Sémiramis (Catel)

Sémiramis is an opera by the composer Charles-Simon Catel. It takes the form of a tragédie lyrique in three acts. The French-language libretto by Philippe Desriaux is based on the 1748 tragedy of the same name by Voltaire, which concerns the legendary Queen Semiramis of Babylon. Sémiramis, Catel's first opera, premiered at the Paris Opéra on 4 May 1802. It enjoyed only limited success and suffered many attacks from critics. The composer had to wait until 1810 before the Paris Opéra gave him another opportunity with a new opera, Les bayadères, which was a triumph.

Sémiramis enjoyed 24 performances at the Opéra. Several factors played a part in its lacklustre reception. Catel was Professor of Harmony at the newly founded Paris Conservatoire, a position which had already made him enemies. The high standards the Conservatoire imposed led to the dismissal of members of staff who failed to meet them. Some took the opportunity of the premiere of Catel's first opera to get their revenge. As Fétis explained in his biographical article on the composer:

Catel, known to be close to the director, Sarrette, and therefore likely to influence the school's policies, was in a particularly vulnerable position. This probably explains why Catel experienced such difficulties when he made his début as a composer of dramatic works, and why there existed a discrepancy between his great talent and his meagre fame; for, although he had devoted friends among the theatre artistes and members of the orchestra, his enemies were numerous among the audience in the stalls, whence no doubt the hostility he was shown when Sémiramis was staged in 1802. Such a time of violent hatred was not propitious to his work; so it was not a success, despite a score containing many very beautiful elements.

There were also problems with the cast. Catel wrote the part of Sémiramis for mezzo-soprano, "almost a novelty for the era". The Opéra management assigned the title role to their leading soprano Maillard, but she was unable to cope and withdrew after only a few performances.

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