# 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

* Book and Lyrics: Alain Boublil and Jean-Max Rivière
* Music: Claude-Michel Schönberg and Raymond Jeannot
* Arrangements: Jean-Claude Petit and Martin Circus

## Original cast

* Antoine : Général Bonaparte
* Cyril Azzam: General Kellermann
* Alain Bashung: Robespierre
* Jean Bentho: M. de La Fayette, Counsellor to the King
* Les Enfants de Bondy : The Children of the King (Louis and Marie-Thérèse)
* Françoise Boublil: Charlotte Corday
* Gérard Rinaldi: Talleyrand
* Les Charlots: Priests
* Noëlle Cordier : Isabelle de Montmorency
* Mario d'Alba: King's Counsellor/Newspaper Seller/Prison Guard
* Franca di Rienzo : Marie-Antoinette
* Raymond Jeannot: Newspaper Seller
* Gérard Layani : La Terreur (Soloist)
* Gérard Blanc: Danton
* Martin Circus: Members of the Tiers-État
* Jean-François Michael : Les Chouans (Soloist)
* Jean-Max Rivière: Marat
* Jean-Pierre Savelli: Charles Gauthier
* Claude-Michel Schönberg: Louis XVI
* Jean Schultheis: Antoine Fouquier-Tinville
* Élisabeth Vigna: Madame Sans-Gêne
* Système Crapoutchick: La Noblesse, La Terreur

## 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

* Ouverture - Choir
* Les États généraux (5 mai 1789) :
    Le Roi - Louis XVI (The King)
    La Noblesse - Choir (The Nobility)
    Le Clergé - Choir (Clergy)
    Le Tiers-État - The Members of the Tiers-État
* Charles Gauthier (mai 1789) - Charles Gauthier
* À Versailles (14 juillet 1789) - The King's children and Louis XVI ("At Versaille", 14 July 1789)
* Retour de la Bastille : Français, Français - Robespierre and Choir ("The Return of the Bastille; Frenchmen, Frenchmen")
* Il s'appelle Charles Gauthier - Isabelle de Montmorency ("He is Called Charles Gauthier")
* À bas tous les privilèges (nuit du 4 août 1789) - Choir ("Down With all Privileges", night of 4 August 1789)
* Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen (26 août 1789) - Charles Gauthier ("Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen", 26 August 1789)
* Ça ira, ça ira ! (5-6 octobre 1789) - Louis XVI, La Fayette, a counsellor and Choir ("It'll Be Fine, It'll Be Fine!", 5–6 October 1789)
* Quatre saisons pour un amour - Isabelle de Montmorency ("Four Seasons for a Love")
* Serment de Talleyrand (12 juillet 1789) / Fête de la Fédération (14 juillet 1790) - Talleyrand and Choir ("Oath of Talleyrand", 12 July 1789) / "Festival of the Federation", 14 July 1790)
* Crieurs de journaux (21 juin 1791) / La patrie est en danger (11 juillet 1792) - Danton and Choir ("Newspaper Sellers", 21 June 1791 / "The Fatherland is in Danger", 11 July 1792)
* L'Exil (10 août 1792) - Charles Gauthier and Isabelle de Montmorency ("Exile", 10 August 1792)
* Valmy (20 septembre 1792) / Proclamation de la République (21 septembre 1792) - General Kellermann and Choir ("Valmy", 20 September 1792 / "Proclamation of the Republic", 21 September 1792)
* C'est du beau linge, mon général - Madame Sans-Gêne, General Bonaparte and Choir ("They're Beautiful Clothes, My General")
* Le Procès de Louis XVI : Réquisitoire (10 décembre 1792) - Fouquier-Tinville ("The Trial of Louis XVI: Indictment", 10 December 1792)
* Louis XVI / Exécution (21 janvier 1793) - Louis XVI and Choir ("Louis XVI" / "Execution", 21 January 1793)
* Chouans, en avant ! (juin 1793) - Les Chouans ("Chouans, Forward!", June 1793)
* La terreur est en nous - Choir ("Terror is in Us")
* L'Horrible Assassinat du citoyen Marat par la perfide Charlotte Corday (13 juillet 1793) - Marat and Charlotte Corday ("The Horrible Assassination of Citizen Marat by the Perfidious Charlotte Corday", 13 July 1793)
* Fouquier-Tinville
* Au petit matin (25 vendémiaire an II / 16 octobre 1793) - Marie-Antoinette ("Early Morning", 25 Vendémiaire Year II / 16 October 1793)
* Que j'aie tort ou que j'aie raison (16 germinal an II / 5 avril 1794) - Robespierre and Choir ("Whether I'm Wrong or Right", 16 Germinal Year II / 5 April 1794)
* La Fête de l'Être suprême (20 prairial an II / 8 juin 1794)- Robespierre and Choir ("The Festival of the Supreme Being", 20 Prairial Year II / 8 June 1794)
* La Prison - The Prison Guard and Isabelle
* Révolution (final) - 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 (2)
* 11-16 : Disc 2, side 2 (3)
* 17-25 : Disc 1, side 2 (4)

### 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 (who sings with a dagger in his heart) 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 (LDM 30166 or LD 30166 / VG 308 430166 without booklet)
* 1977 : 3 disc box set (VG603 or C.V.U. 316)
* 1987 : First reissue on CD of 24 titres originaux (VG 651-600 146)
* 1989 : Special reissue for bicentennial of the French Revolution (PM 524 310 296 without booklet)
* 2000 : Reissue in standard and luxury editions (Anthology's B00004ZBMN)