Class 3: Grandest of the Grand

Class 3: Grandest of the Grand A. French Grand Opera 1. Title Slide 1 (Convent scene of Robert) People often use the term “Grand Opera” loosely, to mean any large-scale opera of any period or nationality such as you might expect to see at the Met. But technically, the term grand opéra refers to a specific type of piece developed in France around 1830. Although it was dying out by the middle of the century, its concepts were hugely influential, reaching as far as Verdi and even Wagner. 2. Grand Opera characteristics So what are the characteristics of grand opera? • Essentially a French phenomenon of the 1830s through 1850s, although many of its composers were foreign (Meyerbeer, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi) • Large-scale works typically in five acts (sometimes four), calling for many scene-changes and much theatrical spectacle. • Subjects taken from history or historical myth, involving clear moral choices. • Highly demanding vocal roles, requiring large ranges, agility, stamina, and power. • Orchestra providing more than accompaniment, painting the scene, or commenting. • Substantial use of the chorus, who typically open or close each act. • Extended ballet sequences, in the second or third acts. As this is a unique feature of the genre, I shall be paying it special attention. I will look at most of these features through a number of short scenes from the first runaway hit of the genre, Meyerbeer’s Robert le diable (Robert the Devil) of 1831. After the break, I shall look at a single long scene from the opera that preceded Meyerbeer on the Paris stage, Rossini’s Guillaume Tell (William Tell) of 1829. Because of their huge demands—and because nobody quite knows how to handle the blatant melodrama of grand-opéra plots—neither opera has received many productions since grand opéra went out of fashion towards the end of the century, but it so happens that both have recently been given splendid new productions at Covent Garden, London. The two directors, Laurent Pelly and Damiano Michieletto, have come up with quite different solutions—one embracing all the artifice of the genre, the other bringing it into our own time. Their responses are also a large part of my interest. — 1 — B. Meyerbeer’s Runaway Hit 3. Meyerbeer facts Giacomo Meyerbeer (Jacob Liebmann Beer, 1791–1864) was the undisputed superstar of French grand opéra, and at the time of his death, he was the most performed composer in the world. Paradoxically, his success may owe much to the fact that he did not come to Paris empty-handed, but brought a combination of German orchestral mastery and Italian bel canto from his studies in both countries. He also had the sense to choose as collaborator France’s leading playwright, Eugène Scribe (1791–1861). Robert le diable, incidentally, was the composer’s twelfth opera; this was no neophyte! 4. The characters in Robert le diable I have sent out a longer synopsis already, but here is a thumbnail guide to the four major characters: ROBERT (tenor), Duke of Normandy, currently traveling the world as a playboy. Legend has it that he is the offspring of his mother’s liaison with a demon. In history, Robert (called “The Magnificent”) became the father of William the Conqueror—through his mistress! BERTRAM (bass). He is introduced as Robert’s mentor and friend, but we soon learn that he is Robert’s father, and in thrall to the Devil. ISABELLE (coloratura soprano), Princess of Sicily. She is in love with Robert, and the reason for his presence here. Although she is committed to marry the winner of an upcoming tournament, they both hope that Robert himself will win. ALICE (lyric soprano), Robert’s foster-sister. Although she is the fiancée of a secondary character and I shall not be playing any of her earlier scenes, it is she, not Isabelle, who is the moral reference-point of the opera, and who wrestles for Robert’s soul at the end. 5. Robert le diable, original design for Act I All the action is set in Sicily, in the early 11th century. Here is the original design, showing a field prepared for a tournament. All the grand-opéra ingredients are in place: exotic locale, romantic period, pageantry, and the possibility of some splendid action. So let’s look at the first three minutes of Laurent Pelly’s production, and see what he makes of these elements: 6. Meyerbeer: Robert le diable, opening chorus (3:20) 7. — still from the above Very different, isn’t it? Pelly’s choice of an inn setting is probably influenced by his observation that Jacques Offenbach (1819–80) almost certainly modeled the Prologue to The Tales of Hoffmann on Robert le diable. Apart from that, though, he has everything: the period, the knights in armor, the color. But he has dropped any pretense at literalism. He reckons that the first-night audience would have seen the set and thought “We are in for a treat.” So he says, “Let’s have a treat too. Let’s admit that this is all paper-thin, so let’s embrace the artifice, intensify the color. Whatever happens in the next four hours, we intend to have fun!” The brilliant set design is by Chantal Thomas. — 2 — I said that Robert is pretty much a playboy. In the finale to this act, he gambles away all his money, followed by his horse and armor. Bertram, working behind his back, ensures that he will lose; he needs him in his power. So when Robert goes to see his beloved Isabelle in Act Two, he is rather shamefaced about it—at least until she provides him with new armor. I am playing this partly for the production, which treats us to a half-size model of castle, shaded with hatched lines like an old engraving. But more for the musical form, which follows current Italian practice of a slow imitative duet, ending in a cadenza, followed by a short action interlude, and ending in a fast cabaletta in which both sing together; I will add the various landmarks as titles on the screen. This would set the pattern for Verdi and many others. What makes it typically Meyerbeer, however, is the high range, the rather florid vocal writing in the slow section, and the use of crisp rhythmic phrases in the fast one. 8. Meyerbeer: Robert le diable, Act II duet, with notes on form (6:45) 9. — still from the above Did the annotations help you hear the form? We have seen this cavatina/cabaletta structure already in Lucia. And what about the acting? Neither Patrizia Ciofi nor Bryan Hymel are exactly pin-ups, but they have a delightful chemistry between them. Laurent Pelly is primarily a comic director (as we know from his Daughter of the Regiment and Cendrillon at the Met), but he uses comedy to enhance the romance, not puncture it. Robert never gets to fight in the tournament. Bertram arranges to have him called off to answer a challenge from his chief rival, the Prince of Granada, who of course knows nothing about this, and appears at the tournament as promised. This is the second-act finale. I can’t show all of it, but will at least give you the opening. It is clearly designed by Meyerbeer as a big production number, and Pelly has done him proud. 10. Meyerbeer: Robert le diable, Act II finale, opening (3:45) 11. — still from the above Isabelle of course now has to promise to marry the Prince of Granada, so Robert, now desperate, is completely in Bertram’s hands. The setting of Act III is in a rocky gorge, again painted by Chantal Thomas in the style of an old engraving, this time with white lines on a black ground. Let’s hear the short scene in which Bertram communicates with the Devil, and then goes underground to receive his orders (which are to recruit his son that very night). Note how Meyerbeer achieves this musically, by the turmoil and color of his very un-Italian orchestra (he has been listening, I think, to Weber’s Freischütz), by exploiting the full range of the bass voice, and by that still-new device of the offstage infernal chorus! 12. Meyerbeer: Robert le diable, Act III, scene 1, Bertram’s aria (3:10) 13. — still from the above Robert comes in, and Bertram tells him that he can still win Isabelle if he goes to a ruined convent haunted by the ghosts of dead nuns who have broken their vows, a take a magic branch from the tomb of Saint Rosalie. After protesting that it is sacrilege—which is exactly the point, as Bertram is trying to — 3 — recruit him to the Devil’s side—Robert agrees in another duet cabaletta, this time peppered with the ultra-high notes that make the role such a challenge for tenors. 14. Meyerbeer: Robert le diable, Act III, scene 1, ending cabaletta (2:45) 15. Degas: Robert le diable C. The Ballet Problem So to the most notorious scene in Robert le diable: the ruined convent haunted by the ghosts of nuns who have broken their vows and had carnal relations. You have already seen the 1831 set in my title slide; here it is again, still in the same production, as painted by Degas in 1876. But it raises the thorny problem of what to do with the lengthy ballet sequences in modern productions of grand opera. It is the old-wine/new-bottles issue in a nutshell. I mentioned that ballets always used to come in the second or third acts.

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