Tom Jones (Philidor)

Tom Jones is a comédie mêlée d'ariettes, a kind of opéra comique, by the French composer François-André Danican Philidor which first appeared at the Comédie-Italienne, Paris, on 27 February 1765. Its French libretto, by Antoine-Alexandre-Henri Poisenet and Bertin Davesne, is loosely based on the novel by Henry Fielding.

The piece was initially a failure but Philidor had the libretto revised by Michel-Jean Sedaine and this new version, first performed on 30 January 1766, proved one of the most popular opéras comiques of the late 18th century. It was produced in a number of other countries, and translated into German, Swedish and Russian.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 27 February 1765 (Conductor:)
Monsieur Western	bass	Joseph Caillot
Madame Western, his sister	mezzo-soprano	Bérard
Sophie, his daughter	soprano	Desglands
Honora, her companion	soprano	Marie-Thérèse Laruette-Villette
Allworthy, their neighbour	baritone	Antoine Trial
Tom Jones, his ward	tenor	Jean-Baptiste Guignard, 'Clairval'
Blifil, Allworthy's nephew	tenor	Jean-Louis Laruette
Quaker Dowling	spoken

Recordings

François-André Danican Philidor: Tom Jones, Lausanne Opera & Le Sinfonietta de Lausanne

• Conductor: Jean-Claude Malgoire
• Principal singers: Sébastien Droy, Sophie Marin-Degor, Marc Barrard, Sibyl Zanganelli, Carine Séchehaye, Rodolphe Briand, Léonard Pezzino & Guillaume Michel
• Recording date: staged in 2005; recorded on 17, 18 and 20 janvier, 2006
• Label: Dynamic 33509 (DVD), CDS509 (CD)

Sources

• Casaglia, Gherardo (2005).[http://www.amadeusonline.net/almanacco?r=&alm_testo=Tom_Jones "Tom Jones"]. Almanacco Amadeus (Italian).
• Rushton, Julian (1992), 'Tom Jones (i)' in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
• The Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (1993)