The work of Joseph Bologne de Cavalier de Saint Georges is currently resurfacing much to the delight of audiences around the world, and on this week’s Sunday Opera (11/20 3:00 p.m.) we’ve got a performance of his 1780 romantic comedy “L'Amant Anonyme” from Chicago’s Haymarket Opera Company.
Valcour (Geoffrey Agpalo) is in love with Leontine (Nicole Cabell) but cannot bring himself to tell her. After Leontine becomes independently wealthy on the death of her husband, Leontine swore to never love again. However, Valcour has spent the last four years playing the role of an anonymous lover through gifts and letters.
This finally becomes too much for Valcour, and he devises a plan to reveal his role as the anonymous lover. To this end, he gets help from Leontine’s tutor Ophemon (David Govertsen) and two of her friends Jeannette (Erica Schuller) and Colin (Michael St. Peter). He is unsure if Leontine will return his affection, but an answer either way will remove the weight from his heart. Also in the cast is Nathalie Colas as Dorothee.
Haymarket Artistic Director Craig Trompeter conducts the Haymarket Opera Orchestra.
Following the opera, we’ll begin the afternoon with more music of Bologne with two of his Violin Concertos Nos. 3 & 5 in D major & C major, his String Quartet No. 2 in G minor, and the delightful Symphonie Concertante in A major.
Our final work comes from the pen of Reinhardt Gliere, his Symphony No. 3 in B minor titled “Ilya Murometz” based on the heroic folk legend of the same title.
