21

L'Amour peintre

opéra-comique

abandoned, lost

Libretto: Bizet, after Le Sicilien ou L'Amour peintre by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, dit Molière (1622–73), a one-act comedy played for the first time in January 1667 at St-Germain-en-Laye with music by Lully and published in Paris the same year. A Sicilian, Dom Pèdre jealously guards his freed Greek slave-girl Isidore, but a French gentleman, Adraste, also in love with Isidore, gains access to her by pretending to be the painter who is to paint her portrait and abducts her under Dom Pèdre's very nose. The play includes a number of songs and dances.

Le Sicilien ou l'amour peintre, a one-act opéra-comique by Victorin Joncières was performed at the École lyrique de la Rue de la Tour d'Auvergne (the street in which Bizet was born) in December 1859. A manuscript libretto is at F-Pn Rés. Th.B.134. Don Pèdre, a one-act comédie-bouffe by Victor Poupin, based on L'Amour peintre, was played at the Théâtre des Jeunes Artistes on 18-4-1862. The printed libretto is at F-Pn Th. 2049.

The play was revived at the Comédie-Française on 30-5-1890 with Lully’s music edited by Saint-Saëns.

Composition: December 1859 – March 1860. Bizet planned to submit the work as part of his first envoi from Rome. If he wrote any music, it has not survived.

Letters:
3-2-1860, to his mother:
'J'ai une envie énorme de faire du comique, une telle envie que je me rime un opéra-comique sur une pièce de Molière : l'Amour peintre. Je vais peut-être le faire tout de suite. Cet ouvrage joint à la première partie de ma symphonie formerait un bel envoi.'
Ganderax, p. 225
16-2-1860 Bizet to his mother:
'Je travaille activement à une pièce de Molière, paroles et musique.'
Ganderax, p. 232
20-3-1860 Bizet to his mother:
'... désirant faire un travail plus important que l'année dernière, j'avais commencé L'Amour peintre de Molière ; je suis arrêté, voici pourquoi : [he cites the Académie's letter disapproving of "productions légères"]. Tu comprends que ceci a un peu changé mes projets, et j'ai immédiatement lâché le petit opéra-comique.'
Ganderax, p. 236–7
Documents:
28-12-1859, Bizet borrowed Molière’s works from the Villa Medicis library.
(Archives of the Institut, Rome)

11-1-1860, Bizet borrowed Richelet’s Dictionnaire des rimes from the library.
(Archives of the Institut, Rome)
Bibliography: