L’Amant Anonyme

(The Anonymous Lover)

World-premiere recording produced by Grammy Award-winning label Cedille Records

Haymarket’s debut album & a world-premiere recording

Premiered in 1780, L’Amant Anonyme was the most successful of Bologne’s six operas and is the only one to survive to the present day. Based on a play by the composer’s patroness Félicité de Genlis, who was a respected writer of the era, the work is an opéra comique in two acts composed in the then-popular style that mixed sung parts with spoken dialogue.

The stellar cast is headlined by soprano Nicole Cabell (2005 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World) in the lead role of Léontine, opposite Chicago-native tenor Geoffrey Agpalo as her secret admirer Valcour. The cast also includes bass-baritone David Govertsen (Ophémon), soprano Erica Schuller (Jeannette), tenor Michael St. Peter (Colin), and soprano Nathalie Colas (Dorothée). Company founder and artistic director Craig Trompeter leads the performance, conducting a 19-member contingent of the period-instrument Haymarket Opera Orchestra.

“Luxury casting”

Gramophone

“Five Stars”

BBC Music Magazine

“A triumph in every respect”

Fanfare

“A beautifully sung, scrupulously played performance that does Bologne proud.”

Opera News

“Haymarket’s verve in historically informed performance is second to none.”

Opera News

“A terrific world-premiere recording”

Textura

“Playing on period instruments, the orchestra under Craig Trompeter gives a marvellous performance, its precision, colours and well-weighted phrases quite superb”

Opera Magazine

“This production presents a strong cast and an incisive period instrument ensemble”

BBC Music Magazine

“Nicole Cabell is superb as Léontine”

BBC Music Magazine

“From duets to quintets, the vocal ensembles are impressive”

Opera Magazine

“…a sheer pleasure to listen to”

Operawire

“All praise to Haymarket Opera Company, then, for doing their part to return Bologne's name to public awareness and even more for giving this remarkable opera the attention it has been too long denied and so rightfully deserves.”

Textura

"Even better when it comes to restoring Bologne to his rightful stature is a new recording from Cedille, which documents a June 2022 production by the Chicago-based Haymarket Opera Company of L’Amant Anonyme."

Gramophone

Following Haymarket Opera Company’s live performances of L’Amant Anonyme, the Chicago Tribune wrote, “Haymarket gave as delightful a production of this neglected bonbon as one could imagine,” and praised Cabell’s “expertly, convincingly shaded…radiant soprano” and Agpalo’s “hall-filling, bel canto sensibility…his tenor plush, fluid, and lip-smackingly sweet.” Chicago Classical Review wrote, “Anonymous Lover carried a contemporary freshness and energy born of the caring ministrations of a strong ensemble of period instrumentalists, singers and dancers.”

Composer Joseph Bologne, also known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was among the eighteenth century’s most extraordinary musical figures. He rose to fame among the European aristocracy as a virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was also noted as one of the greatest swordsmen of his day and led numerous military campaigns as a high-ranking officer. Bologne was born in Guadeloupe to George Bologne, his Caucasian French father, and Nanon, his enslaved African mother. When his father was unjustly accused of murder, the family fled to France to avoid the younger Bologne being sold into slavery.

The CD’s accompanying booklet essay, titled “Silenced No More: Composer Joseph Bologne and the French Operatic Tradition” by Marc Clague, Professor of Musicology and Associate Dean at The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, provides historical context and insight into Bologne’s life and the opera.

L’Amant Anonyme was recorded by Cedille Records’ Grammy Award-winning team of producer James Ginsburg and engineer Bill Maylone.

The opera recording is presented on three CDs at a two-CD price: the first two CDs contain the opera’s complete two acts, with all the French dialogue. A bonus CD third contains just the 21 musical numbers. Production photos and full libretto in original French and English translation are included in the CD booklet.

L’Amant Anonyme is the first album to be funded in part by donations to the recently launched Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fund for Vocal Recordings at Cedille Records, created to honor the late Justice’s passion for opera and vocal music in general.

Program Notes

Note by Chase Hopkins Haymarket general director & creative producer:

Joseph Bologne was a champion swordsman, virtuosic violinist, and successful composer celebrated throughout the 18th century. His identity as one of a small number of biracial pre-twenthieth-century composers is significant in the history of Western music. At Haymarket, we delight
in discovering “new” things from the 17th and 18th centuries. L’Amant Anonyme is the only extant opera of Joseph Bologne and in true Haymarket style, this work has been lovingly restored through the lens of historical performance. A star-studded cast of artists bring the charming characters to life alongside our period orchestra playing rarely heard late 18th-century instruments. A modern score has been carefully prepared especially for this recording, taking hints and clues left in the only extant manuscript of the work. Our approach celebrates the fashions and theatrical conventions of 18th-century France in all its beauty, complete with stylish ballets, gorgeous music for the cast and orchestra, and dialogue. From Bologne’s heartwarming tale in which love prevails, we believe the themes of patience, empathy, and devotion will resonate with today’s audiences and inspire a rich dialogue around issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion in classical music. Despite his prodigious talents and extraordinary accomplishments, racism limited the opportunities available to composer Joseph Bologne in his own time, and precluded his legacy in ours. Through this recording we are thrilled to partner with Grammy Award-winning record label Cedille Records to celebrate the remarkable life and work of Joseph Bologne with this first-ever recording of his opera, L’Amant Anonyme.

“Haymarket gave as delightful a production of this neglected bonbon as one could imagine.”

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

“Anonymous Lover carried a contemporary freshness and energy born of the caring ministrations of a strong ensemble of period instrumentalists, singers and dancers.”

CHICAGO CLASSICAL REVIEW

The Cast