View source for Briséïs

{{Infobox opera 
| name              = {{lang|fr|Briséïs}} or {{lang|fr|Les amants de Corinthe}}
| genre             = {{lang|fr|[[Drame lyrique]]}}
| composer          = [[Emmanuel Chabrier]]
| image             = Emmanuel Chabrier.jpg
| caption           = 
| librettist        = {{Flatlist|
* [[Catulle Mendès]]
* Ephraïm Mikaël
}}
| language          = 
| based_on          = {{Based on|Die Braut von Korinth|[[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]}}
| premiere_date     = <!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} -->
| premiere_location = 
}}

'''{{lang|fr|Briséïs}} or {{lang|fr|Les amants de Corinthe}}''' (''Briséïs, or the Lovers of Corinth'') is an operatic {{lang|fr|[[drame lyrique]]}} by [[Emmanuel Chabrier]] with libretto by [[Catulle Mendès]] and Ephraïm Mikaël after [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]'s {{lang|de|Die Braut von Korinth}}.

==Composition and performance history==
It seems likely that Catulle Mendès (who had already provided the libretto for ''[[Gwendoline (opera)|Gwendoline]]'' and words for Chabrier's songs "Chanson de Jeanne" and "Lied"), saw potential for an opera in Ephraïm Mikhaël and Bernard Lazare's 'dramatic legend' {{lang|fr|La fiancée de Corinthe}}, and suggested the project to Chabrier. Chabrier worked on the opera from May 1888 until 1893 when his ill-health (paralysis in the late stages of [[syphilis]]) prevented any further progress.

The first act (which lasts around 75 minutes) was in a finished enough state by the end of June 1890 for Chabrier to play it to Mendès – the orchestration was then completed by the end of September of that year.
In 1894 Chabrier asked [[Vincent d'Indy]] to complete the work, but it was too difficult to piece together the sketches. Due to illness, Chabrier only completed the first act (of the three projected), which was premiered at a Chabrier memorial concert in Paris on 13 January 1897, conducted by [[Charles Lamoureux]].
Chabrier's heirs also asked other composers – including [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]], [[George Enescu|Enescu]] and [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]] – to try to complete it.

The first staging of act 1 took place at the [[Berlin State Opera|Neues Königliches Opernhaus]] in Berlin on 14 January 1899, conducted by [[Richard Strauss]]. ''Briséïs'' is highly erotic and seductively scored music, which Strauss may well have remembered when he came to compose ''[[Salome (opera)|Salome]]''.<ref>[[Michael Kennedy (music critic)|Kennedy M]]. ''[[Richard Strauss]], Master Musicians.'' Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996.</ref>

The Vichy Festival staged ''Briséïs'' in a programme with ''{{lang|fr|[[Béatrice et Bénédict]]}}'' in 1954 with Janette Vivalda in the title role, conducted by [[Paul Bastide]].<ref>René Klopfenstein. Report from France. ''[[Opera Magazine|Opera]],'' December 1954, page 754.</ref>

The manuscript is at the {{lang|fr|Bibliothèque de l'Opéra}}, Paris. The publication of the score in 1897 included a limited edition with a portrait by [[Desmoulins]], tributes by several friends and composers ([[Alfred Bruneau|Bruneau]], [[Gustave Charpentier|Charpentier]], [[Ernest Chausson|Chausson]], [[Vincent d'Indy|D'Indy]], [[Charles Lamoureux|Lamoureux]], [[André Messager|Messager]] and [[Felix Mottl|Mottl]]), as well as poems in Chabrier's memory by [[Henri de Régnier|de Régnier]], [[Saint-Pol-Roux]], [[Charles van Lerberghe|van Lerberghe]] and [[Francis Viélé-Griffin|Viélé-Griffin]].<ref>Poulenc, Francis. ''Emmanuel Chabrier.'' Geneva and Paris, La Palatine, 1961 (In Memoriam).</ref>

[[Karl Goldmark|Goldmark]]'s opera {{lang|de|Die Kriegsgefangene}} (1899) was originally to be called ''Briseis'', although the subject matter is different.<ref>Loewenberg, p. ??</ref>

==Roles==
{| class="wikitable"
!Role
!Voice type
!Premiere cast,<br /> 13 January 1897<br> (Conductor: [[Charles Lamoureux]])
!Stage premiere,<br /> 14 January 1899<br> (Conductor: [[Richard Strauss]])
|-
|Briséïs
|[[soprano]]
|Éléonore Blanc
|Ida Hiedler
|-
|Hylas
|[[tenor]]
|[[Pierre-Émile Engel]]
|Wilhelm Grüning 
|-
|Le Catéchiste
|[[baritone]]
|Alexis Ghasne
|[[Baptist Hoffmann]]
|-
|Stratoklès, ''servant to Thanastô''
|[[bass (vocal range)|bass]]
|M. Nicolaou
|Paul Knüpfer
|-
|Thanastô 
|[[mezzo-soprano]]
|[[Alba Chrétien-Vaguet]]
|Marie Goetze
|-
|First maidservant
|soprano
|
|
|-
|Second maidservant
|soprano
|
|
|-
|Old sailor
|
|
|
|-
|Another sailor
|
|
|
|-
| colspan="4"|''Chorus : Sailors; Servants of Thanastô''
|}

==Synopsis==
:Place: [[Corinth]]
:Time: during Emperor [[Hadrian]]'s reign.

===Act 1===
''Scene 1''

Hylas, in love with Briséïs, wishes to find fortune in Syria but pauses at the house where she lives with her sick mother Thanastô. As Briséïs appears, Hylas invokes [[Eros]].

''Scene 2''

Briséïs and Hylas swear by [[Cypris|Kypris]] [Aphrodite] to love each other until their last days. Briséïs insists that love must survive death into the tomb. Hylas leaves.

''Scene 3''

Thanastô implores God to save her to save the souls of the pagans around her, while regretting that her daughter does not share her Christian beliefs. Briséïs while fearful of the temptations facing Hylas vows to save her mother wracked by sickness and pain.

''Scene 4''

While the servants and Briséïs invoke the pagan gods, the Catechist arrives and prays for Thanastô, telling Briséïs that if she follows him her mother will be saved. Thanastô had promised her daughter to remain a virgin 'in eternity, a bride of God'. Briséïs submits and follows the Catechist.

===Acts 2 & 3===
(Shipwrecked on the spot where Briséïs has been baptized, Hylas reminds her of her vow to him. Briséïs kills herself and then calls upon Hylas to join her in the nuptial grave. After breathing the deadly scent of the flowers she offers him, he does, to the wonder of Christians and pagans.)

==Recordings==
*[[Hyperion Records|Hyperion]] 1994: [[Joan Rodgers]] - [[Mark Padmore]] - [[Simon Keenlyside]] - Michael George - Kathryn Harries - conductor Jean Yves Ossonce. Chorus of [[Scottish Opera]], [[BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra]] (CDA66803) (recording of the UK premiere concert performance at the [[Usher Hall]] on 18 August 1994).

==References==
;Notes
{{Reflist}}
;Sources
*{{Almanacco|dmy=14-01-1899|match=Briséïs}}
*Delage, Roger, ''Emmanuel Chabrier''. Paris: Fayard, 1999. {{ISBN|2213605084}}
*Larner G. ''Chabrier - Briséïs, or Les amants de Corinthe'' (liner notes to CDA66803). London, Hyperion, 1995.
*Loewenberg A. ''Annals of Opera.'' London, John Calder, 1978
{{Emmanuel Chabrier}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Briseis}}
[[Category:French-language operas]]
[[Category:1897 operas]]
[[Category:Operas by Emmanuel Chabrier]]
[[Category:Operas]]
[[Category:Opera world premieres at the Berlin State Opera]]
[[Category:Unfinished operas]]
[[Category:Operas based on plays]]