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9781527566583

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The work of Letellier and Fuller of course retraces the life of Halevy, republishes several contemporary monographs, and also offers a fascinating choice of letters (a hundred) that allow us to penetrate the musical climate of the time through the composer's relations with his contemporaries: colleagues, librettists, critics, singers, directors, family... A chapter is devoted to the orchestral innovations introduced by the composer, at the time considered to be of the same level as those of Meyerbeer and Berlioz, and in particular his interest in rare instruments (basset horns that introduce the aria of Eleazar, often replaced by English horns, the mellophone used in The Queen of Cyprus...). This sum in two volumes, totalling more than a thousand pages of text, also contains many annexes: the entirety of the two articles by Richard Wagner mentioned above, an analysis of the theological context of La Juive, a bibliography where Forum Opera and the author of these lines are fleetingly mentioned (that is to say its quality!). Icing on the cake, or rather icing on the cake, the publisher offers a rich iconography with magnificent central notebooks in color and glossy paper, of more than 150 additional pages each, in the middle of the two volumes (the iconographies of the other works of the same author in this collection were until now in black and white): paintings, photos, extracts of scores, drawings of costumes, models of sets, advertising vignettes. There is also a splendid portrait of Halevy which belongs to the collections of the Musee de la Musique. [...] Finally, despite its erudition, the work is easy to read as its style is clear and pleasant. These two remarkable volumes are obviously the absolute reference for the rediscovery of Fromental Halevy, and allow to complete the panorama of the French lyric scene begun with the previous volumes devoted to Meyerbeer and Auber: a beautiful way to renew the Entente cordiale, while waiting for a future where these works will find the scenes. Jean Michel PennetierForumopera.co These two magnificent volumes of the biography and the operas of the composer Halevy will undoubtedly become a benchmark due to the large amount of data and documentation they provide. The authors are Robert Ignatius Letellier and Nicholas Lester Fuller. Letellier is undoubtedly the greatest specialist on this period of music. His works on Meyerbeer, Auber, French opera and now Halevy certify this. This magnificent work should be consulted by all who come to this fascinating world. [...] It is thanks to the magnificent studies that Letellier has carried out on this period that we can approach with greater knowledge of the facts that fascinating and unrepeatable period in the history of opera. Domenec Gonzales de la Rubia

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Robert Ignatius Letellier is a member of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the Institute of Continuing Education, Madingley Hall. He has written extensively about the opera and ballet of the 19th century, and especially on Meyerbeer, Auber and Minkus. He is also the author of a number of source books on opera-comique and operetta, Romantic literature, the Gothic novel, Sir Walter Scott, and scriptural studies. Nicholas Lester Fuller is a journalist and studied Literature and History at the Australian National University and Sydney University. He has a specialist engagement with French opera of the 19th century, and has written articles on Massenet, Meyerbeer, Gounod, Reyer, and Herold for MusicWeb International. He has also reviewed for Limelight, the Australian classical music magazine.

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