Se joue pas Didon sans Didon: Saint Huberty sulla scena dell’Opéra

In 1783, first at Fontainebleau and then at the Opéra, Madame Saint Huberty triumphed in the title role of Piccinni and Marmontel’s Didon. The serious difficulties encountered during rehearsals with a stand in did not worry Piccinni, who was co nvinced that they were staging « Didon sans Didon, et cela devoit être détestable» . The opera had in fact been composed both libretto and music specifically for the leading French soprano who, according to Grimm, combined the qualities of the singer Todi, who had been performing with enormous success in the Concerts spirituels for some five years, and of Claire, who had dominated the Comédie française for forty years. Drawing on contemporary documents, Piccinni’s score and the stage directions added to a handwritte n copy, this paper examines how Saint Huberty helped to define the role of Dido in Piccinni’s tragédie lyrique, both in the vocal parts and, above all, in the recitatives.