L’Amant anonyme

Opera in two acts by Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges

June 17-19, 2022 | Jarvis Opera Hall

An 18th-Century Rarity

Nicole Cabell, a Cardiff Singer of the World and acclaimed international soprano, leads the cast in her Haymarket debut as the beautiful young Léontine, widowed by an unfaithful husband. Tenor Geoffrey Agpalo, also in his company debut, portrays her dear friend Valcour, who has been wooing her with gifts and anonymous letters while he waits for her broken heart to heal. Haymarket favorites David Govertsen (Ophémon), Erica Schuller (Jeannette), Michael St. Peter (Colin), and Nathalie Colas (Dorothée) are all conspirators in the amorous ruse.

Hear the Chevalier de Saint-George’s virtuosic score played by an orchestra of Classical period instruments conducted by HOC artistic director Craig Trompeter.

In the French tradition, L’Amant anonyme overflows with stylish dance, performed by members of the Haymarket Opera Ballet.

HOC’s new production is choreographed and directed by Sarah Edgar and produced by Chase Hopkins. Stephanie Cluggish returns as costume designer. Wendy Waszut-Barrett, Brian Schneider, and Megan Pirtle make their Haymarket debuts as set, lighting, and wig designers.

Scroll down to learn more about the cast, production team, orchestra, and more about Joseph Bologne’s comedic delight, L’Amant anonyme.

Cast

Haymarket Opera Ballet

In the French tradition, L’Amant anonyme overflows with stylish dance, performed by members of the Haymarket Opera Ballet. Choreographed by baroque dance specialist Sarah Edgar, the Haymarket Opera Ballet welcomes dancers Kali Page Benz, Julie Brumfiel, Andrew Erickson and Emmanuel Ramírez.

Production & Creative Team

With Production and Technical Support:

Meghan Pirtle | Wig & Make-up Designer

Mike Sportiello | Technical Director (DePaul University)

Sam Leapley | Production & Stage Manager

A note about the musical score and text translation:

The text of L’Amant anonyme was based on a play by Felicité Ducrest, Comtesse de Genlis, and was adapted as an opera libretto by François Guillome Desfontaines for the intimate private theater of Madame de Montesson. Edward Wheatley and Mary Mackay have created a new English translation for Haymarket. Gregg Sewell has prepared a new performing score for Haymarket, based on surviving historical sources.

Orchestra

The Chevalier de Saint-George’s virtuosic score is played by a full orchestra of Classical period instruments conducted by HOC artistic director Craig Trompeter. Savor the elegant sounds of late-18th-century strings, flutes, oboes, bassoons, and horns.

Craig Trompeter | Conductor

Violin I: Jeri-Lou Zike (Leader), Wendy Benner, Adriane Post

Violin II: Martin Davids, Pauline Kempf, Ann Duggan

Viola: Liz Hagen, Kiyoe Matsuura

Cello: Anna Steinhoff, Henry Chen

Bass: Jerry Fuller

Flutes: Anita Miller Rieder, Leighann Daihl Ragusa

Oboes: Kathryn Montoya, Stephen Bard

Bassoons: Andrew Schwartz, Morgan Davidson

Horns: Paul R. Hopkins, Michael Stiles

Synopsis: L’Amant anonyme

Plot Synopsis: L’Amant anonyme

Act I

Valcour, the anonymous lover, despairs of ever experiencing the joy of loving Léontine openly. Although he is Léontine’s close friend, he knows that her previous unhappy marriage has hardened her heart to love. He can only express his love by preparing celebrations and relishing the happiness that she experiences from them. His latest token of affection is to deliver a bouquet to Léontine before a wedding in the village. Along with the bouquet, he sent a letter that tells her if she carries the bouquet to the wedding, it means she will tolerate the affections of the Anonymous One, but if she does not carry it, he will take the hint and leave her forever. 

Valcour’s confidant, Ophémon, enters the garden to tell Valcour that all is ready for the village wedding celebration, and the bouquet has been delivered. Ophémon tries to convince Valcour that after four long years of these anonymous signs of affection, he should finally reveal himself to Léontine. Ophémon thinks that Léontine’s heart has surely softened in all this time, but Valcour is unconvinced. 

Soon, Léontine and her friend, Dorothée, enter the garden, deep in an argument about the bouquet. Léontine is not sure what she should do! She does not want to make the Anonymous One think that she hates him, but she is nervous about encouraging his affections. In the end, she decides to carry the bouquet, but she is convinced that the Anonymous One can only draw the conclusion that she does not hate him.

Now the village wedding begins with singing and dancing. Not only has Valcour given Léontine the bouquet, he has also written songs in praise of love for the bride and groom, Jeanette and Colin, to sing: “Le vrai bonheur de la vie est de savoir bien aimer / True happiness in life is to know how to love well”. As Léontine, Valcour, Dorothée, and Ophémon stroll through the garden on the way to the wedding festivities, Valcour suggests that the Anonymous One might be hiding behind a tree, listening to everything. Valcour slips away from them to hide behind the tree, jumping out to proclaim himself the Anonymous One as a joke. Dorothée finds this charming, but Léontine is very shaken. Perhaps she has been hoping all along that her good friend Valcour may be in love with her.

Act II

Léontine tries to convince herself that her heart is completely immune to love, but she keeps coming back to her affection for Valcour. In the end, she begs Amour to help her, either by opening her heart or leaving her alone.

Ophémon and Valcour believe that the time has finally come to reveal the identity of the Anonymous One. But it must be done very carefully. Ophémon visits Léontine in the garden to test the extent of her desire to know who the Anonymous One is. When he is convinced that she wants to know, he piques her desire by telling her just how desperately the Anonymous One loves her. Ophémon suggests a meeting with the Anonymous One that very evening, but here Léontine is a little taken aback. It is highly unusual for a strange man to call on an unmarried woman at the end of the day! Finally, she accepts the meeting as well as the triumph of love over her heart.

Léontine is nervously expecting the Anonymous One, so she is disturbed when Valcour shows up in the garden. She definitely doesn’t want the two men to bump into each other! At first, Valcour just tells her that he is concerned about her. She seems distracted and suffering to him. Léontine repeatedly tries to get him to leave, but finally, at the moment of her greatest distress, he reveals his love to her. She loves him, too, but she is still worried that the Anonymous Lover will walk in on them until Valcour finally makes everything clear.

The mysterious affair is ended, and Dorothée enjoys a good laugh at this wonderful turn of events. Léontine and Valcour add their own nuptials to the village celebration of love, and everyone dances and sings into the night.

About the Composer: Joseph Bologne,

the Chevalier de Saint-Georges

Joseph Bologne, also known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was among the 18th century’s most extraordinary figures. Not only was he a virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor, he was noted as one of the greatest swordsmen of his day, and led numerous military campaigns as a high-ranking officer. Saint-Georges was born in Guadeloupe to George Bologne, his caucasian French father, and Nanon, his enslaved African mother. When his father was unjustly accused of murder, the family fled to France to avoid Joseph being sold into slavery. Within a few years his prodigious athletic and musical talents took Paris by storm and he became a society celebrity. Despite the opposition of some overtly racist factions, he rose to great acclaim as a composer of instrumental music and opera. Bologne was an active abolitionist and also championed the French revolutionary cause. Though he was imprisoned for 18 months and sentenced to the guillotine during the Reign of Terror, he was eventually exonerated.

HOC is dedicated to the preservation and rejuvenation of lesser-known composers and musical works from the Age of Enlightenment. Many unsung gems from this period are regrettably denied a place in the musical canon and audiences have become habituated to hearing only a small selection of opera and oratorio by a handful of composers. Joseph Bologne was an incredibly successful performer and composer in late-18th-century France, but his compositions are rarely programmed today. His identity as one of a small number of biracial composers is significant in the history of western music. HOC will present the Midwest premiere of his only extant opera L’amant anonyme. Our performances will offer audiences the rare opportunity to experience this opera in a fully-staged historical production. We believe that its themes of patience, empathy, and devotion will resonate with today’s audiences and inspire a rich dialogue around issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Production Sponsors & Support

Lead Sponsors: Amata Suites, Jamerson & Bauwens Electric, Greg O’Leary and Patricia Kenney

Supporting Sponsors:  M. Scott Anderson, Axel Kunzmann and Bruce J. Nelson, Marjorie Stinespring, and Michael and Jessica Young 

Foundational support comes from: The Paul M. Angell Foundation, the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, the Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Illinois Arts Council Agency, Helen and Curtis Pinnell Foundation, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and the Walder Foundation.

We are grateful for the support of these sponsors alongside the support that has come from Haymarket’s wonderful community of donors. Your gifts and contributions have helped make this performance possible. Thank you!

If you are interested to become a production sponsor, please contact general director Chase Hopkins, at chase@haymarketopera.org.

“This was pure, frothy escapism, a divertissement in the truest sense for those lucky attendees of Haymarket’s sold-out run.”

Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune

“Haymarket Opera Company has created a gorgeous production with stunning attention to detail.”

M. L. Ratnala, Hyde Park Herald

“Haymarket’s fun ‘L’Amant anonyme’ makes history”

Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune

“Chase Hopkins pulled the entire enterprise together admirably as creative producer.”

John von Rhein, Chicago Classical Review

“Haymarket gave as delightful a production of this neglected bonbon as one could imagine.”

Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune

“Haymarket has created what may well come to be seen as a definitive production of a work that might have been lost for the ages.”

M. L. Ratnala, Hyde Park Herald

“Lovingly hand-painted settings by Wendy Waszut-Barrett were combined with director/choreographer Sarah Edgar’s signature balletic staging, sumptuous Rococo costumes and wigs from Stephanie Cluggish and Meghan Pirtle, and warm, gently flickering lighting from Brian Schneider that all suggested a candlelit performance at an aristocratic French court.”

Mark Thomas Ketterson, Opera News

“HOC’s Anonymous Lover carried a contemporary freshness and energy born of the caring ministrations of a strong ensemble of period instrumentalists, singers and dancers.”

John von Rhein, Chicago Classical Review

“Trompeter’s direction in the pit gave a fresh face to Bologne’s two-and-a-half-century-old opera, especially his richly textured, tenuto-embracing take on the overture.”

Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune

“The sound from the pit under conductor Craig Trompeter was at all time crisply pungent and brimming with character.”

Mark Thomas Ketterson, Opera News

“The Haymarket orchestra sounded especially Technicolor in the Jarvis Hall pit, with feather-down woodwinds and zestily shapeshifting strings.”

Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune

“...tenor Geoffrey Agpalo boasted a beautifully textured, ringing lyric tenor of impressive fluidity and heroic grace.”

Mark Thomas Ketterson, Opera News

“Look for a Grammy nomination sometime down the road.”

M. L. Ratnala, Hyde Park Herald

“Haymarket fielded some real luxury casting with soprano Nicole Cabell as his yearned for inamorata Léontine.”

Mark Thomas Ketterson, Opera News

“When it is all over, you are overwhelmed by the care, detail and expense that went into making this opera come to life.”

M. L. Ratnala, Hyde Park Herald

“...a charming secondary couple in the Colin of Michael St. Peter, whose comely appearance and intrinsically attractive tenor made him a lover to sigh for, and Erica Schuller’s Jeannette. Schuller was at her considerable best here, with some impressively floated sustained singing and pinpoint staccati.”

Mark Thomas Ketterson, Opera News

“A stage work that has languished in near-obscurity for some 230 years has reemerged as if freshly minted. And there could be no more appropriate ensemble to deliver the Chicago professional premiere than Haymarket.”

John von Rhein, Chicago Classical Review

“Haymarket Opera made a delightful return to fully staged opera on June 17 with the Chicago premiere of L’Amant Anonyme, the sole surviving opera of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.”

Mark Thomas Ketterson, Opera News

“The company has fascinated local listeners with its excursions into mostly obscure Baroque and Classical repertoire, realized with painstaking attention to historically informed performance style, period stage manners and finely detailed costumes and decor.”

John von Rhein, Chicago Classical Review

“Kudos to creative producer Chase Hopkins for pulling the whole endeavor together. Bologne’s enchanting little diversion may have taken over 200 years to get here, but Haymarket certainly made sure that it arrived in style.”

Mark Thomas Ketterson, Opera News

“Top to bottom, Haymarket’s enterprise reflected the company’s dedication to historical accuracy, spirit, one might even say accent.”

Lawrence B. Johnson, Chicago on the Aisle

“As Valcour’s confidante Ophémon, David Govertsen again demonstrated why he has become Windy City’s Baroque bass-baritone of choice…”

Mark Thomas Ketterson, Opera News

“Haymarket music director Craig Trompeter leads a performance that is frothy and fun, joyful and triumphant.”

M. L. Ratnala, Hyde Park Herald