- David Blake
Toussaint (1976)
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
Commissioned by English National Opera with funds from the Gulbenkian Foundation
First performance produced by David Pountney, designed by Maria Björnson and conducted by Mark Elder
- 3333/4431/timp.4perc/pf.cel.hp/str; on stage:fl.cl/cnt/10[+]perc/vn.db
- double chorus
- Mz, 2T, Bar, B
- 2 hr 40 min
- Anthony Ward
Programme Note
SYNOPSIS
Opening amid the mayhem of the slave uprising of August 1791 in Haiti, Toussaint L’Ouverture emerges as allpowerful in Saint-Dominigue. He tries vainly to negotiate
with the French, decimates their forces, but is tricked into captivity. After his death in France, the French are routed and the independent black state of Haiti is created.
Opening amid the mayhem of the slave uprising of August 1791 in Haiti, Toussaint L’Ouverture emerges as allpowerful in Saint-Dominigue. He tries vainly to negotiate
with the French, decimates their forces, but is tricked into captivity. After his death in France, the French are routed and the independent black state of Haiti is created.