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"O beau pays...!" le retour de Meyerbeer sur les scènes françaisesby William Desniou, Donizetti Society Newsletter 94, February 2005Comments on performances of l'Africaine (Strasbourg, Opéra national du Rhin, vendredi 11 juin, 2004) and les Huguenots (Metz, Opéra Théâtre, samedi, 12 juin 2004). A discography of both operas is also included. The following is a fairly free English translation of part of the article (the introduction and section on les Huguenots), whose original can be found here.
"Who was the most famous and most international composer of the 19th century? One has difficulty believing it today: it is neither Verdi, nor Wagner, nor... It is Meyerbeer " . It is indeed difficult to think it when one considers the supreme contempt with which the French capital treats him, the capital where Robert le diable, (November 21, 1831), les Huguenots (December 15, 1833), le Prophète (l6 April 1849), l’Étoile du Nord (February 16, 1854), le Pardon de Ploërmel (April 4, 1859) and l'Africaine (April 28, 1865) were triumphantly created. The great European or international stages also show considerable reticence in the face of these scenically as well as vocally demanding works and perhaps the idea of resurrecting what is called grand opéra frightens even the most courageous. This indeed supposes, amongst other things, major resources, if one wants to respect a very codified genre with its often frequent choral ensembles, its essential ballets (engravings of the time give a good insight) and find singers trained to the exacting requirements: it is not as if we are talking of Adolphe Nourrit or Pauline Viardot. However, with due respect to the recalcitrant theatre directors and to the opponents of the opera of this time, one is still able today, successfully, to perform the works of Meyerbeer and his contemporaries: one Meyerbeer succeeding in hiding another, the operas of Metz and Strasbourg giving les Huguenots and l'Africaine within an interval of a few days. Thus, so to speak, the alpha [ in fact Robert le diable was the alpha] and the omega of the works that Meyerbeer created in Paris, since nearly thirty years separate the two operas, three decades which show the progress of the composer who, to the end of his life, knew how to transform the new ideas of lyric opera into his own.
...... l'Africaine section is omitted......
The following day evening, in Metz, the last performance of les Huguenots took place, also the last work of a clever Metz season revolving around the idea of the workings of power, under the artistic direction of the English tenor Laurence Dale, who is unfortunately leaving: we will not be able thus to see the Orazi e Curiazi of Mercadante which should have opened the next season. How can one avoid regretting it bitterly? How not to wonder about the policy followed by the theatres? One can in any case only congratulate M. Dale for his choices and it is difficult to believe that such works turned away the public, on the contrary they are much in evidence and from everywhere, when it is a question of seeing works off the beaten track. However that may be, one had to ask oneself whether the rather small Opera Theatre of Metz stage would be able to hold a "grand opera" which requires, for example, it is necessary to point out it, rather frequent impressive crowd movements, that the salle le Peletier, where the work was created after Robert le diable and before le Prophète or l'Africaine, facilitated. Laurence Dale understood this well, creating a rather stripped down production within the minimalist scenery of Eric Chevalier so that all the singers could fit within --sometimes with difficulty – the stage space. But the interest of this opera, which is seldom given in France (2), is elsewhere, in the music, electrifying in its increasing dramatic intensity. The distribution or roles is overall satisfactory and largely dominated by the men, whether one considers the secondary roles, like Jean-Philippe Marlière who personified Saint-Bris, or the main ones. Philippe Kahn was a superb Marcel, very warmly applauded, rightly, at the final curtain. Rockwell Blake certainly is no longer Raoul’s age, but his perfect French diction, and especially his technique, astounding in the nuances or the breathing, left one astounded, and with due respect to his detractors of which some noisily appeared that evening, what a lesson of singing! In respect of the female interpreters, the opinions are much more moderate: Sally Silver proposes a beautiful Marguerite, Hjördis Thebault was the not particularly important page Urbain. More problematic, on the other hand, was the Valentine of d' Alketa Cela: the role is important, her long duet with Raoul fundamental, but the Albanian soprano was not equal to the requirements and expectations: shrill, strident, sometimes approximate notes. At the head of the national orchestra of Lorraine, the English conductor Jeremy Silver sometimes appeared baffled by the score and that was not without consequences in the tempi, with discrepancies that one can easily imagine. Let us salute, in consequence, the courage of these two theatres which made it possible for a large and enthusiastic public to attend these two ornaments of French opera while waiting for les Huguenots that Liège plans for June 2005 or the Margherita d'Anjou at the Opernhaus de Leipzig from May 27, 2005. Let us hope that the critical edition of Meyerbeer’s operas, in preparation, will give a renewed interest in this composer (3).
Discography of the two operasLes Huguenots: Marguerite, Valentine, Urbain, Raoul, Marcel / conductor, place, label - Renée Doria, Jeanne Rinella, Simone Couderc, Guy Fouché, Henri Médus / Jean Allain, Paris Théâtre de l'Apollo, 1953 (CD Accord, extraits) - Antonietta Pastori, Anna de Cavalieri, Jolanda Garino, Giocomo Lauri-Volpi, Nicola Zaccana / Tullio Serafin, Milano Auditorium délla Radio Televisione Italiana, 23/10/1955 (CD Hunt, en italien) - Joan Sutherland, Giulietta Simionato, Fiorenza Cossotto, Franco Corelli, Nicolaj Ghiaurov / Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Milano Teatro alla Scala, 28/05/1962 (Cetra) & 07/06/1962 (CD Nuova Era, en italien) - Beverly Sills, Angeles Gulin, Kay Creed, Tony Poncet, Justino Diaz / Reynald Giovaninetti, New York, Carnegie Hall, 15/05/1969 (CDVoce della Luna) - Joan Sutherland, Martine Arroyo, Huguette Tourangeau, Anastasios Vrenios, Nicolaj Ghiuselev / Richard Bonynge, London Kingsway Hall, 1969 (CD Decca) - Rita Shane, Enriqueta Tarrés, Jeanette Scovotti, Nicolai Gedda, Justino Diaz / Ernst Märzendorfer.Wien Grosser Konzerthaussaal, 12/02/1971 (CD Myto) - Christiane Eda-Pierre, Enriqueta Tarrés, Angeles Chamorro, Angelo Lo Forese, Justino Diaz / Ino Savini.Barcelona Gran Teatre del Liceu, 25/11/1971 (CD Ino Savini, extraits) - Louise Lebrun, Kathie Clarke, Della Jones, Alain Vanzo, Will Roy / Henri Gallois, Pans Maison de Radio France Studio 104,01/12/1976 (CD De Plein Vent) - Ghylaine Raphanel, Françoise Pollet, Danielle Borst, Richard Leech, Nicolaj Ghiuselev / Cyril Diederich, Montpellier Opéra Berlioz Le Corum, 01-04/10/1988 (CD Erato) - Joan Sutherland, Amanda Thane, Suzanne Johnston, Anson Austin, Clifford Grant / Richard Bonynge, Sydney Opéra House 02/10/1990 (Vidéo Virgin Classics) - Angela Denning, Lucy Peacock, Camille Capasso, Richard Leech, Martin Blasius / Stefan Soltész, Berlin Deutsche Oper (02, 05,08)/09/1991 (DVD Arthaus, en allemand) - Désirée Rancatore, Annalisa Raspagliosi, Sara Allegretta, Warren Mok, Soon-Won Kang / Renato Palumbo, Martina Franca, Cortile del Palazzo ducale 04-06/08/2002 (CD Dynamic)
...... Discography of l'Africaine omitted ....... Footnotes2) If the Paris 'Opéra retained les Huguenots until 1936, the French provinces were a lot cooler about this work: - Marseille (14/10/1919) - Marseille (15/10/1936): Germaine Pape, - , -, Jean Caujolle, Humbert Tomatis - Lille (15/10/1964): Gery Brunin, Hélène Piroird, Carrel, Angelo Lo Forese, Félix Gibaud - Rouen (mars 1965): Jeanne Rinella, Schmidt, Langlois, Angelo Lo Forese, Henri Médus - Marseille (29/04/1967): Gery Brunin, Andrée Esposito, Edmée Sabran, Tony Poncet, Boris Carmeli - Toulouse (20/10/1972): Hélia T'Hézan, Françoise Garner, Claveire, Uviero, Soumagnas - Montpellier (01/10/1988): Ghylaine Raphanel, Françoise Pollet, Danielle Borst, Richard Leech, Nicolaj Ghiuselev - Montpellier (21/11/1990): Ghylaine Raphanel, Nelly Miricioiù, Danielle Borst, Gregory Kunde, John Macurdy
3) Works in French are sufficiently few for one to point them out - the more so as the following are strangely absent from the bibliography that, notwithstanding, covered four pages of the Strasbourg programme - Sergio Segalini, Diable ou prophète 7 Meyerbeer, Éd. Beba, Paris, 1985 - Jean-Claude Yon Eugène Scribe, Infortune et la liberté. Librairie Nizet, Saint-Genouph 2000 - Jane Fulcher, le Grand Opéra en France : un art politique (1820-1870), Éd. Belin, 1988 (traduit de l'anglais et commentaire des illustrations par Jean-Pierre Bardos).
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