L'Amant Anonyme
CDR 90000 217 (Cedille Records, CD, 3 discs)
FIRST RELEASE (10 February 2023)
Playing time: 50'30"/48'24"/71'37" - TT 170'31"
Tracks: 14 + 19 + 21
Booklet pages: 98
℗ 2023 Cedille Records
© 2023 Cedille Records
Main country of recording: United States of America
Country of manufacture: United States of America
Reviewer: Gerald Fenech
Review of L'Amant Anonyme published on 5 April 2023
Nicole Cabell, soprano (Léontine)
Geoffrey Agpalo, tenor (Valcour)
David Govertsen, bass-baritone (Ophémon)
Erica Schuller, soprano (Jeannette)
Michael St Peter, tenor (Colin)
Nathalie Colas, soprano (Dorothée)
Haymarket Opera Company
Craig Trompeter, conductor
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier De Saint-Georges (1745-1799):
L'Amant Anonyme - opéra comique in two acts - first recording
The libretto by François Guillome Desfontaines is based on a play by Felicité Ducrest, Comtesse de Genlis, translated into English for Haymarket Opera Company by Edward Wheatley and Mary Mackay, edited by Nathalie Colas and James Ginsburg.
CD1
Act I
1 Overture
2 Depuis longtemps mon coeur soupire
3 Scene 2 dialogue
4 Tant de constance
5 Scene 3 dialogue part 1
6 Son amour, sa constance extrême
7 Scene 3 dialogue part 2
8 Chantons, célébrons notre dame
9 Ballet
10 Jouissez de l'allégresse
11 Scene 4 dialogue
12 Danse
13 Scenes 5&6 dialogue
14 Quinqué
CD2
Act II
1 Enfin une foule importune ... Amour deviens-moi propice
2 Scene 1 dialogue
3 Ah! Finissez de grâce
4 Scene 2 dialogue part 1
5 Aimez sans pouvoir le dire
6 Scene 2 dialogue part 2
7 Du tendre amour
8 Scene 3 dialogue
9 Non, non, je ne puis rien entendre
10 Scene 4 dialogue
11 Ah! Quel trouble m'agite
12 Scene 5 dialogue
13 Ballet
14 Choeur
15 Ballet
16 Marche
17 Scene 6 dialogue
18 Aimons-nous sans cesse
19 Contredance générale
CD3
Music Only
1 Overture
2 Depuis longtemps mon coeur soupire
3 Tant de constance
4 Son amour, sa constance extrême
5 Chantons, célébrons notre dame
6 Ballet
7 Jouissez de l'allégresse
8 Danse
9 Quinqué
10 Enfin une foule importune ... Amour deviens-moi propice
11 Ah! Finissez de grâce
12 Aimez sans pouvoir le dire
13 Du tendre amour
14 Non, non, je ne puis rien entendre
15 Ah! Quel trouble m'agite
16 Ballet
17 Choeur
18 Ballet
19 Marche
20 Aimons-nous sans cesse
21 Contredance générale
Haymarket Opera, Chicago's premier early opera company that presents historically informed performances played on eighteenth-century classical era instruments, performs on this first recording of L'Amant Anonyme (The Anonymous Lover) by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799). First performed in 1780, L'Amant Anonyme was the most successful of Bologne's six operas and is the only one to survive to the present day. Based on a play by the composer's patroness Félicité de Genlis, who was a respected writer of the era, the work is an opéra comique in two acts composed in the then-popular style that mixed sung parts with spoken dialogue. The stellar cast is headlined by 2005 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World soprano Nicole Cabell in the lead role of Léontine, opposite Chicago-native tenor Geoffrey Agpalo as her secret admirer Valcour. The cast also includes David Govertsen (Ophémon), Erica Schuller (Jeannette), Michael St Peter (Colin), and Nathalie Colas (Dorothée). Company founder and artistic director Craig Trompeter leads the performance, conducting a nineteen-member contingent of the period-instrument Haymarket Opera Orchestra.
Recorded 20-22 June 2022 at the Sasha and Eugene Jarvis Opera Hall, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.