# Daniel François Esprit Auber



## Meyerbeer Smith

Daniel François Esprit Auber (29 January 1782 - 12/13 May 1871)









One of the most popular of French composers in the 19th century.

While his music is "light", it's always elegant and charming, and never less than pleasing.

Rossini called him _Piccolo musico, ma grande musicista_ ("a small musician, but a great maker of music"). He was admired by Wagner, who said _La muette de Portici_ was one of the inspirations for Wagnerian music drama. Donizetti and Verdi based some of their most popular works on his operas.

And _La muette de Portici_ was the spark for the revolution that created Belgium.

His operas - mainly opéras comiques, with libretti by Eugène Scribe - include:

Julie (L'erreur d'un moment) (1805)
Jean de Couvain (1812)
Le séjour militaire (1813)
Le testament et les billets doux (1819)
La bergère châtelaine (1820)
Emma, ou La promesse (1821)
Leicester, ou Le château de Kenilworth (1823)
*La neige, ou Le nouvel Eginhard (1823)* (in German)
Vendôme en Espagne (1823, with Hérold)
Les trois genres (1824, with Boieldieu)
Le concert à la cour, ou La débutante (1824)
Léocadie (1824)
Le maçon (1825)
Le timide, ou Le nouvel séducteur (1826)
Fiorella (1826)
*La muette de Portici (Masaniello) (1828)*
La fiancée (1829)
*Fra Diavolo, ou L'hôtellerie de Terracine (1830)*
Le dieu et la bayadère, ou La courtisane amoureuse (1830)
Le philtre (1831)
La marquise de Brinvilliers (1831, with various others)
Le serment, ou Les faux-monnayeurs (1832)
*Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué (1833)*
Lestocq, ou L'intrigue et l'amour (1834)
*Le cheval de bronze (1835)*
Actéon (1836)
Les chaperons blancs (1836)
*L'ambassadrice (1836)*
La fête de Versailles (1837) (piano accompaniment)
*Le domino noir (1837)*
Le lac des fées (1839)
Zanetta, ou Jouer avec le feu (1840)
*Les diamants de la couronne (1841)*
Le duc d'Olonne (1842)
Le part du diable (1843)
La sirène (1844)
La barcarolle, ou L'amour et la musique (1845)
Les premiers pas (1847 ; with Adam, Carafa & Halévy)
*Haydée, ou Le secret (1847)*
L'enfant prodigue (1850)
Zerline, ou La corbeille d'oranges (1851)
Marco Spada (1852)
Jenny Bell (1855)
*Manon Lescaut (1856)*
La circassienne (1861)
La fiancée du roi de Garbe (1864)
Le premier jour de bonheur (1868)
Rêve d'amour (1869)

Those in bold are the only ones with available recordings.


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## Meyerbeer Smith

Some of his overtures:


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## Meyerbeer Smith

Some highlights from the operas:


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## Figleaf

Great thread! However, I'm kind of cringing at that recording of the duet from 'La muette de Portici'. We're not gonna start a revolution with what sounds like bad Gilbert & Sullivan. Give me some proper manly singers with in the grand nineteenth century style (I wish this wasn't so heavily cut, but can't do much about it 110 years on...)


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## Meyerbeer Smith

Figleaf said:


> Great thread! However, I'm kind of cringing at that recording of the duet from 'La muette de Portici'. We're not gonna start a revolution with what sounds like bad Gilbert & Sullivan. Give me some proper manly singers with in the grand nineteenth century style (I wish this wasn't so heavily cut, but can't do much about it 110 years on...)


I'll stick to Kraus!


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## Pugg

I dig out my copy off ;_La muette de Portici._
On the playing list for today


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## Figleaf

SimonTemplar said:


> I'll stick to Kraus!


Ugh, he sounds like he's volunteering to arrange the flowers for the church fete, not fomenting revolution!  Each to their own...

Have you heard the recording of the opera made in the 50s(?) and issued on LP? I don't have it with me right now and I can't remember the details- it isn't necessarily preferable in every way to the Kraus recording but it has the advantage of a French cast, and of course it's always good to have some variety. I believe Wood has digitised it, which means it should be possible to put in on youtube.


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## Meyerbeer Smith

Figleaf said:


> Ugh, he sounds like he's volunteering to arrange the flowers for the church fete, not fomenting revolution!  Each to their own...
> 
> Have you heard the recording of the opera made in the 50s(?) and issued on LP? I don't have it with me right now and I can't remember the details- it isn't necessarily preferable in every way to the Kraus recording but it has the advantage of a French cast, and of course it's always good to have some variety. I believe Wood has digitised it, which means it should be possible to put in on youtube.


No, never heard of it! I'll try to find more info,


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## Figleaf

Here are the details, with apologies for misremembering the date and sending you on a wild goose chase! I don't know whether that tiny picture from the ebay listing will be viewable but I've linked to it anyway.

1979 Jean Doussard; Chœurs et Orchestre de la Radio-France 
Alphonse D'Arcos: André Mallabrera 
Elvire: Monique de Pondeau 
Masaniello: Yves Bisson 
RRE 186-8 (3 LP; live)

I only gave it one cursory listen while I was busy doing other things, so I can't really comment on the performance, but I should have the original and the digital copy in my possession tomorrow.


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## Pugg

Pugg said:


> I dig out my copy off ;_La muette de Portici._
> On the playing list for today


​
*Auber: La muette de Portici
*

_June Anderson, Alfredo Kraus,John Aler, Jean-Philippe Lafont._
_Thomas Fulton_ conducting :tiphat:


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## Figleaf

Act 1 of that 1979 Muette de Portici is now on YouTube, with the rest hopefully following soon:






Thanks to Wood for accomplishing what I couldn't, and digitising and uploading the LPs! :tiphat:


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## Pugg

I once bought a bootleg from a in house DVD recording, Can't even remember where it is, such a horrible quality, even the sound was almost unbearable .


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## Wood

*La Muette de Portici complete on Youtube*

I have now uploaded the entire opera to You Tube;

Act One:





Acts Two to Four (beginning):





Acts Four (conclusion) to Five:





There must be something about Mount Etna and the conclusion of great works of art. Here, the deaf mute jumps into the volcano at the end of a great finale, whilst in Pasolini's Teorema the film ends with the bourgeois running around the ashy slopes of Etna naked and screaming having given his factory to the workers.

I'm not sure on the date of the recording. This link suggests 1965.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id... Lanni, Bisson, Jean Doussard / ORTF&f=false


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## Meyerbeer Smith

Michael Spyres singing Masaniello:


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## Meyerbeer Smith

Wood said:


> I have now uploaded the entire opera to You Tube;
> 
> Act One:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Acts Two to Four (beginning):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Acts Four (conclusion) to Five:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There must be something about Mount Etna and the conclusion of great works of art. Here, the deaf mute jumps into the volcano at the end of a great finale, whilst in Pasolini's Teorema the film ends with the bourgeois running around the ashy slopes of Etna naked and screaming having given his factory to the workers.
> 
> I'm not sure on the date of the recording. This link suggests 1965.
> 
> https://books.google.co.uk/books?id... Lanni, Bisson, Jean Doussard / ORTF&f=false


Thank you for posting this - it makes a stronger case for why this is a masterpiece than either the Fulton or Hermus recordings. A French cast, a more complete recording (an hour longer?), and a committed performance. Listen to the energy of 'Venez, amis, venez portager mes transports' or the patriotic duet. It's an exciting, full-blooded performance that has the tumultuous energy of a storm.

If it was sung like this in the 19th century, no wonder Wagner admired it, or that it caused a revolution!

Not keen on the Masaniello, though - a tight voice.


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