L'amant jaloux

L'amant jaloux, ou Les fausses apparences (The Jealous Lover, or False Appearances) is a French comédie mêlée d'ariettes in three acts by André Grétry first performed at Versailles on 20 November 1778. The libretto is by the Irish playwright Thomas Hales (also known by the French name Thomas d'Hèle) with the verse passages provided by F. Levasseur. It was based on the play The Wonder: A Woman Keeps a Secret (1714) by Susannah Centlivre.

Poster for 1807 production of Centlivre's The Wonder: a woman keeps a secret, the basis of the work

The most famous arias in the opera include O douce nuit, the tenor serenade Tandis que tout sommeille (While all are sleeping) (recorded by Roberto Alagna, amongst others)[1] and the coloratura display piece Je romps la chaîne qui m'engage. The composer admitted the last named aria had no dramatic function, but he wanted to give his soprano star Marie-Jeanne Trial ("the finest voice ever formed by nature") "a chance to shine".[2] The musicologist David Charlton claims Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte knew Grétry's opera and were influenced by its ensembles when they wrote The Marriage of Figaro.

Grétry's score for L'amant jaloux includes mandolins. Philip J. Bone, historian of the mandolin, speculated that Grétry was exposed to the instrument while in Italy, and said "he makes use of it upon various occasions, in this instance with a telling and marked impression." This instance was the seranade Tandis que tout sommeille (While all are sleeping) in L'amant jaloux. Bone called the serenade "a delicate accompaniment for two mandolins".[3]

Bampton Classical Opera performed the opera in English in 2012. The role of Isabelle was sung by the Australian soprano Martene Grimson.

The opera was performed by The Pinchgut Opera in December 2015, in the City Recital Hall, Sydney, Australia.[4]