La fille du régiment

' (, The Daughter of the Regiment) is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti, set to a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard. It was first performed on 11 February 1840 by the Paris Opéra-Comique at the Salle de la Bourse.

Donizetti wrote the opera while living in Paris between 1838 and 1840 and preparing a revised version of his then-unperformed Italian opera, Poliuto, as Les martyrs for the Paris Opéra. Since Martyrs was delayed, the composer had time to write the music for La fille du régiment, his first opera set to a French text, and to stage the French version of Lucia di Lammermoor, Lucie de Lammermoor.

La fille du régiment quickly became a popular success partly because of the famous aria "Ah! mes amis, quel jour de fête!", which requires the tenor to sing no fewer than eight high Cs – a frequently sung ninth is not written. ', a slightly different Italian-language version (in translation by Calisto Bassi), was adapted to the tastes of the Italian public.

Performance history

Opéra-Comique premiere

thumb|upright|Mécène Marié de l'Isle sang Tonio.

thumb|Marie–Julie Halligner sang The Marquise of Berkenfield.

The opening night was "a barely averted disaster." Apparently the lead tenor was frequently off pitch. The noted French tenor Gilbert Duprez, who was present, later observed in his Souvenirs d'un chanteur: "Donizetti often swore to me how his self-esteem as a composer had suffered in Paris. He was never treated there according to his merits. I myself saw the unsuccess, almost the collapse, of La fille du régiment."

It received a highly negative review from the French critic and composer Hector Berlioz (Journal des débats, 16 February 1840), who claimed it could not be taken seriously by the public or its composer, although Berlioz conceded that some of the music, "the little waltz that serves as the entr'acte and the trio dialogué ... lack neither vivacity nor freshness."

Outside France

The opera was first performed in Italy at La Scala, Milan, on 3 October 1840, in Italian with recitatives by Donizetti replacing the spoken dialogue. It was thought "worthless" and received only six performances. Only in 1928, when Toti Dal Monte sang Marie, did the opera begin to be appreciated in Italy.

La fille du régiment received its first performance in America on 7 March 1843 at the Théâtre d'Orléans in New Orleans. The New Orleans company premiered the work in New York City on 19 July 1843 with as Marie. The Spirit of the Times (22 July) counted it a great success, reporting that, though the score was "thin" and not up to the level of Anna Bolena or L'elisir d'amore, some of Donizetti's "gems" were to be found in it. The Herald (21 July) was highly enthusiastic, especially in its praise of Calvé: "Applause is an inadequate term, ... vehement cheering rewarded this talented prima donna." Subsequently the opera was performed frequently in New York, the role of Marie being a favorite with Jenny Lind, Henriette Sontag, Pauline Lucca, Anna Thillon and Adelina Patti.

First given in England in Italian, it appeared on 27 May 1847 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London (with Jenny Lind and Luigi Lablache). Later—on 21 December 1847 in English—it was presented at the Surrey Theatre in London.

W. S. Gilbert wrote a burlesque adaptation of the opera, La Vivandière, in 1867.

In 1891 in Kronstadt during the Kronstadt-Toloun naval visits, Some 600 guests attended and entertainment included the singing of both countries' national anthems and the performance of the second act of this opera.

20th century and beyond

thumb|left|upright=0.7|1910 poster for the opera by Emile Finot

The Metropolitan Opera gave the first performances with Marcella Sembrich and (Sulpice) during the 1902/03 season. These were followed by performances at the Manhattan Opera House in 1909 with Luisa Tetrazzini, John McCormack, and Charles Gilibert, and again with Frieda Hempel and Antonio Scotti in the same roles at the Met on 17 December 1917.

It was revived at the Royal Opera, London, in 1966 for Joan Sutherland. On 13 February 1970, in concert at Carnegie Hall, Beverly Sills sang the first performance in New York since Lily Pons performed it at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1943.

This opera is famous for the aria "", which has been called the "Mount Everest" for tenors. The cabaletta "Pour mon âme" features eight high Cs (a ninth, frequently inserted, is not written). Luciano Pavarotti broke through to stardom via his 1972 performance alongside Sutherland at the Met, when, according to an obituary by James Naughtie in The Times, he "leapt over the 'Becher's Brook' of the string of high Cs with an aplomb that left everyone gasping."

It was performed at Wolf Trap Farm in the summer of 1974 with Beverly Sills as Marie in one of the first attempts to telecast an opera in the USA. breaking a tradition against encores at La Scala that had lasted nearly 75 years. Flórez repeated this feat on 21 April 2008, the opening night of Laurent Pelly's production (which had been originally staged in 2007 at Covent Garden in London) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, with Natalie Dessay as Marie; a live performance of this Met production, without an encore of "", was cinecast via Metropolitan Opera Live in HD to movie theaters worldwide on 26 April 2008. In March 2018, in a filmed production of the opera at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing, Chinese tenor (Chinese style: Shi Yijie) encored "Pour mon âme", singing 18 high Cs; the audio of this 2018 NCPA production was broadcast across the U.S. and elsewhere on the WFMT Radio Network Opera Series on 16 September 2023. On 3 March 2019, Mexican tenor Javier Camarena also sang an encore of the aria at the Met, singing 18 high Cs in a performance broadcast live worldwide via Metropolitan Opera radio and cinecast worldwide via Metropolitan Opera Live in HD.

As a non-singing role, the Duchess of Crakenthorp is often played by non-operatic celebrities, including actresses such as Dawn French, Bea Arthur, Hermione Gingold, Kathleen Turner and Sandra Oh, or by retired opera greats such as Kiri Te Kanawa and Montserrat Caballé. In 2016, US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a lifelong opera fan, played the Duchess on opening night of the Washington National Opera's production. In February 2023, the Duchess of Crakenthorp was re-tooled by the Minnesota Opera as a singing role and performed by American drag queen Monét X Change.

Today, the opera has become part of the standard repertoire.

Films

The opera was filmed in a silent film in 1929; a sound film with Anny Ondra in 1933 in German and separately in French; in 1953; and in 1962 with John van Kesteren as Tonio. It inspired the 1944 Mexican musical comedy film La hija del regimiento.

BBC Television broadcast a production from the Royal Opera House in 2007, conducted by Bruno Campanella, with Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez in the lead roles. This is available on DVD.

Roles

thumb|upright=1.3|Final curtain call of the [[Metropolitan Opera's performance of 24 December 2011 with (l to r) Lawrence Brownlee (Tonio), Nino Machaidze (Marie), and Ann Murray (Marquise)]]

{| class="wikitable"

!Role

!Voice type

!Premiere cast, 11 February 1840 Conductor: Gaetano Donizetti

|Marie, a vivandière

|coloratura soprano

|Euphrasie Borghèse

|Tonio, a young Tyrolean

|tenor

|Mécène Marié de l'Isle

|Sergeant Sulpice

|bass

|François-Louis Henry ("Henri")

Recordings

{| class="wikitable"

!Year

!Cast (Marie, Tonio, Sulpice, La Marquise)

!Conductor, Opera house and orchestra

!Label

|1940

|Lily Pons, Raoul Jobin,

Salvatore Baccaloni,

Irra Petina

|Gennaro Papi

Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera

|CD: NAXOS Historical

Cat: 8.110018-9

|1950

|Lina Pagliughi, Cesare Valletti, Sesto Bruscantini, Rina Corsi

|Mario Rossi RAI Milan orchestra and chorus

|CD: Aura Music Cat: LRC 1115

|1960

|Anna Moffo, Giuseppe Campora, Giulio Fioravanti, Iolande Gardino

|Franco Mannino RAI Milan orchestra and chorus

|CD: GALA Cat: 100713

|1967

|Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Spiro Malas, Monica Sinclair

|Richard Bonynge Royal Opera House orchestra and chorus

|CD: Decca Originals Cat: 478 1366

|1970

|Beverly Sills, Grayson Hirst, Fernando Corena,

|Roland Gagnon American Opera Society Carnegie Hall

|CD: Opera d'Oro Cat: B000055X2G

|1974

|Beverly Sills, William McDonald, Spiro Malas,

|Charles Wendelken-Wilson, Filene Center Orchestra, The Wolf Trap Company Chorus (Recorded live, Wolf Trap Farm; sung in English)

|DVD: VAI Cat: 4212

|1986

|June Anderson, Alfredo Kraus, Michel Trempont, Hélia T'Hézan

|Bruno Campanella Opéra National de Paris orchestra and chorus

|VHS Video: Bel Canto Society Cat: 628

|1995

|Edita Gruberová, Deon van der Walt, Philippe Fourcade, Rosa Laghezza

|Marcello Panni Munich Radio Orchestra Chor des Bayerischer Rundfunk

|CD: Nightingale Cat: NC 070566-2

|2007

|Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Flórez, Alessandro Corbelli, Felicity Palmer, Duchess: Dawn French

|Bruno Campanella Royal Opera House orchestra and chorus (Live recording on 27 January)

|DVD: Virgin Classics Cat: 5099951900298

|2007

|Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Flórez, Carlos Álvarez, Janina Baechle, Duchess: Montserrat Caballé

|Yves Abel Vienna State Opera orchestra and chorus

|CD: Unitel Cat: A04001502

|2008

|Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Flórez, Alessandro Corbelli, Felicity Palmer

|Marco Armiliato Metropolitan Opera

|Streaming HD video: Met Opera on Demand

|2019

|Pretty Yende, Javier Camarena, Maurizio Muraro, Stephanie Blythe

|Enrique Mazzola Metropolitan Opera