The opera is based extremely loosely on themes of the novel Le Juif errant, by
Eugène Sue. Whilst the novel is set in 19th century Paris and the Wandering Jew is incidental to the main story-line, the opera begins in Amsterdam in 1190 and the Jew Ahasuerus (spelled Ashvérus[1] in the opera) is a leading character.
Performance history
Le Juif errant was premiered at the
Salle Le Peletier of the
Paris Opera on 23 April 1852, and had 48 further performances over two seasons. The music was sufficiently popular to generate a Wandering Jew
Mazurka, a Wandering Jew
Waltz, a Wandering Jew
Polka[2] and in France just in the several months after the opera was premiered an even more considerable quantity of piano works, including several called "Grande fantaisie dramatique" and similar titles, based on the opera.[3]
Chorus: lords, ladies, and people of
Antwerp; robbers and bad boys; shopkeepers, inhabitants of
Brabant; lords and ladies of Emperor Nicéphore's court; people of
Thessalonica; people of
Constantinople; mutes,
almées (
harem entertainers), slaves; Emperor's guards; Empress Irène's lady; angel, demons, the chosen, the damned, etc.
References
Notes
^Sue's spelling of the name was 'Ahasvérus', a version also used by
Edgar Quinet. However, Scribe's version of the name can be found in earlier literature (e.g.
in 1834)
Tamvaco, Jean-Louis (2000). Les Cancans de l'Opéra. Chroniques de l'Académie Royale de Musique et du théâtre, à Paris sous les deux restorations (2 volumes) (in French). Paris: CNRS Editions.
ISBN9782271056856.
Further reading
Jordan, Ruth (1994). Fromental Halévy: His Life & Music, 1799–1862. London: Kahn & Averill.
ISBN9781871082517.
Scribe, Eugène (1858). Le Juif errant in Oeuvres complètes de M. Eugène Scribe, new edition, volume XVII, pp. 149–164. Paris: Adolphe Delahays.
View at
Google Books.