Lodoiska

An 18th century theatrical work in three acts, variously referred to as an opera, a musical drama or a melodrama.

The original text

There are three versions of this work (plus a ballet apparently), all based (directly or indirectly)on an episode from Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvrai’s novel, Les amours du chevalier de Faublas (Paris, 1787). The oldest, Lodoïska is an Italian opera by Luigi Cherubini to a French libretto by Claude-François Fillette-Loraux after an episode from Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvrai’s novel, Les amours du chevalier de Faublas. It takes the form of a comédie héroïque (a type of opéra comique) in three acts.

in 1791 Lodoiska, a French prose comedy in three acts, by De Jaure (1761-1790) and set to music by Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766-1831), was performed and published in Paris, 1791.

Translations and adaptations

John Philip Kemble produced an English version of the opera, based on a play seen in Paris, which he called Lodoiska, referred to as "an opera in three acts" in most published versions and sources. (Though the second edition has the title as: Songs in Lodoiska, a musical romance"). The music was composed, and selected from Cherubini, Kreutzer, and Andreozzi, by Mr. Storace. By his own admission based on the French libretto of De Jaure, rather than the Cherubini opera. Perfomed, for the first time by His Majesty's Servants, at the Theatre Royal, Drury-Lane, on Monday, June 9th 1794. Printed by G. G. and J. Robinson in 1794.

The English version was first performed in New York on 4 December 1826.