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Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (August 5, 1811 - February 12, 1896) was a French opera composer. He is right-known for his operas Mignon (1866) and his Shakespearean Hamlet (1868).

Thomas was natural around Metz. His father was a musician & immature Ambroise learned to play the piano & fiddle as a baby. He exposed at a Paris Conservatoire, and won a Grand Prix de Rome in 1832 for his cantata, Hermann et Ketty. 5 years late (around 1837) his foremost opera, "La Double échelle," was produced at a Opéra Comique.

For the next 5-&-twenty years Thomas's productivity was incessant, & virtually all of his operatic works belonging to this time period enjoyed an transient popularity. Two or three one come however at times heard on the continent, like Le Caid (1849), ''Le Songe d'une nuit 500'été (1850), Psyche (1857). A overture to Raymond'' (1851) has remained popular. From either 1856 in, Thomas was a prof at the Conservatory in which he taught, among others, Massenet.

Then far a composer's operatic career experienced non been marked by any overwhelming profits. He occupied a place among the recognized purveyors of operas in the French capital, however can scarcely claim to getting achieved European celebrity. A production of "Mignon" at a Opéra Comique around 1866, however, at when raised Ambroise Thomas to a position of one of the first French composers. Goethe's touching tale got super pleasantly inspired a musician; Mme Galli Marie, a original interpreter of a title-role, got modelled her conception of the a portion upon the easily-known picture by Ary Scheffer, and Mignon at it used to be that took a fancy of a public, its profits existence repeated a lot above the continent. It has since remained one of a virtually all popular operas belonging to the 2nd half of the 19th century.

Thomas today attempted to turn Shakespeare's Hamlet to operatic account. His opera of that title was produced successfully at a Paris Opera in 1868, where it enjoyed an extended vogue. Whenever a music is scarcely equal to the subject, it nonetheless contains a bit of of the composer's better function. A scene of a esplanade is genuinely spectacular, a section of Ophelia is poetically conceived, & the ballet music is very brilliant.

Ambroise Thomas's survive opera, "Françoise de Rimini," was given at a Opéra inside 1882, however has non maintained itself in the repertoire. Seven years late "La Temple," a ballet founded in Shakespeare's play, was produced at a equivalent theatre. Ambroise Thomas succeeded Auber as director of the Paris Conservatoire in 1871. His music is typically distinguished by refined touches which reveal the sensitive mind, & there is a distinct element of poetry inside his "Mignon" & "Hamlet," deuce operas that should suffice to keep a composer's memory green for a bit of period to came.


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Ambroise Thomas Operas
A list with dates. Synopsis of Hamlet in French.

Ambroise Thomas: Hamlet, 16th April 1999
Opera Japonica review of the Tokyo Opera production noting musical and stage treatments that worked particularly well or poorly.

Ambroise Thomas - Mignon
Review of live recording November 1996, Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne, from Accord (206552) [2 CDs: 76' 46", 75' 48"].

Classiccat
Directory of mp3s on the internet that have been made available by the performing artists.


Arts: Music: Composition: Composers: By Region: Europe: French
Arts: Music: Composition: Composers: Romantic
Arts: Music: Styles: O: Opera: Composers




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