Saint-Georges
L’Amant anonyme (The Anonymous Lover)
Nicole Cabell, Geoffrey Agpalo, David Govertsen, Erica Schuller, Michael St. Peter, Nathalie Colas; Haymarket Opera Company/Craig Trompeter Çedille CDR 90000 217 170:31 mins (3 discs)
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the bi-racial 18th-century composer, violinist, champion fencer and much else, has finally started to gain due recognition – albeit, almost exclusively through his instrumental works. With this first complete recording of L’Amant anonyme, his only opera to survive largely intact, we get a more rounded sense of this remarkable composer.
First heard in 1780, L’Amant anonyme centres around Léontine and Valcour. The latter makes anonymous advances, so a ‘love triangle’ forms between just the two of them. Each has a confidante, Ophémon and Dorothée respectively, while two villagers, Jeannette and Colin, provide an exemplar…