22a

Cinq-Mars

opéra

projected

Libretto: François-Antoine Eugène de Planard (1783-1853) and Jules-Henry Vernoy, Marquis de Saint-Georges (1799–1875), after Alfred de Vigny’s historical novel Cinq-Mars (1826), based on the life of Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis de Cinq-Mars, and his conspiracy against Cardinal Richelieu. According to Le Figaro of 17-11-1864 Gounod was said to have been working then on Cinq-Mars, but the libretto on this subject which he did set, performed at the Opéra-Comique on 5-4-1877, was by Poirson and Gallet.

Project: perhaps 1864. Meyerbeer abandoned this opera on 5-12-1837, having completed Act I and part of Act II. It is possible that the libretto was passed to Gounod and to Bizet after Meyerbeer’s death in March 1864.

Letter:
3-5-1878 Gounod to ’Cher et illustre confrère’:
‘Les héritiers de Saint Georges et de Planard me font un procès à propos d'un livret de Cinq-Mars passé entre les mains de Meyerbeer, les miennes et celles de Bizet. Vous a-t-il été proposé ?’
US-Wc
Document:
‘L'auteur de Faust, Ch. Gounod, met en musique, selon les uns, un Cinq-Mars et de Thou, et, selon les autres, les chœurs d'une tragédie de M. Legouvé.’
Le Figaro, 17-11-1864
Bibliography: