Adèle de Ponthieu
Music by Jean-Benjamin de La Borde · libretto by Jean-Paul-André Razins de Saint-Marc
Adèle de Ponthieu is an opera by the French composers Jean-Benjamin de La Borde and Pierre Montan Berton, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique, Paris (the Paris Opera) on 1 December 1772. It takes the form of a tragédie lyrique in three acts. The libretto was written by Jean-Paul-André Razins de Saint-Marc, after a tragedy by Pierre-Antoine de La Place, staged at the Comédie-Française in 1757. The opera had little success in its first run and was only revived in 1775 in five acts, for 38 performances, before being withdrawn for good. The three-act libretto, however, was later set by Niccolò Piccinni in 1781.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Adèle de Ponthieu (La Borde and Berton)", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Jean-Benjamin François de la Borde (5 September 1734 – 22 July 1794) was a French composer, writer on music and fermier général (farm tax collector). Born into an aristocratic family, he studied violin under Antoine Dauvergne and composition under Jean-Philippe Rameau. From 1762 to 1774, he served at the court of Louis XV as premier valet de la chambre, losing his post on the death of the king. He wrote many operas, mostly comic, and a four-volume collection of songs for solo voice, Choix de chansons mises en musique illustrated by Jean-Michel Moreau. Many of the songs from the collection were later published individually through the efforts of the English folksong collector Lucy Etheldred…
Text from the Wikipedia article "Jean-Benjamin de La Borde", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other Operas by Jean-Benjamin de La Borde
- Ismène et Isménias (1763)
- Amadis de Gaule (1771)