Oath of the Horatii by Jacques-Louis David, exhibited at the Salon in Paris in 1785 (the year prior to the premiere of the opera in that city), depicts the titular Horatii.
The opera was commissioned by the Paris Opera after the success of Salieri's Les Danaïdes with the company.
Performance history
According to different sources, Les Horaces was first performed either at Fontainebleau on 2 November 1786,[2] or at Versailles on 2 December 1786.[3] According to Spire Pitou, however, both dates seem to be errors and "the correct date of the world première of Salieri's Les Horaces is 7 December 1786 at the Royal Academy of Music ...".[4] Whatever the case, it was not well received.[5] The failure of the opera to some extent has been blamed on the lackluster performances of the original performers.[6]
^Antonio SalieriArchived 2007-09-26 at the Wayback Machine. "Yet -retorts Pitou- the best voices of the company had been cast in this failure..." ("Les Horaces" (Salieri), p. 279
^According to Spire Pitou (articles: "Gavaudan aînée, Anne-Marie Jeanne", p. 240, and "Les Horaces" (Salieri), p. 278), the role was performed by Adelaïde's elder sister, Anne-Marie Jeanne Gavaudan, aînée.
Sources
Original libretto: Les Horaces, Tragédie-Lyrique, en trois actes, mêlée d'intermedes. Représentée devant Leurs Majestés à Fontainebleau, le 2 Novembre 1786, Paris, Ballard, 1786 (a copy online at Gallica - Bibliothèque Nationale de France)
Pitou, Spire, The Paris Opéra. An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers – Rococo and Romantic, 1715-1815, Greenwood Press, Westport/London, 1985 (ISBN0-313-24394-8)
