Равельдің «Испан сағаты» операсы

Opera by Maurice Ravel

L'heure espagnole is a French one act opera from 1911, described as a comédie musicale, with music by Maurice Ravel to a French libretto by Franc Nohain, based on Franc Nohain's 1904 play ('comédie bouffe') of the same name The opera, set in Spain in the 18th century, is about a clockmaker whose unfaithful wife attempts to make love to several different men while he is away, leading to them hiding in, and eventually getting stuck in, her husband's clocks. The title can be translated literally as "The Spanish Hour", but the word "heure" also means "time" – "Spanish Time", with the connotation "How They Keep Time in Spain". The original play had first been performed at the Théâtre de l'Odéon on 28 October 1904. and the opera was first performed at the Opéra Comique on 19 May 1911. The opera was first performed by the Opéra Comique on 19 May 1911, in a double bill with Thérèse by Jules Massenet; after the initial nine performances it was not revived. The Paris Opéra presented it on 5 December 1921 with Fanny Heldy as Concepción, and it enjoyed more success. The opera returned to the Opéra Comique in 1945 where it continued in the repertoire. The opera was performed for the first time in Canada at the 1961 Montreal Festivals.

In relation to Ravel's vocal writing in the opera, Roland Manuel wrote "The language of the music is linked up as naturally as possible with the music of the language". In an interview published two days before the premiere, Ravel explained his approach to his new opera. "I have written an opéra bouffe. Apart from [Gonzalve] who sings sérénades and cavatines with deliberately exaggerated melodies, the other rôles will give, I think, the impression of being spoken." Ravel also cited Mussorgsky's The Marriage for the effect he was aiming to achieve in the word setting, and underlined the Spanish elements of the score in his use of jotas, habaneras and malagueñas. Kobbé commented that from "the delightful clock noises of the opening to the Habanera quintet of the end, L'Heure Espagnole is full of charming music", while Grove notes that the opera is one of a group of Spanish influenced works that span Ravel’s career and that in it he employed "a virtuouso use of the modern orchestra".

Ravel dedicated L'heure espagnole to Louise Cruppi, whose son he would later commemorate with one of the movements of Le Tombeau de Couperin .