Le Cheval de bronze (The Bronze Horse) is anopéra comique by the French composerDaniel Auber, first performed on 23 March 1835 by theOpéra-Comique at theSalle de la Bourse in Paris. The libretto (in three acts) is by Auber's regular collaborator,Eugène Scribe and the piece was a great success in its day. In 1857, it was transformed into an opera-ballet, but this did not hold the stage. Theoverture is one of Auber's most popular. The first-act finale expands on the final phrases from the first-act finale of Mozart'sCosì fan tutte. The composer tried to reflect the Chinese setting of the story in the music.

The opera was first performed in England on 14 December 1835 at theCovent Garden Theatre in London, and in the United States on 15 April 1836 at theThéâtre d'Orléans in New Orleans.^[1]

In March 2012 a production was staged by^[2] the Komische Oper Berlin (German version by Bettina Bartz und Werner Hintze) and later broadcast by^[3] Deutschlandradio Kultur.

Place: China

Time: “the age of the heroes”

Péki is due to be married against her will to the mandarin Tsing-Sing, who already has four wives. Péki meets Prince Yang and tells him she is really in love with the poor young farmhand Yan-Ko, but six months earlier he mysteriously disappeared into the sky riding a bronze horse. Yan-Ko returns on the horse but refuses to say where he has been. The prince interrupts Péki's wedding by ordering Tsing-Sing to fly away with him on the horse. Undeterred by the ruined wedding, Péki's father finds another rich old man for her to marry. She decides to elope with Yan-Ko. Tsing-Sing returns on the bronze horse without the prince and refuses to reveal anything about his adventure because if he does he will be transformed into a statue. Unfortunately, he mumbles some details during his sleep and is turned into stone, as is Péki's beloved, Yan-Ko. She decides to ride away on the horse to try to save him. The horse takes Péki (who is disguised as a man) to the palace of Princess Stella on the planet Venus. Péki needs Stella's magic bracelet to rescue her beloved from the spell. She easily passes the task Stella sets her to resist seduction by a group of beautiful women. Péki returns to earth to find the statues of Yan-Ko, Tsing-Sing and Prince Yang (who was unable to resist kissing Stella). She uses the bracelet to free Yan-Ko and the prince but she will not fully release Tsing-Sing until he promises to give up his marriage claims on her. This leaves her free to marry Yan-ko and Prince Yang marries Princess Stella.

In 1857Lucien Petipa staged a ballet to the music of the second version of the operaLe cheval de bronze (on September 21, 1857,Académie royale de musique, Paris); in the main role isAmalia Ferraris; in a month, she has been replaced by a Russian dancerZinaida Richard (she became the wife ofLouis Mérante).

• Le cheval de bronze Grosses Wiener Rundfunkorchester, conducted by Kurt Richter (recorded 1953; reissued on CD by Walhall, 2008)
• Le cheval de bronze Chorus and New Philharmonic Radio Orchestra, conducted by Jean-Pierre Marty (recorded 1979; reissued on CD by Gala, 2002)

Notes

Sources

• Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Le cheval de bronze, 23 March 1835". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia(in Italian).
• Chouquet, Gustave (1889)."Valentino, Henri Justin Armand Joseph", vol. 4, p. 214, inA Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 4 volumes. London: Macmillan.
• Holden, Amanda (Ed.),The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001.ISBN 0140293124
• Palmer, Andrew. Booklet notes to the Gala recording
• Pierre, Constant, editor (1900).Le Conservatoire national de musique et de déclamation. Documents historiques et administratifs. Paris: Imprimerie National. 1031 pages.View atGoogle Books.
• Pougin, Arthur (1880)."Valentino (Henri-Justin-Joseph)", pp. 597–598, inBiographie universelle des musiciens et Bibliographie générale de la musique parF.-J. Fétis. Supplément et complément, vol. 2. Paris: Firmin-Didot.View at Google Books.
• Warrack, John; West, Ewan (1992).The Oxford Dictionary of Opera. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-869164-5.

• Le cheval de bronze: Scores at theInternational Music Score Library Project
• French libretto (Paris, 1835?) at Google Books
• French libretto (Brussels, 1837) at Google Books
• French libretto inThéâtre de Eugène Scribe, vol. 6 (Paris, 1856) at Google Books