Overview
Tom Jones is a comédie mêlée d'ariettes, a kind of opéra comique, by the French composer and chess champion François-André Danican Philidor which first appeared at the Comédie-Italienne, Paris, on 27 February 1765. Its French libretto, by Antoine-Alexandre-Henri Poisenet and Bertin Davesne, is loosely based on the 1749 novel by Henry Fielding.
The opera was initially a failure but Philidor had the libretto revised by Michel-Jean Sedaine and this new version, first performed on 30 January 1766, proved one of the most popular opéras comiques of the late 18th century. It was produced in a number of other countries, and translated into German, Swedish and Russian.
Roles
{| class="wikitable"
!Role
!Voice type
!Premiere cast, 27 February 1765 (Conductor: )
|-
|Monsieur Western
| bass
| Joseph Caillot
|-
|Madame Western, his sister
|mezzo-soprano
| Bérard
|-
|Sophie, his daughter
|soprano
| Desglands
|-
|Honora, her companion
|soprano
| Marie-Thérèse Laruette-Villette
|-
|Allworthy, their neighbour
|baritone
| Antoine Trial
|-
|Tom Jones, his ward
| tenor
| Clairval (Jean-Baptiste Guignard)
|-
|Blifil, Allworthy's nephew
| tenor
| Jean-Louis Laruette
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).