La Révolution Française


La Révolution Française is a French rock opera by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Raymond Jeannot, book by Alain Boublil and Jean-Max Rivière, created in 1973. The show premiered at the Palais des Sports de Paris.

Synopsis

With the French Revolution as its background, we see unfold the fictional story of the impossible love between Charles Gauthier and Isabelle de Montmorency. Gauthier is the son of a shopkeeper who becomes a member of the Tiers-État, while Isabelle is an aristocrat who is forced to flee with the royal family.

Creative team

Original cast

Discography

There are two versions of this work available: the original double album as well as the triple, expanded album of the presentation at the Theatre Mogador.

First version

The recording was released as a double-vinyl album from Vogue in 1973. This release contained a 16-page booklet, 12 pages of which featured cartoons incorporating the words of the songs. The disk has been re-edited several times since, in 1989, for example, to celebrate the bicentennial of the French Revolution.

Songlist

  1. Ouverture - Choir
  2. Les États généraux :
  3. :Le Roi - Louis XVI
  4. :La Noblesse - Choir
  5. :Le Clergé - Choir
  6. :Le Tiers-État - The Members of the Tiers-État
  7. Charles Gauthier - Charles Gauthier
  8. À Versailles - The King's children and Louis XVI
  9. Retour de la Bastille : Français, Français - Robespierre and Choir
  10. Il s'appelle Charles Gauthier - Isabelle de Montmorency
  11. À bas tous les privilèges - Choir
  12. Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen - Charles Gauthier
  13. Ça ira, ça ira ! - Louis XVI, La Fayette, a counsellor and Choir
  14. Quatre saisons pour un amour - Isabelle de Montmorency
  15. Serment de Talleyrand / Fête de la Fédération - Talleyrand and Choir
  16. Crieurs de journaux / La patrie est en danger - Danton and Choir
  17. L'Exil - Charles Gauthier and Isabelle de Montmorency
  18. Valmy / Proclamation de la République - General Kellermann and Choir
  19. C'est du beau linge, mon général - Madame Sans-Gêne, General Bonaparte and Choir
  20. Le Procès de Louis XVI : Réquisitoire - Fouquier-Tinville
  21. Louis XVI / Exécution - Louis XVI and Choir
  22. Chouans, en avant ! - Les Chouans
  23. La terreur est en nous - Choir
  24. L'Horrible Assassinat du citoyen Marat par la perfide Charlotte Corday - Marat and Charlotte Corday
  25. Fouquier-Tinville
  26. Au petit matin - Marie-Antoinette
  27. Que j'aie tort ou que j'aie raison - Robespierre and Choir
  28. La Fête de l'Être suprême - Robespierre and Choir
  29. La Prison - The Prison Guard and Isabelle
  30. Révolution - Charles and Isabelle
The songs were distributed on the original double album as follows:
  • 1-5 : Disc 1, side 1
  • 6-10 : Disc 2, side 1
  • 11-16 : Disc 2, side 2
  • 17-25 : Disc 1, side 2

1977 version

  • The passage concerned with Charlotte Corday's assassination of Jean-Paul Marat was totally rewritten. While only a small intermezzo in the first version, it becomes an opera trio between Charlotte, Marat and his servant.
  • One new scene was added : a confrontational dialogue between Charles Gauthier and Robespierre, each verse of which is a retort of the other character.

Recordings

  • 1973 : Double album
  • 1977 : 3 disc box set
  • 1987 : First reissue on CD of 24 titres originaux
  • 1989 : Special reissue for bicentennial of the French Revolution
  • 2000 : Reissue in standard and luxury editions