L'école de la jeunesse explained

L'école de la jeunesse ou Le Barnevelt françois (The School of Youth or The French Barnwell) is an opéra comique (specifically a comédie mêlée d'ariettes) in three acts by the composer Egidio Duni. The libretto, by Louis Anseaume, is based on George Lillo's play The London Merchant or The History of George Barnwell (1731). The opera was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 24 January 1765.

Main roles

!Cast!Voice type!Premiere cast,^[1] 24 January 1765

Cléon	tenor	Jean-François Lejeune
M. Oronte, Cléon's uncle	baritone[2]	Joseph Caillot
Sophie, bethrothed to Cléon	soprano	Marie-Thérèse Laruette, 'Madame Laruette'
Dubois, a valet of M. Oronte	tenor[3]
Hortense, a young widow	soprano	Pétronille-Rosalie Beaupré
Finette, an attendant of Hortense	soprano	Eulalie Desgland(s)
Mondor, a friend of Hortense	haute-contre
Damis	tenor	Robert Desbrosses
Javard, a creditor of Cléon	basse-taille (bass-baritone)[4]	M. Renaud
A Gascon knight	haute-contre	Antoine Trial
A baron	basse-taille (bass-baritone)	not reported
A singer	tenor[5]	M. Lobreau
A milliner	spoken	Rosalie Lafond
A bailiff A pedlar	spoken	Gabiel-Éléonor-Hervé Dubus Champville, 'Soli'
A valet	spoken	not reported

References

Notes

Sources

• Original libretto: L'École de la jeunesse, ou Le Barnevelt français, Comédie. En trois Actes et en vers, mêlée d'ariettes, Paris. Duchesne, 1775
• Original score: L'École de la jeunesse, ou Le Barnevelt françois, Comédie. En trois Actes et en vers, Paris, Chez l'Auteur & Lyon, Chez Castaud, s.d. via Gallica
  • Cook, Elisabeth (1992), "Ecole de la jeunesse, L'" in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London)

Notes and References

1. According to the original libretto.
2. Caillot, the first performer, was endowed with a very wide compass which enabled him to sing as a basse taille, but also to reach up to the haute-contre tones (Jean Gourret, Histoire de l'Opéra-Comique, Paris, Les publications universitaires, 1978, p. 43). According to Rodolfo Celletti "he was a baritenor and a bass at the same time": Grétry and Monsigny used to notate his parts in the bass clef, but to set them in high-baritone tessiture (Voce di tenore, Milan, Idealibri, 1989, p. 59,).
3. Notated in the tenor clef in the original score.
4. Notated in the bass clef in the original score.
5. The role of 'Le chanteur' is assessed as a tenor part by Elisabeth Cook. It is notated in the tenor clef in the original score.