Le marchand de Venise

Le Marchand de Venise (The Merchant of Venice) is a French opera in three acts by Reynaldo Hahn. The libretto was by Miguel Zamacoïs, after Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Hahn first starting working on the opera during the First World War, imagining it as a 'Mozartian' work, with the role of Portia written specifically with the soprano Mary Garden in mind.

The opera was first performed at the Paris Opéra, on 25 March 1935. It was revived at the Opéra on 18 November 1949 and again on 19 February 1950, and in 1979 at the Opéra-Comique under Manuel Rosenthal. The United States premiere was by the Portland Opera on 4 November 1996 under French conductor Marc Trautmann.

Principal roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 25 March 1935 (Conductor: Philippe Gaubert)
Graziano	tenor	Henri Le Clezio
Lorenzo	tenor	Edmond Chastenet
Jessica	soprano	Odette Renaudin
Shylock	bass	André Pernet
Bassanio	baritone	Martial Singher
Antonio	bass	Paul Cabanel
Portia	soprano	Fanny Heldy
Nérissa	mezzo-soprano	Renée Mahé
Prince of Morocco	bass	Henri-Bertrand Etcheverry
Prince of Aragon	tenor	Edmond Rambaud
Doge	bass	Armand-Émile Narçon
Tubal	bass	Louis Morot
Governess	mezzo-soprano	Andrée Marilliet
Salarino	tenor	Jean DeLeu
Servant	soprano	E. Vial
Servant	bass	Jules Forest
Chorus: Maskers, Venetians, Jews etc.

Synopsis

The story follows Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice, but with some transpositions of the text. The comic figure of Lancelot Gobbo is absent.

Recordings

Some of the original role creators have left recordings of arias: (Hahn: Recordings 1908-35 with Martial Singher, Andre Pernet, Fanny Heldy, on Pearl CD 1165392).

References

• Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Le marchand de Venise". Almanacco Amadeus (Italian).
• O'Connor, Patrick (1992), 'Marchand de Venise, Le' in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7

External links

• Classical Iconoclast page on the opera, accessed 28 March 2011