Pigmalion (open access)

Pigmalion

This is the 1773 edition of the libretto to the comic opera and vaudeville, "Pigmalion" by Charles-François Panard and Thomas Laffichard. The opera premiered at the Paris Opéra Comique in 1735 . The plot is an adaptation of Ovid's story of Pygmalion, a sculptor who fell in love with a statue that he carved. Operatic and ballet representation of the subject of Pigmalion (or Pygmalion) became famous after Antoine Houdar de la Motte's entrée "La sculpture" for the ballet "Le triomphe des arts," which staged in 1700 at Académie Royale de Musique with music by Michel de la Barre. Page 16 of this edition was incorrectly numbered as number 10.
Date: 1773
Creator: Panard, Charles-François, d. 1765.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Alceste: tragedie opera en trois actes

According to Grove Music, "when Admetus, King of Pherae in Thessaly, is ill and about to die an oracle announces that he will be saved if someone else is willing to die in his stead. His wife Alcestis displays her conjugal devotion by offering herself; she dies and Admetus recovers. Under the influence of tragédie lyrique, Calzabigi enriched his libretto with choruses, ballets and opportunities for impressive scenery."
Date: 1776
Creator: Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787; Calzabigi, Ranieri de, 1714-1795 & Du Roullet, François Louis Gaud Lebland, marquis, 1716-1786
Object Type: Musical Score/Notation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Momie (open access)

Momie

This is a ca. 1778 libretto for the burlesque opera in three acts "Momie" by a Jean Étiennethat Despréaux. The opera is a parody based on Leblanc du Roullet's libretto of "Iphigénie en Aulide," an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck. The libretto includes the titles of the tunes at the opening of each scene. Page 6 of the library's copy is incorrectly numbered as page 9.
Date: 1778?
Creator: Despréaux, Jean Étienne, 1748-1820.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Silvain

This one-act opera to a libretto by Marmontel is dedicated "a son Altesse Royale Monseigneur Le Prince Charles de Pologne." This full score features a catalogue of Grétry's music on the verso of the title page. The opera was premiered in Paris on 19 February 1770 at the Comédie-Italiènne.
Date: 1770~
Creator: Grétry, André-Ernest-Modeste, 1741-1813
Object Type: Musical Score/Notation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Extrait des airs françois

This collection of opera arias is scored for either one, two, or three voices with continuo (with figures). Some songs call for an obbligato violin. An alphabetical table of contents is located at the end of the volume.
Date: 1775~
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Musical Score/Notation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Extrait des airs françois de tous les operas nouveaux, qui ont eté representés: Appropriés pour le chant ou la flute avec la basse continue., Partie I.

This collection of opera arias is scored for either one or two voices with continuo (with figures) and, for some songs, obbligato flute.
Date: 1770~
Creator: Hummel, Johann Julius, 1728-1798
Object Type: Musical Score/Notation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Colonie : opéra comique en deux actes

La colonie is Nicolas Etienne Framery’s French parody of Sacchini’s Italian L’isola d’amore, which was premiered during the 1766 Roman carnival. However, Framery chose music in a pastiche-like fashion from various Sacchini operas, without actually using any arias from L’isola d’amore. Although the operas that Sacchini specifically composed for Paris faced resistance from opponents of foreign composers, La colonie received praise from critics. The 1775 French premiere at the Comédie-Italienne was quite successful; the work even drew comparisons with Pergolesi’s wildly popular La serva padrona.
Date: 1776
Creator: Sacchini, Antonio, 1730-1786 & Framery, Nicolas Etienne, 1745-1810
Object Type: Musical Score/Notation
System: The UNT Digital Library

Echo et Narcisse, drame lyrique en trois actes

After the resounding success of Iphigénie en Tauride (1779), Gluck set out to compose his last of the seven Paris operas, which turned out to be his final opera. Whereas Iphigénie en Tauride is often considered Gluck’s best opera, its immediate successor, Echo et Narcisse (1779) was ill-fated and quickly disappeared from the repertoire. Echo was premiered a mere four months after Tauride, and the Parisian audience was not prepared for the differences between these two operas. Although the music resembles that of his other French operas, the pastoral story lacks the dramatic intensity that viewers expected in a Gluck opera. Thus, the serene music—though it is at times quite beautiful— lacks dramatic impulse.
Date: 1779
Creator: Gluck, Christoph Willibald, Ritter von, 1714-1787 & Tschudi, Jean-Baptiste-Louis-Théodore, baron de, 1734-1784
Object Type: Musical Score/Notation
System: The UNT Digital Library