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Fromental Halévy's La Tempesta FROMENTAL HALÉVY’S LA TEMPESTA: A STUDY IN THE NEGOTIATION OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES by CHRISTOPHER HENDLEY (Under the Direction of David Schiller) ABSTRACT This dissertation deals with the performance and reception of the opera La Tempesta, composed by Fromental Halévy and adapted from Shakespeare by Eugène Scribe. In La Tempesta, French grand opera, the London Italian opera tradition, and Shakespearean appropriation collide. Thus its composer, its librettist, its critics, and even its audience become agents of cultural change in the process by which the negotiation of cultural differences is carried out, while the opera itself comes into focus only when seen from all three perspectives. Beginning with the conception of La Tempesta in the hands of London’s beloved adopted composer Felix Mendelssohn, the study traces the history of La Tempesta from its premiere in London to its revival a year later for the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. It examines the opera from two perspectives: as a historical and cultural event, emphasizing the opera’s production and reception in London; and as a musical and dramatic work, dealing with such technical aspects as harmony, form and overall dramatic construction. In viewing the opera as an event, the study also addresses its broader contexts, including the history of Shakespearean reception in both England and France, the tradition of Italian opera in London, and the role of cultural prejudices that existed between France and England. Integral to the study is an exploration of how certain genres of European lyric drama, particularly Italian opera, French grand opéra and opéra comique, and melodrama may have influenced the authors of La Tempesta in their effort to create a successful work. The study also includes a complete harmonic and formal analysis of Halévy’s music, and a thorough analytic comparison of Shakespeare’s text with Scribe’s adapted libretto. By relying on the published vocal score and libretto and other primary sources such as the unpublished autograph score, personal memoirs, letters, and contemporary journal and newspaper reviews, this study provides a window on the insular world of London lyric drama, and demonstrates the differences, similarities, and in some cases reciprocal influences among the various national schools of nineteenth-century opera and drama. INDEX WORDS: Shakespearean Appropriation, Nineteenth-Century Opera, Halévy, Scribe, Nineteenth-Century English Lyric Drama FROMENTAL HALÉVY’S LA TEMPESTA: A STUDY IN THE NEGOTIATION OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES by CHRISTOPHER DEAN HENDLEY B.S., Auburn University, 1987 M.M.E.D., The University of Georgia, 1989 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2005 © 2005 Christopher Dean Hendley All Rights Reserved FROMENTAL HALÉVY’S LA TEMPESTA: A STUDY IN THE NEGOTIATION OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES by CHRISTOPHER DEAN HENDLEY Major Professor: David Schiller Committee: Christy Desmet Dorothea Link David Haas Roger Vogel Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2005 DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this document to the memory of my father-in-law, Mr. Harold “Hal” Spencer, who passed away just weeks before the completion of my degree. On my last visit with Hal, he asked that I inform him as soon as I officially became “Dr. Hendley,” as he couldn’t wait to tell his friends that his son-in-law was a doctor. I truly wish this could have happened before Hal left us. Goodbye Hal, I’ll miss you. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are a number of people who helped make this document possible, and I will do my best to remember you all. I’ll begin by thanking my committee, whose trust and confidence in my work helped me make it through a difficult time. I especially want to thank David Schiller and Christy Desmet for their invaluable insight and guidance in developing this study, and for their generosity of time and effort. I would also like to recognize Virginia Feher and the staff of the Interlibrary Loan Department at the University of Georgia. The ILL staff was able to secure most of the sources I needed for this document, and I cannot express how appreciative I am for their amazing work. For my primary sources, I must acknowledge the staff of the Music Collection at the British Library in London, and in particular Chris Banks and J. Clements. The prospect of performing archival research a continent away was very daunting to me, but I was able to avoid many pitfalls by corresponding with this staff via email. I continue to be grateful for their willingness to correspond with a novice researcher. Likewise, thanks goes to Catherine Massip and the other music librarians of both the Bibliothèque de l’Opéra and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. These fine individuals were always responsive to my numerous inquiries, and could not have been more helpful during my stay in Paris. There were many occasions where I needed guidance from people I really didn’t know, and I took a chance that they might help me by dropping them an inquiry via email. In every instance, the individual was more than willing to help me, and I must acknowledge their generosity. Thanks in particular to David Charlton and Jullian Rushton, both in London, and to v Sarah Hibbard at the University of Nottingham. I would also like to recognize Jennifer Hall- Dewitt of Smith College for providing me with the photo of Her Majesty’s Theatre. I remain grateful to everyone who aided in acquiring funding for my archival research in Paris and London. Thanks to Dwight Call and the International Education Center at Georgia College & State University for their support in awarding me the WEIR grant, and to the Department of Research and Graduate Services of Georgia College & State University for the Research Grant I received. The Almonte C. Howell, Jr. Fellowship Award also provided some much appreciated support for my research. Thanks also to my department chair Richard Greene, and to both former Dean Bernie Patterson and current Dean Beth Rushing for their constant support, demonstrated by the granting of a year-long sabbatical and by being very flexible with my teaching load. And finally, thanks to my parents Herb and Alice Hendley and to Hal and Betty Spencer for the generous donations they made which helped fund my European trip. I would also like to thank John Hebel for helping me locate a particularly difficult microfilm, and Jean Guiton for his help with my correspondences with the Bibilothèque de l’Opéra, the Bibilothèque Nationale in Paris, and the Paris National Archives. Thanks also goes to my friend Dee Russell who helped make sure my French translations were accurate, but mostly for his enthusiastic insights regarding my topic. I must also thank my dear friend Sandi Dimon for her willingness to proof my chapters as they became available, and to my new friend Marlene Johnson who pointed me in the direction of a particularly important source for my final chapter. Finally, thanks to Bruce Bishop, who spent three hours one afternoon helping me to scan photos into the document. I must also say thank-you to all my students at Georgia College & State University. I know there were many times that I was distracted by the burden of writing a dissertation while vi teaching full-time, but I never felt anything but support and enthusiasm from my students. And last but not least, thank you to my wife Susan and my son Adam, whose love and support were immeasurable over the course of the last six years. I could not have done this without them, and could not love them any more for never making me feel like I was an absent husband and father. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................................x LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1 Introduction: La Tempesta as Work and Event……...………………………………...1 Methodology and Scope............................................................................................5 Description of Primary Sources ................................................................................8 Review of Literature................................................................................................13 Organization and Summary of Chapters .................................................................15 2 La Tempesta in London: Expectations, Production, and Reception………………. ...18 Trajectories of Expectations....................................................................................19 A Crisis at Her Majesty’s and the Production of La Tempesta...............................50 Une Shakespearean croustade à la Halévy-Scribe: How London Received La Tempesta .......................................................................................................67 3 La Tempesta by Scribe: The Libretto as Shakespearean Appropriation……..............78 La Tempesta and Shakespearean Appropriation .....................................................79 Scribe’s Tempesta as Compared with Shakespeare’s Tempest ...............................92 4 La Tempesta by Halévy: The Opera as a Musical Work…. ......................................122
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