tout est bien qui finit bien, Eugénie part avec Gégène, quittant ainsi celle qui l'exploitait.Le dernier opéra évoque la période d'Offenbach, il s'agit de Monsieur Petitpois achète un château. Les personnages, en costume Second Empire, évoluent dans un château médiéval proche de Romorantin. C'est le domaine ancestral de Monsieur le Duc de la Bombardière. Le duc a un fils, lieutenant hussard et joli garçon, une servante familière et dévouée, Cunégonde, nourrice d'Adélestan, et un notaire compétent, Maître Pointillard. Mais il n'a pas d'argent, tout au moins, commence-t-il à n'en avoir plus assez. Il lui faut vendre son château, et il attend la visite d'un acquéreur éventuel, Monsieur Petitpois. Il s'entretient de l'affaire avec son notaire, et ne dédaignera pas de prendre l'avis de Madame Cunégonde, sa servante, sitôt terminée l'ouverture de l'opéra. / Orchestre / Partition

Oper in Funf Akten Version 1756. Par RAMEAU JEAN-PHILIPPE. Richer than ever ? Rameau?s ?Zoroastre? in the version of 1756. Opera in five acts. Rameau?s revised version of his opera ?Zoroastre?, which could be heard and seen between 20 January 1756 and 26 March 1757 at the Académie royale de musique, was favourably received. Also from today?s point of view the work profits dramaturgically from many of the changes and seems altogether richer and more tightly woven than the original of 1749. The subject matter of the libretto, derived from Ancient Persian sources, is timeless: the struggle between good and bad. The good is embodied by the religious reformer Zoroastre, a representative of the supreme light being Orosmade. He is opposed by the ambitious magician Abramane who serves Ariman, the spirit of the dark. The opera includes some of Rameau?s most ecstatic and spiritual musical numbers, such as the episode of sun worship in Act 3 with the sublime ?Hymne à la Lumière?, which, for unknown reasons, was not integrated in the revision of 1756. It is therefore included in Appendix 3 of this Bärenreiter edition. Incidentally, with ?Zoroastre? the prologue, wh ich had been customary since the beginnings of French opera in the 1670s, was abandoned. Instead Rameau was the first to introduce an overture which set the scene for the entire drama and thereby anticipated Gluck?s opera reform by many years. - One of Rameau?s main works for the stage, now available with all its versions - With a straight-forward piano reduction in the vocal score by François Saint-Yves - Available on sale full score (B0A8867-01) and vocal score (BA08867-90) - Performance material available for hire BA08867-72 - Jean-Philippe Rameau - Opera Omnia (OOR) IV/26 / Date parution : 2022-07-30/ Répertoire / Chant et Piano

Camelot is a popular Musical which also received a film adaptation in 1967. Available here is the Libretto for the Musical with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The show is based on the King Arthur legend as based on the T.H. White novel The Once and Future King.

The Complete Libretto-The enticing music of Puccini's La Bohème perfectly conveys the enchantment of new young love and the anguish that comes with loss and death. This gorgeous souvenir libretto includes extensive background notes and photos from productions staged through the years by the Metropolitan Opera.There's a reason La Bohème has been staged at the Met more often than any other Opera. The passionate and timeless story of love among impoverished young artists in Paris has a marvelous ability to make a powerful first impression (even on those new to Opera) and to reveal unexpected treasures after dozens of hearings.At firstglance La Bohème is the definitive depiction of the joys and sorrows of love and loss; on closer inspection it reveals the deep emotional significance hidden in the trivial things (a bonnet an old overcoat a chance meeting with a neighbor) that make up our everyday lives. This touching story of tenderness and tragedy never fails to move audiences and melt hearts.

Full Score-The premiere of La Bohème took place at the Teatro Regio in Turin on 1 February 1896. Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica based their libretto for this opera on Scènes de la vie de Bohème by Henry Murger. It took Puccini only a fewmonths to complete a score brimming with wonderful melodic invention and orchestrational genius. The music is a surprisingly supple and sensitive medium for depicting a variety of emotions that animate the young: reckless living full of stop-gapexpedients erratic feelings and sudden explosions of noble sentiment the driving ambitions of one?s art. Puccini?s musical imagery illuminates the different moments and moods of the story with a delicate yet intense lyrical quality; just as therapid decline and death of Mimì subtle yet invincible remind us of the universal reality that all things must inevitably come to an end.On the cover: ?Al Quartiere Latino? sketch by Riccardo Salvadori as a variation on the sketch by Adolf Hohenstein for the world premiere in Turin of Bohème 1896 © Archivio Storico Ricordi

Acte de Ballet. Par RAMEAU JEAN-PHILIPPE. Rameau Io RCT 45 (Vocal Score) In Rameau's operatic oeuvre, 'Io' is certainly the work shrouded in the most mystery: the acte de ballet has survived only in the form of a copy of the score and parts which was made by a collector from the generation after Rameau from the autograph that now is lost. Although the copy seems to have been used, presumably for a trial read-through, the work was apparently never regularly performed during Rameau's lifetime. And for good reason: the work breaks off abruptly at the beginning of the divertissement; neither the librettist nor a plan for a theatre location are known. Because of its incompleteness, 'Io' was long regarded as Rameau's last work, but there is much to suggest that the composition must have been written between 1740 and 1745. The introduction to this edition examines the references regarding the dating as well as various hypotheses about performance possibilities and librettists. The plot revolves around one of those typical mythological flirtations that are inevitably to be expected when Jupiter and a nymph, here Io, are involved. With the appearance of madness, La Folia, the work reaches a dramaturgical climax. However after this, the opera breaks off. In order to make the piece performable, the editors of ?Opera Omnia Rameau? propose an addition to the divertissement as well as an ending borrowed from the ballet bouffon 'Platée' in its 1745 version, which shows numerous parallels to 'Io'. Thus, these additions come as close as possible to Rameau's style of the 1740s while bringing the plot to a conclusion. - Fragmentary work completed with original music by Rameau - Based on the score of ?Opera Omnia Rameau?, Volume V/1 - Particularly suitable for academies and conservatories as few soloists are required and the few choral movements can be sung by soloists / Date parution : 2023-06-01/ Répertoire / Opéra

Chamber opera in a prologue and one act. A ghost story telling of the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in the Hebrides. This is a mystery story in the form of a chamber opera. The prologue is set as acourt of enquiry into the unexplained disappearance of the three keepers from a lighthouse. Questions are posed by a solo horn which may sound from among the audience and three officers give answer. Gradually they move fromstraight testimony into fantastical imaginings of evil during a 'flashback' to the lighthouse; but then we snap back to the courtroom. In the main act the three singers become the vanished keepers. They have been together formonths long enough to be fully aware of each other's weaknesses; petty bickerings suggest a relationship which is stable but liable to become highly unstable at any moment. They sing songs to reduce the tension Blazes beginningwith a rough ballad of street violence accompanied by violin and banjo. Sandy's song with cello and out-of-tune upright piano is a thinly disguised description of sexual bliss and Arthur's with brass and clarinet is atub-thumping hymn. But the songs serve only to resurrect in their minds ghosts from the past and as the fog descends each of the keepers becomes convinced that he is being claimed by the Beast. They prepare to meet its dazzlingeyes which become the lights of the relief vessel and the three men reappear as officers met at the lighthouse only by an infestation of rats. They leave and at the end the last hours of Blazes Sandy and Arthur begin to playover again.Study Score. Duration c. 1h 25mins.

Par CAVALLI FRANCESCO. In 1662, Cavalli’s career was at its zenith. The two dozen operas he had written for Venice had helped establish Venice as the world’s first operatic superpower. “Scipione Affricano” (Venice 1664), Cavalli’s first opera after returning from France, was one of his most successful compositions. In a period that valued new works over familiar ones, “Scipione” was one of a handful of operas to live on after its premiere season: it was revived eight times and chosen to inaugurate Rome’s Teatro Tordinona in 1671. Cavalli’s librettist, Nicolò Minato, was inspired by historical accounts of the life of the Roman general Scipio, whose defeat of Carthage in 202 BCE earned him the honorary agnomen “Africanus.” In setting Minato’s libretto, Cavalli drew upon the lyrical gifts that have made operas like “La Calisto” and “Giasone” so popular today. But at the same time “Scipione Affricano” also shows the composer embracing aspects of his two years in France, and responding to musical changes that, in the 1660s, were rapidly altering the face of Italian opera: the growing dominance of arias, a clearer sense of aria organization, and increased interplay between voice and instruments. The first goal of this edition is a practical one: to develop a version of the opera suited to the needs of both professional and student performers. A second goal is to reconstruct the opera’s complete performance history. An amply documented appendix reconstructs earlier versions of 21 arias. Other appendices print the surviving additional music from revivals in Rome and Venice. The edition is framed by a substantial Introduction, covering the drama, the musical style, the composition, premiere, and revivals, and a guide for performance today, plus a detailed “decoding” of the sources. - series Francesco Cavalli – Opere / Date parution : 2022-11-08/ Répertoire / Opéra

Menotti's 'The Medium' is something of a cautionary tale which had its genesis in a séance attended by the composer himself. The plot of the libretto (by Menotti himself) runs as follows: Living in conditions of near-squalor Baba poses as a medium with her daughter Monica posing as ghosts from the beyond. She takes in Toby a mute as a lodger but distrusts him. The business continues until during a séance she feels a 'cold hand' tightening abouther throat. When her customers return for another session she tells them that she is a fake and demonstrates her tricks but her clients protest that she must be real that it was not Monica's voice they heard. She drives themout and resolves to cast out Toby as well. When Toby returns she shoots and inadvertently kills him. At the conclusion she still wonders if it had been Toby. This Libretto is in English only.

Ballet Heroïque With A Prologue and Four Acts-The main body of the new edition of Les Indes galantes published in Opera Omnia Rameau (OOR IV.2 7) restores the version authorised by Rameau in 1736. This basic editorial decision has made it possible to present a fully coherent and authenticated reading of the work (after the adjustments from the earliest performances). All other versions before and after 1736 are gathered together in 19 appendices.Sylvie Bouissou?s new edition differs markedly from previous modern editions and all existing recordings. With its appendices she does justice to the performer?s need for Rameau?s various revisions while finally making accessible a version actually authorised byRameau. For the first time it is presented in its complete stylistic and dramatic context.Practical vocal score by François Saint-Yves for keyboard accompanimentBased on a reassessment of all sources and versionsDestined to have a clear impact on performances of Rameau?s magnum opusUrtext edition from the Rameau edition 'Opera omnia'.Full score (BA8860) and vocal score (BA8860-90) available for sale.Performance material (BA8860-72) available for hire.

Luis Tinoco (Composer) and Stephen Plaice (Libretto) wrote 'Paint Me' and Opera for six singers and Chamber Orchestra.Rui Horta and Joana Carneiro are responsible for the stage direction and the musicaldirection.'My idea in writing Paint Me was to bring together six characters all of whom have a prolific imaginative interior life and to explore what they would make of each other in the confines of a railwaycompartment. The model for my libretto is Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The travellers in Paint Me are also on their way to Canterbury but they are strangers thrown together by the randomness of modern travel. Theirtales are not told publicly but in their own imaginations. Most journeys in the modern age are anonymous and conducted in silence. We have only a visual or perhaps manneristic impression of the people sitting opposite us. Thisintrospection in public opens up a private fantasy space in which our fellow travellers can become the characters in instant psychological dramatisations.I wanted to formalize each character’s fantasy into a full narrative. Theresult is a kind of anthology of operatic short stories surrounded by the framework of an ordinary journey.'     - Stephen Plaice