Le cheval de bronze (The Bronze Horse) is an opéra comique by the French composer Daniel Auber, first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on 23 March 1835. The libretto (in three acts) is by Auber's regular collaborator, Eugène Scribe and the piece was a great success in its day. In 1837, it was transformed into an opera-ballet, but this did not hold the stage. The overture is one of Auber's most popular. The composer tried to reflect the Chine...
more
Le cheval de bronze (The Bronze Horse) is an opéra comique by the French composer Daniel Auber, first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on 23 March 1835. The libretto (in three acts) is by Auber's regular collaborator, Eugène Scribe and the piece was a great success in its day. In 1837, it was transformed into an opera-ballet, but this did not hold the stage. The overture is one of Auber's most popular. The composer tried to reflect the Chinese setting of the story in the music.
The opera is set in China where 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,...
less
