This is exciting for all opera-tragics out there:
ABEN-HAMET, Théodore Dubois
Festival Classica , Saint-Lambert, juin 2013
L'Orchestre de chambre de la Montérégie et le chœur du Festival Classica sous la direction de Jean-Claude Malgoire.
Chef de chœur : Martin Dagenais.
Avec Nicolas Rivenq, baryton (Aben-Hamet), Julie Fuchs, soprano (Bianca), Pascale Beaudin, soprano (Alfaïma), Nora Sourouzian, mezzo-soprano (Zulema) et Marc Boucher, baryton (Le Duc de Santa Fe).
I hope that some of our North American members will be recording it.
Sorry, I forgot to mention broadcast details:
Espace-Musique ( Montreal , Canada) at 13.00 hrs on Saturday, 1st June
Does anyone know if Espace Musique will be broadcasting the last two acts of this opera?
Or, did I set my timer to stop recording too early?
Same here; Espace's intro to the Dubois opera lasted a full hour. they ran over their scheduled time, and I missed the last part as well. Do hope that someone who recorded it will post!
What I did hear was interesting, though a bit on the languorous side. One thing that stood out was a strong identity, in mood and instrumentation, to the eastern subject matter. I'm more familiar with Dubois' organ works, which are far better represented on recordings than his other works.
Go to this web address and download all four acts of this most pleasant opera:
http://www.espace.mu/espace-musique/animateurs/lecuyersylvia/5646 (http://www.espace.mu/espace-musique/animateurs/lecuyersylvia/5646)
Thanks, Mike
Yes, indeed... that felt more complete. Nothing like a good operatic death scene to know when it's time to go home. ;)
Dubois strikes again! This is a hugely enjoyable example of late 19th century French opera. Absolutely luscious.
If no one else beats me to it, I'll upload a recording in the next few days.
Sounds juicy. Thanks, Mark.
By the way, I missed this entirely somehow or other, though I was looking for it - the vocal score of Aben-Hamet (if this interests) can be found at IMSLP here (http://imslp.org/wiki/Aben-Hamet_(Dubois,_Th%C3%A9odore)). (According to page, 4 acts and a prologue, first performed 16 Dec. 1884.)
My tracked recording from the web site is now available in the Downloads section. Although it's some way from being 100% authentic Dubois, it's still a ravishing listen.
hrm. I don't know how long act 4 would last complete, but it's only 25 pages of vocal score (out of ... about 324? not counting the appendix afterwards. pp. 300 to 324.)
There's a chorus and a solo by the Duke of Santa Fe missing from the beginning, and other material later on. There's only about 8 minutes of it in the recording - hardly even a scene, never mind an act.