The Royal Library of Belgium acquires the only known manuscript of "Le Retour des plaisirs" (1719) by André Vaillant

Marie Cornaz

Monday, October 19, 2015

We have received this announcement from our colleagues at RISM Belgium:

After his campaign in the Austro-Turkish war (1716-1718) in Hungary, Duke Léopold-Philippe of Arenberg (1690-1754) was sent back to the Austrian Netherlands and became governor of Hainaut. On the occasion of his solemn entrance in the city of Mons, capital of Hainaut, Gilles-Joseph de Boussu (1681-1755) wrote the opera Le Retour des plaisirs, opéra dédié à son Altesse Monseigneur le Duc d’Arembergh au jour de son entrée solemnelle en son gouvernement de Mons.

The opera was set to music by André Vaillant, musician at the Chapelle musicale of the Municipality of Valenciennes, in the north of France, and it is so far the only work by this composer to have survived.

Le Retour des plaisirs (RISM ID no. 700011155) - set for four soloists, orchestra and choir - was premiered in Mons on 11 April 1719, the official date of the Duke’s entrance into the city, and no following performances are known after this first date.

The Music Division of the Royal Library of Belgium has recently acquired the handwritten score (shelf no. Mus. Ms. 4448) which belonged to Gilles-Joseph de Boussu. The manuscript is so far the sole extant musical source of this opera, which has been entirely transcribed by Kris De Baerdemacker, musician and staff member at the same Music Division. Oddly enough, the title page bears the date ‘1718’.

On 11 December 2015 a group of students of the Royal Conservatory of Mons, under the direction of Guy Van Waas, will perform the opera against the splendid backdrop of the Palace of the former governor of the Austrian Netherlands Charles de Lorraine.

Category: Library collections