L’amant anonyme (The Anonymous Lover)

Composer: BOLOGNE, Joseph, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
  • After several singers blocked Saint-Georges from becoming director of the Paris Opéra, he was hired by Madame de Montesson (morganatic wife of the Duke of Orléans) to compose for her private theater. Saint-Georges composed the comic opera L’amant anonyme for her and it premiered there in 1780.1
  • The opera was based on a play by Stéphanie Félicité de Genlis (1746-1830), the niece of Madame de Montesson, and a friend of Saint-Georges.2
  • The overture to L’amant anonyme, which is in three movements, was also published as Saint-Georges’ Symphony in D Major, op. 11 no. 2.3
  • Synopsis from the LA Opera

Sources

  1. Gabriel Banat, “Saint-Georges [Saint-George], Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed August 1, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000024316.
  2. George N. Gianopoulos et al, “Joseph Bologne’s ‘L’Amant Anonyme’,” RISM Editorial Center (December 7, 2020), https://rism.info/new_publications/2020/12/07/joseph-bolognes-lamant-anonyme.html.
  3. Teresa M. Neff, “Enhanced Program Notes – Mozart + Beethoven: Engagements,” The Handel and Haydn Society (September 1, 2017), accessed August 1, 2019, https://handelandhaydn.org/enhanced-program-notes-mozart-beethoven.

Cut IDs

17861, 17862