La Juive

La Juive (French pronunciation: [la ʒɥiv], lit. 'The Jewess') is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra de Paris, on 23 February 1835.

La Juive was one of the most popular and admired operas of the 19th century. Its libretto was the work of Eugène Scribe, the prolific dramatic author. Scribe was writing to the tastes of the Opéra de Paris, where the work was first performed – a work in five acts presenting spectacular situations (here the Council of Constance of 1414), which would allow a flamboyant staging in a setting which brought out a dramatic situation which was also underlined by a powerful historical subject. In addition to this, there could be choral interludes, ballet and scenic effects which took advantage of the entire range of possibilities available at the Paris Opera.

Because of the story of an impossible love between a Christian man and a Jewish woman, the work has been seen by some as a plea for religious tolerance, in much the same spirit as Nathan the Wise, which premiered in 1779, Giacomo Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots which premiered in 1836, a year after La Juive, as well as the 1819 novel Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott which deals with the same theme. At the time of composition, the July Monarchy had liberalised religious practices in France. Meyerbeer and Fromental Halévy were both Jewish, and storylines dealing with topics of tolerance were common in their operas. Reviews of the initial performances show that journalists of the period responded to the liberalism and to the perceived anti-clericalism of Scribe's text rather than to any specifically Jewish theme.

Some believe that the libretto of La Juive was designed to provoke audiences to reassess the status of Jews in French society. Others believe that the clichéd portrayal of the Jew Eléazar as secretive, vengeful and materialistic does not bear out this interpretation.

The opera's first, ornate production, costing 150,000 francs, was conducted by François Habeneck. The performances of the soprano Cornélie Falcon in the title role and the dramatic tenor Adolphe Nourrit as Eléazar were particularly noted. Nourrit had significant influence on the opera: Eléazar, originally conceived as a bass part, was rewritten for him, and it appears that it was largely his idea to end act 4 not with a traditional ensemble, but with the aria "Rachel, quand du seigneur" for which he may also have suggested the text. The production was notable for its lavishness, including the on-stage organ in Act I, the enormous supporting cast, and the unprecedentedly elaborate decor. Two teams of scenic artists took responsibility over the stage decorations, Charles Séchan, Léon Feuchère, Jules Diéterle and Édouard Desplechin designing Acts I, II, IV and V, and René-Humanité Philastre and Charles-Antoine Cambon providing the materials for Act III.

La Juive enjoyed an international success comparable to that of Meyerbeer's popular grand operas. It made its American premiere at the Théâtre d'Orléans on 13 February 1844. The work was also used for the inaugural performance at the newly constructed Palais Garnier in Paris on 5 January 1875 (the title role was sung by Gabrielle Krauss; the scenery was recreated after the original designs by Jean-Baptiste Lavastre and Édouard Desplechin, Chéret, Charles-Antoine Cambon, and Auguste Alfred Rubé and Philippe Chaperon). La Juive received its first performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on 16 January 1885 with Amalie Materna as Rachel.

Richard Wagner, who admired La Juive, may have borrowed from it the Act I organ effect, for his 1868 opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Moreover, Eléazar's tapping at his goldsmith's work is echoed by Hans Sachs's cobbling during Die Meistersinger.

Having last been performed at the Metropolitan Opera in 1890 with Lilli Lehmann as Rachel, La Juive was revived in 1919 as a vehicle for the Met's star tenor, Enrico Caruso. Eléazar was the last role Caruso added to his repertoire, as well as the last he ever sang in performance, on 24 December 1920. After Caruso's death in August, 1921, Giovanni Martinelli succeeded him in the role at the Met. Both Martinelli and Caruso made best-selling recordings of the opera's most popular aria, "Rachel! Quand du seigneur".