Philippe-Nicolas Martin to reprise French rarity

Philippe-Nicolas Martin (left) and Jacques Jansen (right)

On October 2, French barihunk Philippe-Nicolas Martin returns to the role of Octave in Henri Sauguet's comedy Les Caprices de Marianne (The Moods of Marianne) at Opéra de Vichy. He's quite familiar with the role, as he's performed it in Rouen, Bordeaux, Limoges, Reims, Metz, Marseilles, Tour and Avignon. The opera has been rarely performed otherwise, with productions in Compiègne in 2006 and Dijon in 2007.

Ten days after the opera debut in 1954, it was broadcast on French radio with the great French barihunk Jacques Jansen as Octave. Jansen was the reigning Pelleas of his day. Sauget originally wrote the leading female role for the French coloratura soprano Lily Pons, but it was Graziella Sciutti who premiered the opera at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Philippe-Nicolas Martin sings the Commisarie in Poulenc's Les Dialogues des Carmélites:

The opera is based on an 1833 play by the French dramatist Alfred de Musset. It served as the basis for Jean Renoir's 1939 film, The Rules of the Game. Despite being a comedy, the story revolves around a married woman who considers taking a lover, drives her husband to jealousy and no-one ending up happy in the end.

There are additional performances of the opera scheduled in Rouen in December 2015, Toulouse in January 2016, Bordeaux in February 2016 and Saint-Etienne in April 2016. The role of Octave will be sung by either Marc Scoffoni or Philippe-Nicolas Martin in those productions.

September 8th is also Philippe-Nicolas Martin's birthday!