Editing Mignon (section)

==Performance history==
The first performance was at the [[Opéra-Comique]] in Paris on 17 November 1866. The piece proved popular: more than 100 performances took place by the following July, the 1,000th was given there on 13 May 1894, and the 1,500th on 25 May 1919.<ref>Wolff S. ''Un demi-siecle d'Opéra-Comique 1900-1950.'' André Bonne, Paris, 1953.</ref>

The opera was also adapted and translated into German for performance in Berlin with [[Pauline Lucca|Madame Lucca]] as Mignon.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=f6kTAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22madame+lucca%22+german&pg=PA57 ''The Athenaeum'' (9 July 1870)].</ref> Lucca was well received, but the German critics were unhappy with the opera's alterations to the Goethe original, so Thomas composed a shorter finale with a tragic ending, in which Mignon falls dead in the arms of [[Wilhelm Meister|Wilhelm]]. This ending was an attempt to make the story of the opera somewhat more similar in tone to the tragic outcome of Goethe's. (The original version of ''Mignon'' for the Opéra-Comique had to have a happy ending, since at that time in Paris tragic operas in French were exclusively reserved for the [[Paris Opera|Opéra]].) Unsurprisingly, this "Version allemande" still failed to satisfy the German critics and proved to be a futile endeavour. As [[Henry Edward Krehbiel]] describes it, the "''Mignon'' of Carré and Barbier bears little more than an external resemblance to the ''Mignon'' of Goethe, and to kill her is wanton cruelty."<ref>Thomas (1901), pp. VII&ndash;VIII.</ref>

Despite his success in Paris with the French version, Thomas was asked to revise the work for the first performance at the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane Theatre]] in London on 5 July 1870. This version was given in Italian with recitatives (instead of spoken dialogue).  The role of Mignon, originally for [[mezzo-soprano]], was sung by a [[soprano]] ([[Christina Nilsson]]), and the role of Frédéric, originally a [[tenor]], was sung by a [[contralto]] (Zelia Trebelli-Bettini). A second verse was added to Lothario's aria in the first act ("Fugitif et tremblant" in the French version), and in the second act, a rondo-gavotte for Frédéric ("Me voici dans son boudoir") was devised using the music of the ''entr'acte'' preceding that act, to satisfy Mme Trebelli-Bettini, who was discomfited by having to take on a role originally written for buffo tenor. Apparently, the [[coloratura soprano]] Elisa Volpini, who was to sing Philine, felt that her aria at the end of the second act ("Je suis Titania") was insufficient, and another florid aria ("Alerte, alerte, Philine!") was inserted after the second act ''entr'acte'' and before Laerte's 6/8 Allegretto ("Rien ne vaut"). The finale was also much shortened.<ref name=Scherer>Scherer, p. 8; Thomas (1901),  pp. IX, 340&ndash;354; [https://books.google.com/books?id=ahVOAAAAYAAJ&dq=Nilsson%2C+Faure%2C+Bettini%2C+Volpini%2C+and+Trebelli-Bettini&pg=PA141 ''Dwight's Journal of Music'' (2 December 1871).]</ref> Philine's extra aria appears to have either never been orchestrated,<ref name=Blyth>Blyth, p 742.</ref> or the orchestration was lost or destroyed. (Most sources say that the aria was performed and not cut from the Drury Lane production, implying that Thomas must have orchestrated it.)<ref name=Scherer/> The aria is known from several piano-vocal scores and is included as an appendix, sung by [[Ruth Welting]] with [[Western concert flute|flute]] and [[harpsichord]] accompaniment, as part of the 1978 recording with [[Marilyn Horne]] as Mignon. The recording also includes a second appendix with the original, longer version of the finale.<ref name=Blyth/>

The United States premiere was given on 9 May 1871 at the [[French Opera House]] in New Orleans.<ref>Crichton, p. 951.</ref> This was followed by a  [[Maurice Strakosch]] production in Italian at the [[Academy of Music (New York City)|New York Academy of Music]] on 22 November 1871 with Christine Nilsson as Mignon, Mlle. Léon Duval as Philine, [[Victor Capoul]] as Wilhelm, and Mlle. [[Giorgio Ronconi|Ronconi]] as Frédéric. The substantial success of the opera in London and New York has been attributed to the presence of Christine Nilsson in both productions.<ref>Thomas (1901),  p. VIII.</ref> Nilsson also performed the role at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in New York in 1883.<ref name=Forbes>Forbes, Elizabeth. "Mignon" in Sadie, '''3''': 382&ndash;384.</ref>

The versions of the opera performed outside France, in particular, those in the United States and Italy, have been in Italian (later also in French), with Mignon as a soprano or mezzo-soprano, and Frédéric as a mezzo-soprano or contralto, and with the sung recitatives and the shortened finale. More recently, in 1986, the original [[opéra comique]] version with soprano Cynthia Clarey as Mignon was revived for a production at the [[Wexford Festival Opera]].<ref name=Forbes/>

Noted soprano interpreters of Mignon have included [[Emma Albani]] (Covent Garden's first Mignon in 1874), [[Lucrezia Bori]], and [[Geraldine Farrar]]; mezzo-sopranos have included [[Marilyn Horne]], [[Giulietta Simionato]], [[Frederica von Stade]], [[Risë Stevens]], and [[Ebe Stignani]]. [[Lily Pons]] was famous for singing Philine.<ref name=Forbes/>