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 1749 novel by Henry Fielding.

The opera 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	Clairval (Jean-Baptiste Guignard)
Blifil, Allworthy's nephew	tenor	Jean-Louis Laruette
Quaker Dowling	spoken

Recordings

François-André Danican Philidor: Tom Jones, Lausanne Opera and 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)."Tom Jones". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in 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. Amanda Holden (1993)

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