Significant French Operas
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La Habanéra
Tragedy in 3 acts
Music by Raoul Laparra
Libretto by
C. Petit
& M. Boisnent
First Performance: Opéra-Comique, Paris, February 26, 1908
Cast:
Pedro
Pilar
Ramon
Une Fiancée
Une Fille
Un Vieux
1st Compère & 2nd Aveugle
2nd Compère & Un Fiancé Aragonais
3rd Compère & 1st Aveugle
4th Compére & 3rd Aveugle
Un Domestique
Un homme entre deux âges
Un jeune Homme
Un Andalou
Un Andalou
Un Madrilène
Un Homme
Un petit Garçon
Une petite Fille
Chorus: Paysans & Paysannes de Castille
Background
Synopsis
Act
I. At a tavern. There is first a noisy drinking scene and next a love
duet between Pedro and his betrothed, Pilar. Then Pilar hurries off to
join a group of dancers in the street who are performing the habañera.
Ramon, brother of Pedro, secretly infatuated with his brother's fiancée,
provokes a violent quarrel with Pedro and finally stabs him to death.
Act II. The murder has remained a mystery, for nobody suspects
Ramon. In a courtyard are assembled the father of the two brothers,
Pilar, Ramon, and several neighbors, all of them speaking of the young
man's death with deep regret. Ramon, in order to hide his guilt the
better, has sworn to his father to avenge the death of his brother.
Again the company dance the habañera, and in the midst of them appears
Pedro's ghost, but visible only to the murderer, to whom he whispers
that if the truth is not confessed by the following day, his sweetheart
Pilar, madly beloved by Ramon, shall die.
Act III. This act occurs in a cemetery. Flowers are placed on the
tombs by a number of mourners. Pilar and Ramon are among them. After the
others are gone Ramon is courting Pilar, who wagers in her mind. But
suddenly the remembrance of the day before comes back to Ramon, and he
finally confesses that he killed his brother Pedro. Pilar is unable to
bear the truth and sinks dead on the grave of her dead lover, Pedro.
Ramon himself rushes madly off the scene as the curtain falls.
Libretto
Links
Last updated: January 22, 2008