La Révolution Française (rock opera)
Encyclopedia
La Révolution Française is a French
rock opera
by Claude-Michel Schönberg
and Raymond Jeannot, book by Alain Boublil
and Jean-Max Rivière, created in 1973. The show premiered at the Palais des Sports de Paris.
as its background, we see unfold the fictional story of the impossible love between Charles Gauthier and Isabelle de Montmorency. Gauthier is the son of a shopkeeper who becomes a members of the Tiers-État, while Isabelle is an aristocrat who is forced to flee with the royal family.
Les numéros musicaux se répartissent ainsi sur le double album original :
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
by Claude-Michel Schönberg
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Claude-Michel Schönberg is a French record producer, actor, singer, songwriter, and musical theatre composer, best known for his collaborations with the lyricist Alain Boublil.These include the musicals:...
and Raymond Jeannot, book by Alain Boublil
Alain Boublil
Alain Boublil is a musical theatre lyricist and librettist, best known for his collaborations with the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg for musicals on Broadway and London's West End...
and Jean-Max Rivière, created in 1973. The show premiered at the Palais des Sports de Paris.
Synopsis
With the French RevolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
as its background, we see unfold the fictional story of the impossible love between Charles Gauthier and Isabelle de Montmorency. Gauthier is the son of a shopkeeper who becomes a members of the Tiers-État, while Isabelle is an aristocrat who is forced to flee with the royal family.
Creative Team
- Book and Lyrics: Alain Boublil and Jean-Max Rivière
- Music: Claude-Michel SchönbergClaude-Michel SchönbergClaude-Michel Schönberg is a French record producer, actor, singer, songwriter, and musical theatre composer, best known for his collaborations with the lyricist Alain Boublil.These include the musicals:...
and Raymond Jeannot - Arrangements: Jean-Claude PetitJean-Claude PetitJean-Claude Petit is a French composer and arranger, born in Vaires-sur-Marne. After accompanying jazzmen in his childhood, Petit went to the Conservatoire de Paris, where he studied harmony and counterpoint...
and Martin Circus
Original Cast
- Antoine : Général Bonaparte
- Cyril Azzam: General KellermannFrançois Christophe KellermannFrançois Christophe Kellermann or de Kellermann, 1st Duc de Valmy was a French military commander, later the Général d'Armée, and a Marshal of France...
- Alain BashungAlain BashungAlain Bashung was a French singer, songwriter and actor.- Youth :Alain Bashung was the son of a Breton factory worker and French Kabyle father, whom he never knew. His mother remarried, and at the age of one, Bashung was sent to Strasbourg to live with his new stepfather's parents...
: Robespierre - Jean Bentho: M. de La Fayette, Counsellor to the King
- Les Enfants de Bondy : The Children of the King (Louis and Marie-Thérèse)
- Françoise Boublil: Charlotte Corday
- Gérard Rinaldi: Talleyrand
- Les CharlotsLes CharlotsLes Charlots was a group of French comedy actors, who were moderately popular in the 1970s. In English, Les Charlots means "the clowns" rather than being a direct reference to Charlie Chaplin, who was generally called Charlot in France. They were also musicians, accompanying first Antoine under the...
: Priests - Noëlle CordierNoëlle CordierNoëlle Cordier is a French singer. She participated for France in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna with the song "Il doit faire beau là-bas", finishing in third place of 17 entries . The song is very well thought-of and remains a favourite with Eurovision fans...
: Isabelle de Montmorency - Mario d'Alba: King's Counsellor/Newspaper Seller/Prison Guard
- Franca di RienzoFranca di Rienzo-Eurovision Song Contest 1961:In 1961, Di Rienzo represented Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 with the song "Nous aurons demain" . Di Rienzo finished in third place receiving 16 points.-After Eurovision:...
: Marie-Antoinette - Raymond Jeannot: Newspaper Seller
- Gérard Layani : La Terreur (Soloist)
- Gérard BlancGérard BlancGérard Blanc was a French singer and guitarist.-Biography:He began to sing in the 1970s with the band Martin Circus. Then in the 1980s, he participated in the production of Princess Stephanie of Monaco's first album, and started a solo career...
: Danton - Martin Circus: Members of the Tiers-État
- Jean-François MichaelJean-François MichaelYves Roze better known as Jean-François Michael is a French singer born on 16 April 1946. Between 1963 and 1968, he sang under his birth name Yves Roze...
: Les Chouans (Soloist) - Jean-Max Rivière: MaratJean-Paul MaratJean-Paul Marat , born in the Principality of Neuchâtel, was a physician, political theorist, and scientist best known for his career in France as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution...
- Jean-Pierre Savelli: Charles Gauthier
- Claude-Michel SchönbergClaude-Michel SchönbergClaude-Michel Schönberg is a French record producer, actor, singer, songwriter, and musical theatre composer, best known for his collaborations with the lyricist Alain Boublil.These include the musicals:...
: Louis XVI - Jean Schultheis: Antoine Fouquier-Tinville
- Élisabeth Vigna: Madame Sans-GêneMadame Sans-GêneMadame Sans-Gêne may refer to:*Marie-Thérèse Figueur , French female soldier*Cathérine Hübscher, wife of Marshal of France François Joseph Lefebvre, whose life has been dramatised in:...
- Système Crapoutchick: La Noblesse, La Terreur
Discography
There are two versions of this work available: the original double album as well as the triple, expanded album of the presentation at the Theatre Mogador.First Version
The disk has been released in a double-vinyl album from Vogue in 1973. This release contained a 16-page booklet, 12 pages of which featured cartoons incorporating the words of the songs. The disk has been re-edited several times since, in 1989, for example, to celebrate the bicentennial of the French RevolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
Songlist
- Ouverture - Choir
- Les États généraux (5 mai 1789) :
- Le Roi - Louis XVI (The King)
- La Noblesse - Choir (The Nobility)
- Le Clergé - Choir (Clergy)
- Le Tiers-État - The Members of the Tiers-État
- Charles Gauthier (mai 1789) - Charles Gauthier
- À Versailles (14 juillet 1789) - Les enfants du roi et Louis XVI ('At Versaille', King's Children and Louis XVI, 14 July 1789)
- Retour de la Bastille : Français, Français - Robespierre and Choir ('The Return of the Bastille; Frenchmen, Frenchmen')
- Il s'appelle Charles Gauthier - Isabelle de Montmorency
- À bas tous les privilèges (nuit du 4 août 1789) - Chœurs
- Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen (26 août 1789) - Charles Gauthier
- Ça ira, ça ira ! (5-6 octobre 1789) - Louis XVI, La Fayette, un conseiller et chœurs
- Quatre saisons pour un amour - Isabelle de Montmorency
- Serment de Talleyrand (12 juillet 1789) / Fête de la Fédération (14 juillet 1790) - Talleyrand et chœurs
- Crieurs de journaux (21 juin 1791) / La patrie est en danger (11 juillet 1792) - Danton et chœurs
- L'Exil (10 août 1792) - Charles Gauthier et Isabelle de Montmorency
- Valmy (20 septembre 1792) / Proclamation de la République (21 septembre 1792) - Général Kellermann et chœurs
- C'est du beau linge, mon général - Madame Sans-Gêne, Général Bonaparte et chœurs
- Le Procès de Louis XVI : Réquisitoire (10 décembre 1792) - Fouquier-Tinville
- Louis XVI / Exécution (21 janvier 1793) - Louis XVI et chœurs
- Chouans, en avant ! (juin 1793) - Les Chouans
- La terreur est en nous - Chœurs
- L'Horrible Assassinat du citoyen Marat par la perfide Charlotte Corday (13 juillet 1793) - Marat et Charlotte Corday
- Fouquier-Tinville
- Au petit matin (25 vendémiaire an II / 16 octobre 1793) - Marie-Antoinette
- Que j'aie tort ou que j'aie raison (16 germinal an II / 5 avril 1794) - Robespierre et chœurs
- La Fête de l'Être suprême (20 prairial an II / 8 juin 1794)- Robespierre et chœurs
- La Prison - Le gardien et Isabelle
- Révolution (final) - Charles et Isabelle
Les numéros musicaux se répartissent ainsi sur le double album original :
- 1-5 : Disque 1, face 1
- 6-10 : Disque 2, face 1 (2)
- 11-16 : Disque 2, face 2 (3)
- 17-25 : Disque 1, face 2 (4)
Version de 1977
- The passage concerned with Charlotte Corday's assination of Jean-Paul Marat was totally rewritten.. D'intermède léger dans la première version, il devient dans la seconde un passage d'opéra à trois voix entre Charlotte, Marat (qui chante longuement le poignard planté en plein cœur) et la servante de ce dernier.
- One new scene was added : un dialogue d'affrontement entre Charles Gauthier et Robespierre, dont chaque vers est une réplique d'un personnage.
Enregistrements
- 1973 : Double album (LDM 30166 ou LD 30166 / VG 308 430166 sans livret)
- 1977 : Coffret 3 disques (VG603 ou C.V.U. 316)
- 1987 : 1ère réédition en CD des 24 titres originaux (VG 651-600 146)
- 1989 : Réédition spéciale « Bicentenaire de la Révolution Française » (PM 524 310 296 sans livret)
- 2000 : Réédition en version simple et luxe par (Anthology's B00004ZBMN)