Scan 178
The New Grove Dictionary Of Music And Musicians 5 Ed. 2nd, 1904
74 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1chorus work and recitative, and were often designed to raise dramatic tension. In Nina dramatic irony is expressed at length in the duet between Nina's father and Germeuil. Dalayrac was prone to exploit sentimental situations in order to depict human affection; but sometimes, as in Camille, he achieved greater depth, so far as the context allowed: in Act 2, the duet between husband and wife expresses well the conflicts between mutual affection and genuine mistrust. The operas, like Méhul's, vary to some extent their musical idiom in conformity with the subject matter, be it gothic, oriental, chivalric or comic; but Dalayrac's success in this direction is far more limited than Méhul's, whose works appear the more Romantic by comparison. Several works, notably Léon and Léhéman, make subtle use of reminiscence motifs. In Léhéman the romance 'Un voyageur' is used throughout (as are other themes) to articulate the drama.
3Dalayrac's stage music pleased audiences because it possessed the intrinsic merits of audibly strong (but not dull or unadventurous) harmonic structure and of many melodies of high quality. He made perhaps his most lasting contribution to opera in the essentially melodic form of the romance. These are outwardly simple, but word-setting and melody-line may be subtle; the appeal of this type of solo was especially felt by Weber. Dalayrac's melodies generally combine traditional French care in observing prosody with free, modern use of wide intervals. His musical style gradually became more lightweight. In contrast to the obvious influence in Nina of Gluck's melodies, shorter phrases and (typically) triplet accompaniment figures mark the later operas. This Italianism was criticized in 1813 by Martine. 'partisans praised Dalayrac for "Italianizing" his melody in the works of this last period, and it is precisely this which makes them usually inferior to his earlier ones.' In early operas such as Sargines (1788), however, Dalayrac evolved a new style that looked forward both to the Revolution and to Beethoven; it is characterized by rhetoric, military rhythms and instrumentation, thickened orchestral spacing and repeated semiquavers.
5The orchestration of Dalayrac's operas is imaginative and successful in its dramatic context; without indulging in excessive noise or experiment it is resourceful. Woodwind solos are favoured, including those for bassoon, and (often in romances) muted strings. Col legno is used in Une heure de mariage (1804). Lina (1807) provides possibly the first printed indication anywhere in a full score of soft-ended timpani sticks, in calling for 'baguettes garnies'. In Léhéman offstage trumpet-calls in the first finale announce the capture of Léhéman's ally by enemy troops; this 'warning' technique may have attracted Méhul, who used it in Hélène, and from Hélène it passed to Fidelio.
7Dalayrac's only published writing was Réponse de M. Dalairac à MM les directeurs de Spectacles (Paris, 1791); he left some unpublished, including 'La folle de St Joseph: anecdote qui a fourni le sujet de Nina, ou La folle par amour' (other writings are listed in MGG).
9WORKS
10STAGE
11(selective list)
12Unless otherwise stated, all are opéras comiques, first performed in Paris and published in Paris near the time of their first performance
13CI – Comédie-Italienne FA – Théâtre Favart OC Opéra-Comique one of two readings
14CI – Comédie-Italienne FA – Théâtre Favart OC Opéra-Comique one of two readings
15Le petit souper, ou L'abbé qui veut parvenir (1, A E X Poisson de Lachabeaussière), perf. privately, 1781
16Le chevalier à la mode, perf. privately, 1781, unpubd
17L'éclipse totale (1, Lachabeaussière, after La Fontaine), CI, 7 March 1782, unpubd
18Nina, ou La folle par amour (1, B J Marsollier), CI, 15 May 1786, rev.
19L' Persuis as ballet (2, Milon), Opéra, 23 Nov 1813
20Avenia, ou Le nouveau Robinson (3, Lachabeaussière), Fontainebleau, 17 Oct 1786
21Renaud d'Ast (2, P Y Barre and J-B Radet), CI, 19 July 1787
22Sargines, ou L'élève de l'amour (4, J M Boutet de Monvel), CI, 14 May 1788
23Les deux petits Savoyards (1, Marsollier), CI, 14 Jan 1789
24Raoul sire de Crequi (3, Monvel), CI, 31 Oct 1789
25Camille, ou Le souterrain (3, Marsollier), CI, 19 March 1791
26Tout pour l'amour, ou Roméo et Juliette (4, Monvel), FA, 7 July 1792, unpubd, F-Pn
27Adèle et Dorsan (3, Marsollier), FA, 27 April 1795
28La famille américaine (1, J N Bouilly), FA, 20 Feb 1796
29Gulnare, ou L'esclave persane (1, Marsollier), FA, 30 Dec 1797
30I con, ou Le château de Monténéro (3 F-B Hoffman), FA, 15 Oct 1798
31Adolphe et Clara, ou Les deux prisonniers (1, Marsollier), FA, 10 Feb 1799
32Maison à vendre (1, A Duval), OC, 23 Oct 1800
33Léhéman, ou La tour de Neustadt (3, Marsollier), OC, 12 Dec 1801
34La jeune prude, ou Les femmes entre elles (1, F Mercier-Dupaty), OC, 14 Jan 1804 one of two readings
35I a jeune prude, ou Les femmes entre elles (1, F Mercier-Dupaty), OC, 14 Jan 1804 one of two readings
36Une heure de mariage (1, C G Etienne), OC, 20 March 1804
37Le pavillon du calife, ou Almanzor et Zobeide (opera, 2, E Morel de Chefdeville, Després and J M Deschamps), Opéra, 20 April 1804, rev. as Le pavillon des fleurs, ou Les pêcheurs de Grenade (1, R C Guilbert de Pixerecourt), OC, 13 May 1822
38Gulistan, ou Le Hulla de Samarcande (3, Etienne and Lachabeaussière), OC, 30 Sept 1805
39Koulouf, ou Les Chinois (3, Pixerecourt), OC, 18 Dec 1806
40Lina, ou Le mystère (3, J A de Reveront Saint-Cyr), OC, 8 Oct 1807
41Le poète et le musicien, ou Je cherche un sujet (3, Mercier-Dupaty), OC, 30 May 1811
43Many excerpts and airs pubd separately and in contemporary anthologies [detailed list in RISM]
45OTHER WORKS
46(all published in Paris)
47Songs Le salut de l'empire 'Veillons au salut de l'empire' (A D S Boy) (1792) [adapted from Renaud d'Ast]. Les canons, ou La réponse au salpêtre 'Amis vos vers' (A F Coupigny) (1794). Ode a l'Étre suprême 'Suprême auteur' (Auguste) (1794). Adieux d'un vieillard a son fils 'Bientot la mort' (Coupigny) (1794). Ma chaumière 'Vers ma chaumière' (1808). others
48Inst 36 str qts in 6 sets, opp 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11 (n d ), 6 trios 2 vn, b, op 2 (n d ), 6 duos, 2 vn (n d )
50BIBLIOGRAPHY
51A F M Gretry Mémoires ou Essais sur la musique (Paris, 1789 enlarged 2/1797, repr 1924 5)
52R C Guilbert de Pixerecourt Vie de Dalayrac (Paris, 1810)
53J-D Martine De la musique dramatique en France (Paris, 1813), 1071, 262ff
54B J Marsollier Oeuvres choisies, 1 (Paris, 1825), 6
55A Fourgeaud Les violons de Dalayrac (Paris, 1856)
56A Adam Souvenirs d'un musicien (Paris, 1857, 2/1871), 217 66
57A Pouglin 'Deux musiciens journalistes episode de la vie de Berton et de Dalayrac', Le Ménestrel, xxxiii (1866 7), 308
58H Berhov Mémoires (Paris, 1870, Fng trans. ed D Cairns, 1969)
59M Tourneux, ed Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique par Grimm Diderot Raynal Meister, etc (Paris, 1877-82)
60C Pierre Le Magasin de musique à l'usage des fêtes nationales et du Conservatoire (Paris, 1895/R1954)
61Musique des fetes et cérémonies de la Révolution française (Paris, 1899)
62Les hymnes et chansons de la Révolution française (Paris, 1904)
63G Kaiser, ed Sämtliche Schriften von Carl Maria von Weber (Berlin and Leipzig, 1908)
64H Quittard 'La "Nina" de Dalayrac', RHCM, viii (1908), 154
65G Cucuel 'L'opéra-comique à la veille de la Révolution', Les créateurs de l'opéra-comique français (Paris, 1914), 199
66H Radiguer 'La musique française de 1789 à 1815' N D'Alayrac', EMDC, 1/iii (1921), 1600
67J Tiersot Lettres de musiciens écrites en français du XVe au XXe siècle, 1 (Turin, 1924), 258ff
68E C van Bellen Les origines du mélodrame (Utrecht, 1927), 106, 133, 164, 171
69H Gougelot La romance française sous la Révolution et l'Empire (Melun, 1937-43)
70R Girardon 'Dalayrac, Nicolas-Marie', MGG [incl detailed list of works]
71W C Kloppenburg 'Nicolas Dalayrac', Mens en melodie, ix (1954), 378 one of two readings
72W C. Kloppenburg 'Nicolas Dalayrac', Mens en melodie, ix (1954), 378 one of two readings
73B Connell Portrait of a Whig Peer (London, 1957), 235
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