Les trois sultanes
Series: 19th and Early 20th Centuries Publisher: A-R Editions
Les trois sultanes
A Theatrical Spectacle with Music by Pierre-Julien Nargeot and Jules Creste (Paris, Théâtre des Variétés, 1853)
Edited by Richard Sherr
N097 Les trois sultanes
978-1-9872-0922-8
Full Score (2025)
9x12, lxxiv + 374 pp.
$750.00
In stock
SKU
N097
In the summer of 1853, the audience at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris was treated to a unique theatrical and musical spectacle: Les trois sultanes (The Three Sultanas), a three-act play in verse with elaborate costumes and sets and entirely new music by Pierre-Julien Nargeot (1799–1891) and Jules Creste (1819–84) including elaborate arias sung by Delphine Ugalde (1829–1910), a star of the Opéra-Comique. Les trois sultanes was billed as a comédie mêlée de chant, but its music marked it as something else. In terms of genre, it is much closer to an opéra comique, a work with spoken dialogue and new music, usually by one composer. Although staging something so akin to an opéra comique at the Théâtre des Variétés was technically illegal, the work enjoyed a month’s worth of performances there. This volume presents the complete music and text of Les trois sultanes in a critical edition and explores the work as a case study in the “politics of genre” in the Second Empire.
Les trois sultanes
Ouverture
Acte 1
No. 1. Chœur (Osmin, Chœur des Eunuques): “De l’hymen mornes sentinelles”
No. 1bis. Instrumental
No. 2. Ensemble (Elmire, Osmin, Soliman): “Le voici”
[No. 3: see appendix 2]
No. 4. Chœur: “D’un maître glorieux”
No. 5. Danse
No. 5bis. Couplets (Délia): “J’interroge mon souvenir”
No. 6. Instrumental
No. 6bis. Ensemble (Elmire, Délia, Osmin, Soliman, Chœur): “À l’insolence”
Acte 2
Entr’acte
No. 7. Instrumental
[No. 8: see appendix 2]
No. 9. Chœur: “Banni de ces demeures”
No. 10. Ensemble (Roxelane, Délia, Osmin, Soliman, Chœur): “Allons, approche”
No. 11. Instrumental
No. 12. Romance (Roxelane): “C’est pour lui que je chante”
[No. 13: lacking]
No. 14. Final: Ensemble (Roxelane, Elmire, Osmin, Soliman): “Je le vois, mon audace”
Acte 3
Entr’acte
No. 14bis. Chœur (Osmin, Chœur): “Compagnons fidèles”
No. 15. Danse
No. 15bis. Chœur (Osmin, Chœur des Eunuques): “Allons! que tout frissonne”
No. 16. Instrumental
No. 17. Instrumental
No. 18. Ensemble (Osmin, Soliman): “De tant de hardiesse”
Nos. 19–22. Final
No. 19. Air (Roxelane): “Captives qu’opprimaient ici”No. 20. Air circassien (Roxelane): “Fille de la montagne”[No. 21: see critical notes for no. 14bis]No. 22. Air et Chœur (Roxelane, Chœur): “Pour moi qui dans ces lieux”
Appendix 1: Published Selections from Les trois sultanes (Paris: Saint-Étienne, 1853)
Les trois sultanes: Couplets chantés part Mlle Larcena (Pierre-Julien Nargeot)
Les trois sultanes: Pièce lyrique en 3 actes (Jules Creste)
Air de la captiveAir imité de l’espagnolGrand air
Les trois sultanes: Quadrille pour le piano (Henry Beaucé)
1. Pantalon2. Été3. Poule4. Pastourelle5. Finale
Appendix 2: Omitted Numbers
1. Instrumental (no. 3; act 1, after scene 3)
2. Duo: “À sa voix quel charme au cœur s’introduit” (no. 8; act 2, scene 5)
Richard Sherr is the Caroline L. Wall ’27 Professor of Music Emeritus at Smith College. He received a BA from Columbia University and an MFA and PhD from Princeton University. His many publications have been mainly on renaissance topics, but he is now studying popular theatrical music in Second Empire Paris, particularly the productions at the Théâtre des Variétés. He previously produced an edition of the Théâtre des Variétés’s revue de fin d’année for 1857, Ohé! les p'tits agneaux!, which was published as volumes 82–83 of Recent Researches in the Music of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries.
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