Les Quatre journées (Four Days) is a 1916 opera in four acts by Alfred Bruneau to a libretto he adapted from Émile Zola's short story "Les Quatre journées de Jean Gourdon"" from his 1874 collection , one of several of Bruneau's operas based on texts by Zola. Les Quatre journées premiered on 19 December 1916 at the Opéra-Comique, Paris."Les Quatre journées", Bru Zane Mediabase Bruneau dedicated the work to "Madame Paul de Choudens", his publisher's wife. The four acts are named Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.
Roles +RoleAge of the role throughout the operaVoice typePremiere cast, 19 December 1916Conductor: Alfred BruneauBabet16 years old in act 1; 40 years old in act 3; 58 years old in act 4sopranoMarguerite30 years old in act 3 and 48 years old in act 4contraltoDolorès de SilveraJean18 years old in act 1; 24 years old in act 2; 42 years old in act 3; 60 years old in act 4tenorCharles FontaineL'Abbé Lazare50 years old in act 1; 74 years old in act 3barytoneJean PérierFrantz20 years old in act 2; 38 years old in act 3; 56 years old in act 4barytone or basso cantanteAndré AllardJacques18 years old in act 4tenorArthur Lheureux"Arthur Lheureux", François Nouvion and Robert Schlesinger, historicaltenors.netRichard T. Soper: Belgian Opera Houses and Singers, The Reprint Company, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1999. La petite Marie10 years old in act 4boy sopranoAndré
There is as well a mixed choir sometimes separated by gender (women and men) representing different minor roles throughout the opera: washerwomen and shepherds (act 1), dying soldiers (act 2; men only part), grape pickers (act 3), and peasants (act 4).Émile Zola et Alfred Bruneau, Les Quatres Journées conte lyrique en quatre actes et cinq tableaux, Paris, Eugène Fasquelle, éditeur, 1916, 56 p.
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