L'oriflamme (opera)

L'oriflamme (The Oriflamme) is an opera in one act with music by Étienne Méhul, Henri Montan Berton, Rodolphe Kreutzer and Ferdinando Paer.

[1] The opera is a pièce de circonstance (a work written for a special occasion) intended to arouse French patriotism during the Campaign of France when Allied armies were invading the country, intent on defeating Napoleon.

[1] Amaury Duval, the Inspecteur des Beaux-Arts, encouraged such propaganda works, writing to the Interior Minister: "The police have ordered pièces de circonstance to be composed and played in every theatre in Paris.

"[2] The opera compares Napoleon to Charles Martel, who defeated the attempted Muslim invasion of France at the Battle of Poitiers in 732.

[3] Méhul contributed the overture (reused from his opera Adrien) and the romance celebrating the dead warrior Raoul ("Issu d'un noble chevalier"); Paer wrote the music for the pastoral Scene 2; Kreutzer supplied the warrior hymn "Suivons une juste fureur"; and Berton composed the final chorus, "Jurons d'être vaillants, d'être fidèles".