Name: L'Heure espagnole
Start: 2012-08-04T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2012-08-25T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Opera House

Organization

Glyndebourne Festival

Baritone

Elliot Madore

Ramiro

Tenor

François Piolino

Torquemada

Soprano

Stéphanie d'Oustrac

Concepcion

Alek Shrader

Gonzalve

Bass

Paul Gay

Don Inigo Gomez

Conductor

Kazushi Ōno

Stage director

Laurent Pelly

Set designer

Caroline Ginet

Florence Evrard

Costume designer

Lighting designer

Joël Adam

Jean-Jacques Delmotte

Orchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Glyndebourne

French

L'Heure espagnole -  (The Spanish Hour)

United Kingdom

Opera House

Ebert Room

Lewes

L'Heure espagnole is a one-act operatic farce written by Ravel and first premiered in 1911. The title's literal translation is "The Spanish Hour", but here the word "heure" refers more generally to "time", reminiscent of the cliché, "How They Keep Time in Spain". The work's Latin atmosphere is reinforced through Ravel's incorporation of dance music like the malagueña, the jota, and the habañera.

Ravel wrote his first opera, L’Heure espagnole, as a tribute to his father, an ardent supporter of his musical career. His compositions had already met with considerable success, but his father’s favorite type of music had always been opera. Sadly, L’Heure espagnole was not well received by the public and the critics, who found it to be vulgar. Hoping to preempt negative reactions, Ravel published an open letter in Le Figaro: "I seek to give new life to the Italian opera buffa, but only in its principal. Like its ancestor, its only ancestor, The Marriage by Moussorgski, L'Heure espagnole is a musical comedy." Despite Ravel's efforts, three years passed before the opera was produced again, and although the new production would prove very successful, Ravel’s father was sadly already deceased by that time.

L'heure espagnole (Ravel), 2012
Ravel's heat-soaked farce – youthful, sexy, ebullient.

L'Heure espagnole Ravel

The Spanish Hour

Approved

Production booklet

Further reading