La Révolution Française is a French rock opera by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Raymond Jeannot, book by Alain Boublil and Jean-Max Rivière, created in 1973. The show premiered at the Palais des Sports de Paris.
Contents
Synopsis
With the French Revolution as its background, we see unfold the fictional story of the impossible love between Charles Gauthier and Isabelle de Montmorency. Gauthier is the son of a shopkeeper who becomes a member of the Tiers-État, while Isabelle is an aristocrat who is forced to flee with the royal family.
Creative team
Book and Lyrics: Alain Boublil and Jean-Max Rivière
Music: Claude-Michel Schönberg and Raymond Jeannot
Arrangements: Jean-Claude Petit and Martin Circus
Original cast
Antoine : Général Bonaparte
Cyril Azzam: General Kellermann
Alain Bashung: Robespierre
Jean Bentho: M. de La Fayette, Counsellor to the King
Les Enfants de Bondy : The Children of the King (Louis and Marie-Thérèse)
Françoise Boublil: Charlotte Corday
Gérard Rinaldi: Talleyrand
Les Charlots: Priests
Noëlle Cordier : Isabelle de Montmorency
Mario d'Alba: King's Counsellor/Newspaper Seller/Prison Guard
Franca di Rienzo : Marie-Antoinette
Raymond Jeannot: Newspaper Seller
Gérard Layani : La Terreur (Soloist)
Gérard Blanc: Danton
Martin Circus: Members of the Tiers-État
Jean-François Michael : Les Chouans (Soloist)
Jean-Max Rivière: Marat
Jean-Pierre Savelli: Charles Gauthier
Claude-Michel Schönberg: Louis XVI
Jean Schultheis: Antoine Fouquier-Tinville
Élisabeth Vigna: Madame Sans-Gêne
Discography
There are two versions of this work available: the original double album as well as the triple, expanded album of the presentation at the Theatre Mogador.
First version
The recording was released as a double-vinyl album from Vogue in 1973. This release contained a 16-page booklet, 12 pages of which featured cartoons incorporating the words of the songs. The disk has been re-edited several times since, in 1989, for example, to celebrate the bicentennial of the French Revolution.
Ouverture - Choir
Les États généraux (5 mai 1789) :
Le Roi - Louis XVI (The King)
La Noblesse - Choir (The Nobility)
Le Clergé - Choir (Clergy)
Le Tiers-État - The Members of the Tiers-État
Charles Gauthier (mai 1789) - Charles Gauthier
À Versailles (14 juillet 1789) - The King's children and Louis XVI ("At Versaille", 14 July 1789)
Retour de la Bastille : Français, Français - Robespierre and Choir ("The Return of the Bastille; Frenchmen, Frenchmen")
Il s'appelle Charles Gauthier - Isabelle de Montmorency ("He is Called Charles Gauthier")
À bas tous les privilèges (nuit du 4 août 1789) - Choir ("Down With all Privileges", night of 4 August 1789)
Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen (26 août 1789) - Charles Gauthier ("Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen", 26 August 1789)
Ça ira, ça ira ! (5-6 octobre 1789) - Louis XVI, La Fayette, a counsellor and Choir ("It'll Be Fine, It'll Be Fine!", 5–6 October 1789)
1977 version
The passage concerned with Charlotte Corday's assassination of Jean-Paul Marat was totally rewritten. While only a small intermezzo in the first version, it becomes an opera trio between Charlotte, Marat (who sings with a dagger in his heart) and his servant.
One new scene was added : a confrontational dialogue between Charles Gauthier and Robespierre, each verse of which is a retort of the other character.
Recordings
1973 : Double album (LDM 30166 or LD 30166 / VG 308 430166 without booklet)
1977 : 3 disc box set (VG603 or C.V.U. 316)
1987 : First reissue on CD of 24 titres originaux (VG 651-600 146)
1989 : Special reissue for bicentennial of the French Revolution (PM 524 310 296 without booklet)
2000 : Reissue in standard and luxury editions (Anthology's B00004ZBMN)