Universally rated as his masterpiece, Antonio Sacchini's final completed opera Oedipe à Colone has a curiously checkered history. Despite - or, at least in part, because of - the patronage of Marie Antoinette, the period Sacchini spent in Paris (from 1781 until his death in 1786) was for him one of near continuous conflict. Renaud (1783), Sacchini's first commission for Paris became the subject of a bitter political and musical war. Its production was at first stalled by those opposed to Queen Marie Antoinette's support of foreign musicians, and when it did reach the stage it became enmeshed in the infamous squabbles between the followers of Piccini and Gluck, being condemned by the Piccinists for being too influenced by Gluck, and by Gluck's adherents for lacking the dramatic power and originality of their hero's operas. Chimène (Fontainebleau, 1783) achieved greater success, receiving 16 performances when it reached the Paris Opera in February 1784, but Dardanus (Versailles, 1784), Sacchini's first opera to conform to the conventions of tragédie lyrique, also failed to find favor.

Oedipe à Colone was completed in 1785, but the circumstances surrounding its first performance are somewhat confusing. According to the traditional story followed by Naxos's notes, the queen's promise of a premiere at Fontainebleau was withdrawn in the face of the ever-mounting criticism of her support of foreigners. According to this version of events, Sacchini therefore never saw Oedipe; on October 6, 1786, he died, the result, so it was said, of his acute disappointment, although less charitable observers have pointed to a dissolute lifestyle as a more likely cause. Yet authorities, such as Loewenberg's Annals of Opera and New Grove Opera, cite the first performance of Oedipe as having taken place at Versailles on January 4, 1786. Whether or not this was a staged performance is not clear, but in any event, it undermines the romantic story that the composer never heard his greatest opera. What is not in dispute is that Oedipe was eventually given its public premiere at the Opera on February 1, 1787, when it was immediately hailed as a masterpiece.Oedipe would go on to remain in the repertoire of the Opera for more than 40 years, achieving nearly 600 performances, and claiming Berlioz as one of its fervent admirers.

The three-act libretto by Nicolas-François Guillard is loosely based on the second of Sophocles's three Oedipus plays. Polynice, the son of Oedipe, solicits the Athenian ruler Thésée (Theseus) to help him regain the throne of Thebes,more....

Review By Goran Forsling,MusicWeb International,November 2006



Review By Richard Lawrence,Gramophone,December 2006