La Statue

La statue (The Statue) is an opera in three acts and five tableaux by Ernest Reyer to the libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on tales from One Thousand and One Nights and La statue merveilleuse, an 1810 carnival play (pièce foraine) by Alain-René Lesage and Jacques-Philippe d'Orneval.

Although in its story opera possesses a certain Oriental climate, musically it has very little resemblance to its locale, remaining in core of the French music tradition of 18th and early 19th century. It was originally conceived and performed as an opéra comique (with some spoken dialogue instead of all recitatives).

Read more about La Statue:  Performance History, Versions, Timing, Roles, Instrumentation, Place and Time, Recordings

Famous quotes containing the word statue:

    The mind, in short, works on the data it receives very much as a sculptor works on his block of stone. In a sense the statue stood there from eternity. But there were a thousand different ones beside it, and the sculptor alone is to thank for having extricated this one from the rest.
    William James (1842–1910)