Isoline (opera)

Isoline is an opera, described as a conte de fées (fairy story) in three acts and ten tableaux, on a text by Catulle Mendès, with music by André Messager.

Messager probably wrote some of the score at Montivillers, near to Le Havre; in order to complete the orchestration in time, he was assisted by Paul Lacôme, a composer and friend of Chabrier.

To avoid this fate Isoline has been cloistered with her maids of honour in the turret of a castle of her mother Queen Amalasonthe, in an attempt to ensure that she does not suspect that love may exist in the world.

Prologue – Le rêve d'Isoline The opera opens on a coast with lemon trees, their branches covered – by magic – with flowers and fruit.

A golden galley approaches – the boat of Oberon, king of the elves, in disguise as Eros, en route to Cythère, with happy loving couples as passengers.

However, Titania brings the lovers down – to a sad land where the queen is so ugly that all mirrors are banned, rivers and lakes are drained and all the local maidens weep.