Théâtre d’Orléans – Cover Image
Alissa Mercurio Rowe, soprano Irina Cunev, piano Tyler Smith, tenor Select Members of the Southeastern Louisiana University Women’s Chorale: Ariel George, Emily Guagliardo, Camryn Rodrigue, Caitlyn Rodrigue, Madelyne Taylor, & Hannah Turner
Recorded September 4 & 18 and October 13, 2020 Ralph R. Pottle Music Building Auditorium • Hammond, LA 70402
William Kelley, recording engineer Centaur Records, recording producer
Title: Defining French Arias of Early 19th Century New Orleans 1. Quel bonheur respire from Fra Diavolo by Daniel-François Auber 3:53 2. Voyez sur cette roche from Fra Diavolo by Daniel-François Auber 3:15 3. Je suis jeune from Le tableau parlant by André Ernest Modeste Grétry 3:57 4. La nuit dans les bras from Le tableau parlant by André Ernest Modeste Grétry 3:51 5. Il est certains barbon from Le tableau parlant by André Ernest Modeste Grétry 4:11 6. Tiene ma reine from Le tableau parlant by André Ernest Modeste Grétry 5:19 7. Je suis en ta puissance from Le macon by Daniel-François Auber 3:48 8. Je m’en vas from Le macon by Daniel-François Auber 2:58 9. A chaque instant from Le macon by Daniel-François Auber 3:58 10. Ah, sur notre hymen from Le macon by Daniel-François Auber 4:04 11. Rose chérie from Zémire et Azor by André Ernest Modeste Grétry 2:39 12. La Fauvette from Zémire et Azor by André Ernest Modeste Grétry 6:17
TOTAL: 45:30 BIO’S
Alissa Mercurio Rowe, is an active soprano soloist, choral conductor, and voice teacher. As a soloist, she has performed with the Tallahassee Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Baton Rouge Symphony, New Hampshire Symphony, and the National Symphony Orchestra (Mexico). She also performed and recorded three roles in David Schiff’s opera Gimpel the Fool, conducted by Kenneth Kiesler, with Third Angle, Portland Oregon’s renowned new music ensemble. Dr. Rowe is a versatile performer who regularly performs a wide variety of works such as the Beethoven’s Mass in C, Messiah of Handel, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Schubert’s Mass in G, as well as opera roles in La Cenerentola, The Consul, Magic Flute and La Perichole, among others. She currently serves as Associate Professor, Director of Choral Activities at Southeastern Louisiana University. Dr. Rowe conducts the Southeastern Concert Choir, Southeastern Louisiana University’s premiere choral ensemble and the Bella Voce Ensemble. Dr. Rowe holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Louisiana State University, a Master of Music in Conducting and Vocal Performance, a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Teacher Certification K-12 from the University of Michigan.
Irina Cunev, a native from Republic of Moldova, Dr. Cunev earned a Bachelor of Music from Moldova State University of Arts, Master of Music from Southeastern Louisiana University and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Louisiana State University. Dr. Cunev joined the faculty at Southeastern Louisiana University in 2006 as a staff accompanist, collaborating with vocal and instrumental studios and providing accompaniment for faculty, students and guest artists recitals on a regular basis and is currently Piano Instructor and Accompanying Area Coordinator.
Tenor Tyler Smith has appeared in numerous operatic and concert performances throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. Most recently he was seen as Canio in the Mobile Opera production of I Pagliacci. He also performed the role of Howard Boucher in New Orleans Opera’s critically acclaimed production of Dead Man Walking. Other appearances with Louisiana Opera include Rodolfo in La bohéme and Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana. For Opéra Louisiane he has performed the roles of Siegmund and Siegfried in a production of The Ring: a reduction created by Michael Borowitz. For his portrayal of Canio with New Orleans Opera, Opera News deemed his performance a “heroic job…[a] powerful voice and was remarkably in touch with the drama.” Other roles performed include Don Jose in Carmen, Sam in Susannah, Max in Der Freischütz, Boris in Katya Kabanova, the title role in Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann, Florestan in Fidelio, and Belfiore in Argento’s Casanovas Homecoming (released on the Newport Classics label). In 2001 he made his Houston Grand Opera debut in Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men (released on the Albany label). He is currently Extraordinary Professor of Voice and Coordinator of Voice Studies at Loyola University of New Orleans.
NOTES
New Orleans Louisiana helped establish both opera and public concerts in America during the nineteenth century. The epicenter of the city in 1800 consisted of the French sector, also known as the French Quarter or Vieux Carré, and much of this area was French speaking until the beginning of the twentieth century. Beginning in 1796, opera performances helped establish New Orleans as a world music capital. In the 1920s and ’30s these performances reached an artistic level only surpassed by the best opera houses in Europe. There were three early theaters in New Orleans where dramatic performances took place: Saint Peter Street Theater (1792), Saint Philip Street Theater (1808) and the Théâtre d’Orléans (1809). The Théâtre d’Orléans was the first significant opera house established in New Orleans and remained so until The French Opera House (Théâtre de l’Opéra) opened in 1859.
Daniel François-Esprit Auber (1782–1871) is known for his opéra comique compositions. He played the piano, violin, and cello and was known to be a good baritone singer as well. His father expected that he help run the family business, but French-Anglo hostilities forced him to move to Paris where he remained for the rest of his life. Auber had composed his entire life but began studies with Luigi Cherubini in 1805. Following his father’s death and bankruptcy, he devoted his life to opera composition. Auber came into partnership with Eugène Scribe and between 1823–1864 they wrote thirty-eight staged works together. They became leaders of opéra comique composition in France.
One of their most famous works is Fra Diavolo, an opéra comique in three acts. It is loosely based on the life of an Itrani guerrilla leader active in southern Italy from 1800–1806, who went under the name of Fra Diavolo (“Brother Devil”). The opera was first performed by the Opéra-Comique at the Salle Ventadour in Paris January 28, 1830. Sources note that Fra Diavolo was also performed at the Théâtre d’Orléans in 1835 and 1840. The opera was Auber’s greatest success, one of the most popular works of the nineteenth century, and was part of the standard repertory in its original French as well as German and Italian versions.
Another collaboration between Auber and Scribe was Le maçon (The Mason). An opéra comique in three acts, it was one of Auber’s first successes in the genre. Le maçon premiered at the Opéra-Comique Salle Feydeau in Paris on May 3, 1825 and was later performed at the at the Théâtre d’Orléans in 1835 and 1840.
Belgian composer, André Ernest-Modeste Grétry (1741–1813) made many contributions to the development of seventeenth-century opéra comique. Grétry was a choirboy from a young age and then learned both violin and organ. He attended performances of an Italian opéra comique troupe during 1754–1755 which helped solidify his interest in opera. Grétry composed over fifty operas.
Le tableau parlant was one of three early successes in the span of a year that established Grétry’s reputation. It premiered on September 20, 1769 at the Hotel de Bourgogne in Paris and remained in the opéra comique repertoire until the 1860s because of its popularity. It was performed in 1806 at the New Orleans Saint Peter Street Theater.
One of his most famous operas is an opéra comique called Zémire et Azor which was described as a comédie-ballet mêlée de chants et de danses in four acts. The French text by Jean-François Marmontel was based on La Belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast) by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, and Amour pour amour by Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée. The opera includes the famous coloratura display piece La Fauvette in which the soprano imitates birdsong. Zémire et Azor premiered at the Comédie-Italienne at Fontainebleau on November 9, 1771 and was later performed in New Orleans in 1806 at the Saint Peter Street Theater.