Hamlet à l’épreuve des librettistes

An opera libretto cannot be expected to reproduce the exact text of the literary or dramatic work on which it is based. The so-called “weaknesses” of the libretti may be accounted for by the fact that they are meant to be set to music. In some rare cases, where the libretto uses part of the original...

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Main Author: Francis Guinle
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses universitaires de Rennes 2011-12-01
Series:Revue LISA
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/4719
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author Francis Guinle
author_facet Francis Guinle
author_sort Francis Guinle
collection DOAJ
description An opera libretto cannot be expected to reproduce the exact text of the literary or dramatic work on which it is based. The so-called “weaknesses” of the libretti may be accounted for by the fact that they are meant to be set to music. In some rare cases, where the libretto uses part of the original text (like Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites), the music closely follows the shape of the words, but usually it fulfills a poetical aspect lacking in the text. This seems particularly true when we consider 19th century opera. This implies that it is impossible to deal with the libretti without taking the music into account. In the case of Hamlet, what is the librettists’ approach? Where is Shakespeare’s tragedy to be found in Ambroise Thomas’s opera? What light does the opera shed on the reception of Shakespeare in the 19th century? These are the questions this article tries to answer.
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spelling doaj-art-1c93f697c2fb407e96cc319be9bd53e12025-01-06T09:03:09ZengPresses universitaires de RennesRevue LISA1762-61532011-12-019415310.4000/lisa.4719Hamlet à l’épreuve des librettistesFrancis GuinleAn opera libretto cannot be expected to reproduce the exact text of the literary or dramatic work on which it is based. The so-called “weaknesses” of the libretti may be accounted for by the fact that they are meant to be set to music. In some rare cases, where the libretto uses part of the original text (like Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites), the music closely follows the shape of the words, but usually it fulfills a poetical aspect lacking in the text. This seems particularly true when we consider 19th century opera. This implies that it is impossible to deal with the libretti without taking the music into account. In the case of Hamlet, what is the librettists’ approach? Where is Shakespeare’s tragedy to be found in Ambroise Thomas’s opera? What light does the opera shed on the reception of Shakespeare in the 19th century? These are the questions this article tries to answer.https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/4719ShakespeareoperaHamletLibretto
spellingShingle Francis Guinle
Hamlet à l’épreuve des librettistes
Revue LISA
Shakespeare
opera
Hamlet
Libretto
title Hamlet à l’épreuve des librettistes
title_full Hamlet à l’épreuve des librettistes
title_fullStr Hamlet à l’épreuve des librettistes
title_full_unstemmed Hamlet à l’épreuve des librettistes
title_short Hamlet à l’épreuve des librettistes
title_sort hamlet a l epreuve des librettistes
topic Shakespeare
opera
Hamlet
Libretto
url https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/4719
work_keys_str_mv AT francisguinle hamletalepreuvedeslibrettistes