Le Juif errant (opera)

Le Juif errant ("The Wandering Jew") is a grand opera by Fromental Halévy, with a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges.

The opera is based extremely loosely on themes of the novel "Le Juif errant", by Eugène Sue. Whilst the novel is set in 19th century Paris and the Wandering Jew is incidental to the main story-line, the opera begins in Amsterdam in 1190 and the Jew, Ahasvérus, is a leading character.

"Le Juif errant" was premiered at the Paris Opera on 23 April 1852, and had 48 further performances over two seasons. The music was sufficiently popular to generate a "Wandering Jew Mazurka", a "Wandering Jew Waltz", and a "Wandering Jew Polka". [Anderson, (1991), p. 259.]

Roles

References

*G. Anderson, "The Legend of the Wandering Jew", (Hanover, NH,1991)
*Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Halévy, Fromental"
*Ruth Jordan, "Fromental Halevy, His Life and Music", (London, 1994)

Notes