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Home , Alphonse Royer, Gaetano Donizetti, Gilbert Duprez, La favorite, La reine de Chypre, Les martyrs

the hallÉ ESPOIR Michael Spyres Espoir Carlo Rizzi ‒ conductor The Hallé

ORR251

Cover image: Michael Spyres (photographer: Marco Borrelli) Cover design: Carroll & Co

1 Producer Editing Jeremy Hayes Jeremy Hayes and Steve Portnoi

Opera Rara production management Liner notes and translations Kim Panter Rosie Ward

Recording production management The scores and parts for this recording were Henry Little hired from G. Ricordi & Co (London) Ltd, Faber Music (Bärenreiter), Edition Peters Assistant conductor and RAI George Jackson The orchestral scores and parts for Répétiteur Le Lac des fées, and David Jones Guido et Ginévra were created for Rara by Ian Schofield Italian coach Valentina di Taranto Recorded in The Stoller Hall, Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester. February 2017 French coach Sonja Nerdrum Hallé Paul Barritt, leader Session photography Russell Duncan Hallé management: John Summers Recording engineer Geoffrey Owen Steve Portnoi Stuart Kempster Assistant engineer Sue Voysey Niall Gault Louise Brimicombe Louise Hamilton

2 Michael Spyres – Espoir Carlo Rizzi, The Hallé

Page Duration [1] Rossini, Othello (Cavatine) ‘Venise, ô ma patrie’ 10 6’00 [2] Donizetti, Rosmonda d’Inghilterra (Scena e ) ‘Dopo i lauri di vittoria’ 11 4’30 [3] Halévy, Guido et Ginévra (Récitatif et Air) ‘Dans ces lieux’ (Gareth Small, Trumpet) 12 9’06 [4] Verdi, (Scène et Air) ‘L’infamie! prenez ma vie!’ 14 3’59 [5] Halévy, Guido et Ginévra (Scène et Duo) ‘Tu seras donc pour moi’ (with Joyce El-Khoury) 15 12’15 [6] Donizetti, Dom Sébastien (Air) ‘Seul sur la terre’ 22 5’11 [7] Auber, Le Lac des fées (Air) ‘Ils s’éloignent! je reste’ 24 6’26 [8] Berlioz, Benvenuto Cellini (Récitatif et Air) ‘Seul pour lutter’ 26 8’35 [9] Donizetti, (Récitatif et Romance) ‘La maîtresse du Roi...’ 29 4’46 [10] Halévy, La Reine de Chypre (Air) ‘De mes aïeux ombres sacrées’ 30 6’45 [11] Donizetti, (Ultima scena) ‘Tombe degli avi miei’ 33 9’40

3 MICHAEL SPYRES ON GILBERT-LOUIS DUPREZ

ESPOIR/HOPE: I believe this is one of the most important words in the history of language. Hope is what propelled my dream of becoming a singer and fuelled my desire to learn and to live in foreign countries. When I began my career I read all about a daring called Duprez and how he moved to to retrain his technique with the hope of becoming a new type of singer. Duprez ultimately achieved his goal and went into the history books. I feel a special kinship to this almost mythical performer who like myself traversed the globe in the hope of finding a new technique. Duprez had the daunting task of retraining in a technique which for the first time in singing history implemented the chest voice above the passaggio; coincidentally, I had a similar struggle to find this technique since I began my career as a and was forced to change my technique completely in order to become a tenor. I still remember thinking, ‘How can anyone sing this impossible music written for him?’ It was a repertoire that challenged me more than any other to push the limits of my singing; and now, years later, that sentiment remains unchanged. One of the greatest delights of my life is looking behind the curtain to find the truth, and while researching and choosing repertoire for this album I uncovered many falsehoods. I now see Duprez as a very different singer from the one I thought I knew. True, he was a heroic tenor who changed the colour palette of the tenor voice; but, as you will discover within these often extremely delicate and beautiful compositions, he was also a true lyrical tenor. I hope you enjoy listening to this recording as much as I enjoyed making it.

4 GILBERT-LOUIS DUPREZ (1806–96)

‘A perfectly pure, even, sonorous voice… No word is lost, no phrase neglected, no passage without charm or vigour.’ Édouard Monnais, Revue et gazette musicale, 23 April 1837

‘...in chest voice, accenting every syllable ... with a force of vibration, a devastating tone of sorrow, and a beauty of sound for which nothing had prepared us.’ , Journal des débats, 19 April 1837

AUDIENCES HEARD all sorts of reasons to marvel at the extraordinary voice of . His 1837 performance as Arnold in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell has long been the stuff of operatic legend, regarded as the moment when the modern tenor was born from Duprez’s powerful chest-voice high Cs. However, and as the accounts quoted above attest, Duprez’s forceful high notes were only one element in a complex combination of qualities that made his voice alluring. The Duprez of 1837 was all the more surprising for those who had heard him in his native a decade and more earlier, as a light tenor who made his moderately successful debut in 1825 as Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Odéon theatre. After the Odéon closed in 1828, Duprez and his wife – Alexandrine Duperron, a – went to Italy. During their time there, Duprez’s voice gradually changed. He had early successes in Bellini’s and in the Italian premiere of Guillaume Tell (in which those famous high Cs thrilled audiences long before 1837). But the most important element of his Italian years was encountering , with whom he developed a close working and personal relationship that would last until the composer’s death in 1848.

5 The roles Donizetti wrote for Duprez in 1833–5 shaped the tenor’s changing voice. First came Ugo in – a role that mixes Duprez’s earlier, lighter way of singing with the more forceful style he was then developing – and Enrico in Rosmonda d’Inghilterra. Then, in 1835, he created Edgardo inLucia di Lammermoor, which would remain a crucial role for him throughout the rest of his career. When Duprez returned to Paris to become a first tenor at the Opéra, Guillaume Tell was followed by a steady stream of premieres, including works by Fromental Halévy and Daniel-François-Esprit Auber, as well as all three of Donizetti’s for Paris – and La Favorite (both 1840) and Dom Sébastien (1843) – and later ’s Jérusalem (1847). Although his legendary status was by then assured, most critics noticed a perhaps inevitable decline during the . Duprez’s performances meant very different things to different listeners. To admirers of Italian music, it was the tenor’s decade in Italy that accounted for his success; they could also point to the way he continued to shine in operas like Lucia di Lammermoor during his vocal decline as a sign of these older Italian works’ natural superiority over the ever-longer, louder Parisian grand operas of the 1840s. To proud Frenchmen, Duprez belonged to a tradition of great performers that encompassed spoken theatre as well as opera, and epitomised the powerful yet sensitive declamation associated with the atelier of Alexandre-Etienne Choron, where the tenor had trained. His detractors sometimes criticised his acting: perhaps unnerved or overwhelmed by his unusual vocal effects, some protested that Duprez was always a singer rather than embodying a character. But to Berlioz (usually, although not always, an enthusiastic admirer) and many others, Duprez was ‘the ideal dramatic singer … the most harrowing Romeo ever seen and heard’. One of Duprez’s most important collaborators at the Opéra was the

6 soprano Julie Dorus-Gras (1805–96). In Guillaume Tell she was Mathilde to his Arnold; their joint premieres included Halévy’s Guido et Ginévra (1838), Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini (1838) and Donizetti’s Les Martyrs (1840); they also performed together in other important works such as Halévy’s (1835) and Meyerbeer’s (1831) and (1836) – Dorus-Gras had premiered these with Duprez’s predecessor . In this recital, Dorus-Gras is represented by Joyce El-Khoury in the first-ever recording of the title characters’ duo from Halévy’s Guido et Ginévra. Although his voice became increasingly unreliable in the 1840s, Duprez continued to excite enormous enthusiasm, not least during trips to London in the mid-1840s, the highlight of which were his performances as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor. In the last decade of his singing career, he taught at the Paris Conservatoire; later, he established his own singing school. The latter part of his life included a return to composition (he had already written several works as a younger man) and publishing his Souvenirs d’un chanteur (1880) before his death in 1896. Despite the relative brevity of Duprez’s career, his fascinating voice was wide-ranging and long-lasting in its influence, shaping the operatic repertory – including the works in this recital – as well as future generations of singers.

© Rosie Ward, 2017

7 Gilbert-Louis Duprez (1806–1896)

[1] , Othello, Act I, Cavatine: ‘Venise, ô ma patrie’ (Othello)

ROSSINI’S OTHELLO (or , in its original Italian spelling) is the earliest opera in this recital, premiered in in December 1816 with in the title role and Isabella Colbran as Desdemona. The work made its way to Paris and London within a few years, and to New York in 1826. Otello was a long-term presence in Duprez’s career. In Italy he was an acclaimed Rodrigo (a far more central role in Rossini’s opera than in Shakespeare’s play): he later recalled being over-awed, aged 22, by an indomitable as Desdemona. Later, in French versions, he played Othello. One critic at an 1845 performance in French declared that the role showed Duprez at his best, capable ‘of touching, of moving his audience through only a few phrases of , but delivered with that voice full of passion we know so well’. ‘Venise, ô ma patrie’ is Othello’s triumphant entrance aria. Its outer sections feature an impressive display of agility and power, with the voice mimicking the orchestra’s exuberant D-major fanfares. The central 6/8 Andante (‘Ange vers qui s’élance’) is more reflective, although the challenges for the tenor continue: the piece demands an extraordinarily wide range. The textual repetitions in the concluding Vivace provide ample opportunity for virtuosic ornamentation.

Venise, ô ma patrie, Venice, oh my homeland, À toi mon sang, ma vie, To you I give my blood, my life, De mon âme ravie, Listen to these words Écoute les accents. From my enraptured soul.

Le Seigneur tutélaire The Lord God, Exauçant ma prière, Answering my prayer, Toujours de cette terre Will always bless Toujours bénira les enfants. The children of this land.

10 Ange vers qui s’élance Angel, towards whom soars Mon cœur plein d’espérance, My heart full of hope, Couronne ma constance, Crown my faithfulness, C’est mon dernier souhait. This is my last wish.

Jour de bonheur, de gloire! Day of happiness and glory! Aux chants de la victoire To the songs of victory Le peuple entier répond. The entire populace responds.

[2] Gaetano Donizetti, Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, Act I, Aria: ‘Dopo i lauri di vittoria’ (Enrico)

DONIZETTI’S ROSMONDA D’INGHILTERRA was first performed in in late February 1834, with Duprez as Enrico (the 12th-century English King Henry II) and Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani in the title role – the pair who would also create the same composer’s Edgardo and Lucia just over a year later. Although the first run of performances was well- received, Rosmonda had only one other 19th-century outing, in Livorno in 1845. The work was then forgotten for over a century until its rediscovery and recording by ; a 2016 concert performance in Florence, with Michael Spyres as Enrico, was the first modern performance in Italy. The opera opens with Enrico’s return from war in Ireland. After a choral scene in which the people celebrate his homecoming, he sings this entrance aria, first introducing himself through flamboyant declamation, singing of victory and glory (‘Dopo i lauri…’). The aria proper (‘Potessi vivere…’), despite its more contemplative text, continues the confident musical mood with its brisk dotted rhythms and exuberant coda.

11 Dopo i lauri di vittoria After victory laurels Son pur dolci i fiori al prode, Flowers are sweet to the warrior, Dopo i cantici di lode After choruses of praise Caro è l’inno dell’amor. A hymn of love is dear. Il pensier sublimi, o gloria; Glory makes one’s thoughts sublime; Ma l’amor consola il cor. But love consoles the heart.

Potessi vivere Would that I could live Com’io vorrei, As I would like, Lontan dagli’uomini Spending my days I giorni miei! Far away from people! Potessi almeno Would that I could De’ boschi in seno, O my beautiful beloved O mio bell’idolo, Flee with you Fuggir con te! To some woodland! Che val la gloria What is glory worth Se tuo non sono, If I cannot be yours, Ah! più che il trono Ah! You mean more to me Sei tu per me. Than does a throne.

[3] Fromental Halévy, Guido et Ginévra, Act III, Récitatif et Air: ‘Dans ces lieux… Quand renaîtra la pâle aurore’ (Guido) Gareth Small, trumpet solo

GUIDO ET GINÉVRA premiered at the Paris Opéra in March 1838, with Duprez and Julie Dorus-Gras singing the title roles to great acclaim. There were more performances of the work in Paris in 1839 and 1840 (again with Duprez and Dorus-Gras), as well as in other European cities, but after the late , no productions are known. The aria and in this recital are the first recordings of any part of the opera.

12 The story is set in 16th-century Florence. In an early scene, the young sculptor Guido sings a romance, recalling a beautiful stranger whom he met fleetingly and who promised they would meet again. The stranger is the noble-born Ginévra. Later, on the eve of her reluctant marriage to Manfrédi, the Duke of Ferrara, Ginévra realises that Guido is now employed at her father’s court. Noticing the longing glances between the pair, Manfrédi plots to have Guido killed, but the assassin is bribed to change his plans: Ginévra becomes the target instead. She is given a poisoned veil that leaves her unconscious, and she is buried as a supposed victim of the plague. In ‘Quand renaîtra la pâle aurore’, Guido mourns at Ginévra’s tomb. At the opening, the cellos recall the melody of Guido’s Act I Romance. The aria is then introduced by a melancholy trumpet solo, one to be played on the valved trumpet (a recent invention at the time, and thus an unusual sonority). Berlioz praised this piece as one of the most harrowing – and successful – moments in Halévy’s œuvre.

Dans ces lieux, Ginévra, ta dernière Guido hurries here, Ginévra, demeure, Guido s’empresse d’accourir! To your last resting place! Ô toi, ma bien-aimée, ô toi qu’ici je pleure... Oh you, my beloved, oh you, whom I cry for... Sur ta tombe je viens pour prier et mourir! I come to pray and to die on your tomb!

Quand renaîtra la pâle aurore, When the pale dawn is reborn, Et quand du ciel le jour fuira, And when the day flees from the sky, Je reviendrai pour dire encore I will return to say again Le nom si doux de Ginévra! The sweet name of Ginévra!

Jusqu’au moment suprême Until that final moment D’ineffables amours, Of ineffable love, Où près de ce qu’on aime When, close to one’s beloved, L’on peut aimer toujours! One can love forever!

13 Ainsi sur ta cendre glacée, I will come every day Tous les jours je viendrai gémir; To sob over your cold ashes, À toi ma dernière pensée, My last thought will be of you, À toi mon dernier soupir! My last sigh will be for you!

[4] Giuseppe Verdi, Jérusalem, Act III, Scène et Air: ‘L’infamie! prenez ma vie... Ô mes amis, mes frères’ (Gaston)

JÉRUSALEM WAS Verdi’s first work for Paris, and premiered at the Opéra on 26 November 1847. It is a revision of I Lombardi (1843): Verdi adapted his earlier work to fit a new French by and Gustave Vaëz, and made substantial structural changes and additions to the score, beyond the ballet scenes that were de rigueur for works performed at the Opéra. The premiere was well received – including by some Parisian critics who had initially grumbled about the fact that the Opéra had commissioned yet another work that was neither truly French nor entirely new. Nevertheless, it was I Lombardi that found a more secure foothold in the international repertory. In this aria, Gaston is about to be executed: his jealous rival, Roger, has framed him for the attempted assassination of the Count of Toulouse. Gaston pleads that even if he is to die, his honour should remain intact. After a brief recitative, ‘O mes amis’ falls into three main sections: a tense, minor-mode Andante mosso in which repetitive accompaniment figures circle around a melody of restricted vocal range; the second and third sections both begin serenely, in major keys, but each ends with the return of the orchestra’s ominous semiquaver motif. Duprez was widely praised for his subtle acting, in this scene in particular.

L’infamie!... prenez, prenez ma vie! Infamy!... Take my life! Vos bourreaux, je les défie, I defy your tormentors! Mais mon honneur! But my honour! Ô douleur! Oh sorrow!

14 Ô mes amis, mes frères d’armes, Oh my friends, my brothers in arms, Voyez mes pleurs, voyez mes larmes!... See my tears, see my tears! Le déshonneur! c’est trop affreux! Dishonour! It’s unbearable! N’accablez pas un malheureux. Do not overwhelm an ill-fated man. Mon dernier jour me sera doux, My last day should be gentle, Et je l’implore à vos genoux. I implore it at your knees. Mais, par le ciel! moi, traître! infâme! But, by heaven! Me, a traitor! Infamous! Je pleure, hélas! Je pleure comme une I weep, alas! I weep like a woman. femme.

Ah! C’est la pitié que je réclame... Ah! Pity is what I ask… Par quels accents vous attendrir? What can I say that would touch you? Ô mes amis! sans me flétrir, Oh my friends! Without blackening my name, Laissez-moi, laissez-moi mourir! Let me die, let me die!

[5] Fromental Halévy, Guido et Ginévra, Act IV, Scène et Duo: ‘Tu seras donc pour moi… Ombre chérie’ (Guido, Ginévra)

SINCE ‘Quand renaîtra la pâle aurore’ (track 3), Ginévra has awoken and escaped from her tomb, and has collapsed in the plague-infested and bandit-ridden city. Guido recognises her but at first believes she is a ghost. Before the duet proper begins, Guido’s romance melody sounds again; Berlioz described the collective emotion and recognition rippling through the audience at this point as ‘one of the most beautiful triumphs ever achieved in music’. This technique of using motifs to make thematic links across an entire opera has come to be considered Wagnerian, but it was an important technique in 1830s , and indeed of melodrama before that. In the first section of the duet (beginning with Guido alone, ‘Ombre chérie’), the strings provide delicate

15 accompaniment, the first violins doubling and embellishing the voice. Guido’s recognition of Ginévra prompts some startling high Ds from the tenor – first alone and then in a shared with Ginévra. A faster, full-orchestral passage creates a bridge to a cabaletta-like closing section (‘Que mon âme à toi se donne’). The ominous trombone theme that enters towards the end of the duet represents the marauding bandits who bring Act IV to a breathtaking close, with Guido and Ginévra’s surroundings engulfed in flames. Guido’s final phrase (‘Dieu! doublez mon courage’) is an example of the kind of delivery for which Duprez was particularly famous: neither neatly rounded aria phrases, nor recitative, but powerful, lyrical declamation that bridged the gap between the two.

GUIDO GUIDO Tu seras donc pour moi sans cesse So you persist in eluding me, inexorable, inexorable, Ô trépas que je cherche et qui me fuis O death that I seek, that still escapes me! toujours! À tous ces malheureux prodiguant mes Offering my help to so many unfortunates, secours, Vainement j’ai bravé ce fléau redoutable; In vain have I braved this dreadful plague; Le fléau me repousse et ne veut pas de moi; The plague spurns me and will not have me; Il me condamne à vivre, ô Ginévra, sans toi! It condemns me to live, oh Ginévra, without you! Fille des cieux!... Quand donc te reverrai-je? Daughter of heaven!...When will I see you again? Rappelle-moi!... Que mon exil s’abrège... Call me to you!... Let my exile be over… (Il aperçoit Ginévra évanouie.) (He notices Ginévra, unconscious.) Encore une victime!... Ah! pauvre jeune Another victim!... Ah! poor girl! fille!

16 Tu n’as donc pu fléchir le sort! You could not escape your fate! Loin des siens, loin de sa famille; Far from her people, far from her family, Seule ici, sans secours… elle a trouvé la Alone here, without help… she met her mort! death! (reconnaissant Ginévra) (recognising Ginévra) Est-ce un songe?... Suis-je donc en délire? Is this a dream? Am I delirious? Ginévra! Ginévra! Ginévra! Ginévra! (Ginévra revient à elle et se lève lentement.) (Ginévra comes to and slowly gets to her feet.) Ombre chérie! ombre adorée! Beloved ghost! Adored ghost! Tu daignes donc combler mes vœux! You have answered my desires! De moi trop longtemps séparée, Separated from me too long, À ma voix, tu descends des cieux. At my voice, you descend from heaven. GINÉVRA GINÉVRA Guido!... Guido!... Guido!... Guido!... GUIDO GUIDO C’est elle, c’est elle! It’s her, it’s her! C’est sa voix qui m’appelle! Her voice is calling me! Et qui m’ouvre les cieux! And it opens the heavens to me! GINÉVRA GINÉVRA Non, Guido, calme ta peine: No, Guido, calm your anguish: Je ne suis point une ombre vaine! I’m not a useless ghost! Je vis, j’existe! C’est bien moi! I’m alive, I exist! It’s really me! Dieu t’a rendu ta bien-aimée; God has given you your beloved; Dans la tombe il m’a ranimée. In the tomb He brought me back to life. GUIDO GUIDO Prodige dont je doute encore, I still doubt this miracle, Oui, oui, je sens là battre son cœur! Yes, yes, I feel her heart beating! Ne souffrez pas, Dieu que j’implore, God whom I implore, don’t let me Qu’ici j’expire de mon bonheur! Die here from happiness!

17 GINÉVRA GINÉVRA Oui, c’est bien moi, j’existe encore! Yes, it’s really me, I still exist! L’amitié ranime mon cœur, Affection revives my heart, Et le Dieu que ma voix implore And God, whom my voice implores, A pris pitié de mon malheur. Has taken pity on my misfortune. GUIDO GUIDO Venez! quittons ce lieu d’épouvante et Come! Let us leave this horrible place! d’horreur! Où faut-il vous conduire?... À vous, ma Where should I take you?... I am in your destinée! hands! GINÉVRA GINÉVRA Mais je n’ai plus d’asile! But nowhere is safe! Errante, abandonnée, malheureuse! Wandering, abandoned, unfortunate! Où porter mes pas? Where should I go? Bien plus cruel que le trépas; Much more cruel than death; De son logis Manfrédi m’a chassée! Manfrédi has driven me from his home! GUIDO GUIDO Ah! grand Dieu, Ginévra blessée! Ah! My God, Ginévra is wounded! GINÉVRA GINÉVRA Oui, la main d’un époux a menacé mes jours Yes, my husband threatened my life Quand ma voix suppliante implorait son When I begged for his protection! secours! GUIDO GUIDO L’infâme! Villainous! GINÉVRA GINÉVRA Me trainant au palais de mon père, Dragging myself to my father’s palace, Un silence de mort accueillit ma prière; Deathly silence greeted my supplications; Et maintenant, que me reste-t-il? And now, what do I have left?

18 GUIDO GUIDO Moi, moi qui t’ai voué mon sang, You have me, I promised my life to you, Mon sang, ma vie, ma foi! Ginévra! My life, my faith! Ginévra! Que mon âme à toi se donne, May my soul give itself to you, Nul danger ne m’étonne; No danger will be too much for me; À ton humble esclave ordonne Give orders to your humble slave, Car t’obéir est ma loi! For you are the law I obey! Que ton cœur au mien se livre; May your heart deliver itself to mine; Viens! partons! il faut me suivre! Come! Let’s leave! Follow me! Si pour toi je ne peux vivre, If I cannot live for you, Oh! je veux mourir pour toi. Oh! Then I will die for you. GINÉVRA GINÉVRA Le devoir, hélas! l’ordonne, Alas, duty commands that Il faut qu’ici j’abandonne Here I must abandon L’amour que ton cœur me donne, The love your heart gives me, Oui, l’honneur m’en fait la loi! Yes, honour is the law I must obey. Doux espoir qui m’enivre, Sweet hope beguiles me… Non, non, je ne puis te suivre! No, no, I cannot follow you! Quand pour toi je voudrais vivre, Although I want to live for you, Je vais mourir loin de toi. I must die far from you. GUIDO GUIDO Ainsi chez moi tu refuses l’asile; So you refuse to seek safety with me, Le seul qui te reste à présent. The only safety you now have. GINÉVRA GINÉVRA Je le dois. I must do it. (On aperçoit à gauche, à travers les fenêtres (On the left, through the palace windows, du palais, les flammes qui commencent à flames can be seen starting to spread through gagner l’édifice, et l’on entend le chœur des the building, and a chorus of bandits is bandits.) heard.)

19 Michael Spyres and Joyce El-Khoury GUIDO GUIDO Entends-tu ces bandits? Do you hear those bandits? GINÉVRA GINÉVRA Ils me glacent d’horreur!... My blood freezes in horror! Ils nous tueront! va t’en! They’ll kill us! Go! GUIDO GUIDO Je suis ton défenseur! I am your defender! GINÉVRA GINÉVRA Ah! le Ciel m’a condamnée, Ah! Heaven has condemned me, Qu’importe ma destinée! Who cares about my destiny! Va! laisse une infortunée! Go! Leave me, wretched as I am! Laisse-moi subir mon sort! Leave me to succumb to my fate! GUIDO GUIDO Quitter celle qui m’est chère, Leave the one who is dear to me, Toi, mon bien, ma vie entière, You, my all, my whole life, Je ne crains rien sur la terre, I fear nothing on earth, Rien que de te perdre encore! Nothing but losing you again! (Les bandits traversent le fond du théâtre (The bandits cross the back of the stage, en agitant des flambeaux. Ginévra tombe waving torches. Ginévra falls unconscious évanouie dans les bras de Guido.) into Guido’s arms.) GUIDO (la tenant dans ses bras, et GUIDO (holding her in his arms, dragging l’entrainant) her) Dieu! doublez mon courage et sauvez mon God! Double my courage and save my trésor! dearest one! (En ce moment s’ouvrent les portes du palais (At this moment the palace doors open; it has auquel on vient de mettre le feu, et les been set on fire; the bandits, torches in hand, bandits, la torche à la main, descendent les descend the staircases. The curtain falls.) escaliers. La toile tombe.)

21 [6] Gaetano Donizetti, Dom Sébastien, Act II, Air: ‘Seul sur la terre’ (Dom Sébastien)

DOM SÉBASTIEN WAS Donizetti’s only work written specifically for the Paris Opéra; it would also be his last opera. The libretto is by Eugène Scribe, and the opera premiered on 13 November 1843, with Duprez in the title role. After initially being well received, its fortunes were mixed: after 32 performances by 1845, it was dropped from the Opéra’s repertoire, but was successful elsewhere in France, with a changed ending that was easier for less well- endowed theatres to manage. A version adapted by Donizetti also did well in in 1845. In Italian translation, Don Sebastiano was popular in Italy until the late 1850s, and there were a few American productions in the later 19th century. There have been occasional modern recordings, including one of the original French version by Opera Rara in 2005. ‘Seul sur la terre’ ends Act II. Dom Sébastien – a 16th-century king of Portugal – is alone on the battlefield after a bitter defeat during his African crusade; most of his army lie dead around him. Sébastien’s simple 6/8 melody, and the reduced orchestration of harp, flute, horn and sustained strings, are more suggestive of a heavenly realm than a battlefield. After a more animated central section, the first theme returns, followed by a coda that finally allowed Duprez the high D flat that the melody approaches earlier but does not quite reach. Berlioz (generally a fierce critic of Donizetti) perceived unusually intent listening and tenderness in the audience’s reaction to this piece at the premiere; he emphasised Donizetti’s boldness in ending an act with a Romance, ‘in these days when the word finale means shouts, fracas, trumpets, trombones and drums’.

22 Seul sur la terre, Alone on the earth, En vain j’espère, All hope in vain, Dans ma misère In my misery Je n’ai plus rien. I have nothing left.

Ange céleste, Heavenly angel, Toi seul me reste, You are all I have, Ange céleste, Heavenly angel, Sois mon soutien. Come to my aid.

Ah que ne puis-je Ah, if only I could Offrir un jour Offer one day Une couronne A crown À tant d’amour. For such love.

Moi que je donne But me, to give away Une couronne? A crown? Ah, qu’ai-je dit? Ah, what have I said?

Sur ce rivage On this shore, Triste et sauvage, Sad and wild, Hors mon courage Apart from my courage Je n’ai plus rien. I have nothing left.

Toi seule ranimes mon âme, You alone revive my spirits, Dans le sort qui m’abat; In this fate that lays me low; J’ai l’amour d’une femme I have the love of a woman Et le cœur d’un soldat. And the heart of a soldier.

23 [7] Daniel-François-Esprit Auber, Le Lac des fées, Act I, Récit et Air: ‘Ils s’éloignent… Gentille fée’ (Albert)

AUBER’S Le Lac des fées premiered at the Opéra on 1 April 1839. It enjoyed 30 performances there and transferred with great success to other cities, although these productions were often in heavily altered versions, with Auber’s music sometimes adapted into a ballet. The story’s origins in a German ballad might suggest the continued importance of German and ideas of the supernatural to French operatic culture at the time. However, there was much mockery in the press of Auber and Scribe’s insistence on their story’s Teutonic credentials: the plot seems to have come from a Parisian boulevard theatre rather than from a folktale direct from the Harz mountains. Duprez’s character, Albert, is among a group of students who find an enchanted lake where they see swans transformed into fairies. Albert falls in love with the fairy Zéïla (played in the first production by Maria Nau), and in this aria sings of his passion for her. After an opening recitative as Albert watches his friends depart, the aria’s first movement is characterised by its delicate orchestration: the oboe solo returns intermittently, along with the horns and bassoons, to punctuate the vocal phrases; these instruments are supported by gently shimmering strings, more than a little reminiscent of Verdi’s , which was written over 50 years later. The second, more energetic section, with its larger orchestral forces, registers Albert’s excitement as he hears the fairies approaching.

Ils s’éloignent! je reste... et je ne saurais dire They’re leaving! I’ll stay… and I know not Quel trouble ou quel espoir a fait battre What trouble or what hope has set my heart mon cœur! racing! Songes que j’ai formés, amour auquel The dreams I’ve formed, the love I aspire to, j’aspire,

24 Existez-vous, ou bien n’êtes-vous qu’une Do you exist, or am I deceiving myself? erreur?

De nos docteurs j’ai rêvé la science; I’ve dreamed of the science of our doctors, L’étude, hélas! ne remplit pas mon cœur! Alas! I don’t have the heart for learning! J’avais rêvé l’amour et sa puissance; I dreamed of love and its power; Je l’ai connu sans trouver le bonheur. I’ve known it without finding happiness.

Gentille fée, au doux sourire, Kind fairy with your sweet smile, Fille des airs, ange des cieux, Child of the air, angel of heaven, Est-ce auprès de toi que respire Is it close to you that this happiness, Ce bonheur, objet de mes vœux? The object of my desires, can breathe?

Écoutons, écoutons! Listen, listen! (On entend au loin dans les airs des sons (In the distance, harmony is heard on the harmonieux.) breeze.)

Fée immortelle, Immortal fairy, Ma voix t’appelle! My voice calls to you! Fée immortelle, Immortal fairy, Viens m’embraser, Come and set me alight, Que j’expire dans un baiser! Let me expire in an embrace!

À mon délire Smile Daigne sourire. On my delirium. Flamme nouvelle, New flame, Viens m’embraser, Come and set me alight, Que j’expire dans un baiser! Let me expire in an embrace!

25 [8] Hector Berlioz, Benvenuto Cellini, Act II, Récitatif et Air: ‘Seul pour lutter… Sur les monts les plus sauvages’ (Cellini)

BENVENUTO CELLINI WAS Berlioz’s first opera. It premiered at the Paris Opéra on 10 September 1838, with Duprez as Cellini (the work was loosely based on the memoirs of the famous 16th-century artist) and Dorus-Gras as the soprano lead, Teresa. The premiere was not well received. Some critics found the libretto vulgar; although Berlioz thought Duprez ‘superb’ during early rehearsals for his beautiful yet energetic singing, the tenor felt ambivalent about the work, appearing in only three performances. An added complication was that Duprez apparently lost concentration on stage during the third performance: a doctor appeared smiling in the wings to announce the birth of the tenor’s son. championed Cellini, staging it in Weimar in 1852, in the process making some modifications to the score. There have been increasingly frequent 20th- and 21st-century productions. When Cellini sings ‘Sur les monts les plus sauvages’, his life is in danger: he has killed a man and been sentenced to death, but if he can complete his statue within the evening, the Pope will pardon him. Rather than engaging with events directly, the Romance is a moment of escapism in which Cellini imagines blissful isolation as a shepherd. The F-major tonality and 6/8 time are typical markers of the pastoral. The predominant tranquillity – initially with gentle string accompaniment and woodwind punctuation – alternates with stormier passages and more prominent woodwind. At the second appearance of the ‘Sur les monts’ melody, the cellos add a beautiful countermelody before a gradual build-up of instrumental forces leads to the triumphant final reprise.

26 CELLINI (seul et pensif) CELLINI (alone and pensive) Seul pour lutter, seul avec mon courage. Alone in my struggle, alone with my courage. Et me regarde! Rome!... And Rome watches me! Rome!... Allons, vents inhumains, Come, inhuman winds, Soufflez, gonflez les flots, et vogue dans Blow, swell the current, and in the storm l’or a g e La nef de nos sombres destins! Sails the ship of our sombre destinies! Quelle vie, quelle vie! What a life, what a life!

Sur les monts les plus sauvages On the wildest mountains, Que ne suis-je un simple pasteur, Oh that I were a simple shepherd, Conduisant aux pâturages Leading a wandering herd Tous les jours un troupeau voyageur! To the pastures every day! Libre, seul et tranquille, Free, alone and tranquil, Sans labeur fatiguant, Without exhausting work, Errant loin des bruits de la ville, Roaming far from the noise of the town, Je chanterais gaîment; I would sing gaily; Puis le soir dans ma chaumière, Then in the evening in my cabin, Seul, ayant pour lit la terre, Alone, with the earth for my bed, Comme aux bras d’une mère As in a mother’s arms Je dormirais content. I would sleep happily.

27 Michael Spyres and Carlo Rizzi [9] Gaetano Donizetti, La Favorite, Act IV, Récitatif et Romance: ‘La maîtresse du Roi… Ange si pur’ (Fernand)

DUPREZ CREATED THE role of Fernand at La Favorite’s premiere at the Opéra on 2 December 1840, alongside Rosine Stolz as Léonor. The Director of the Opéra, Léon Pillet, had pronounced himself unhappy with Donizetti’s Le Duc d’Albe, the work the composer had planned to put on during this period. Under pressure of time, Donizetti replaced Le Duc with a reworking of his partly L’Ange de Nisida (which had not been performed because the theatre it was intended for went bankrupt). La Favorite remained popular throughout the 19th century across Europe and in America; the vast majority of these performances were, however, in a mangled Italian version entitled La favorita. The opera begins with Fernand’s departure from his monastic life, having fallen in love with a beautiful stranger. However, just after they marry he learns that his bride – Léonor – has been the King’s mistress. He leaves her, renouncing his military honours, and returns to the monastery in despair. In this Romance he remembers his feelings for Léonor. As one critic at the premiere summed it up, the piece ‘has the merit of simplicity and of sitting well in Duprez’s voice’. Donizetti uses subtle rhythmic variations and embellishments to add interest to a melody that rarely moves beyond a narrow pitch-range. A central, more chromatic section builds emotion, before the first verse is repeated with varied accompaniment.

La maîtresse du Roi!... Dans l’abîme creusé, The king’s mistress!... In the cavernous pit, Sous un piège infernal ma gloire est In an infernal trap, my honour is buried, engloutie, et de mon triste cœur l’espérance est sortie. And all hope has left my sad heart.

Ange si pur, que dans un songe Angel so pure, who in a dream j’ai cru trouver, vous que j’aimais! I thought I’d found, you who I loved! Avec l’espoir, triste mensonge, Along with all hope, a sad delusion,

29 Envolez-vous, et pour jamais! Fly away forever!

En moi, pour l’amour d’une femme Love for a woman De Dieu l’amour avait faibli; Had weakened in me my love of God; Pitié! je t’ai rendu mon âme, Mercy! I gave you my soul, Pitié! Seigneur, rends-moi l’oubli! Mercy! Lord, give me oblivion!

Loin de mon cœur, Far from my heart, Ô vous que j’aimais, Oh you who I loved, Envolez-vous et pour jamais! Fly away forever!

[10] Fromental Halévy, La Reine de Chypre, Act IV, Air: ‘De mes aïeux ombres sacrées’ (Gérard)

LA REINE DE CHYPRE continued a series of great successes for Halévy when it premiered in 1841 with Duprez as Gérard. Today, the work is remembered mostly for its influence on , who arranged the vocal score and wrote lengthy admiring articles about Halévy’s new opera. Wagner – among others – was particularly enthusiastic about the scene recorded here, praising Halévy for the way the ‘contrasting feelings that successively agitate [Gérard’s] heart’ were united in one ‘continuous melodic breath’. Gérard’s scene happens while a triumphant wedding procession is under way, and presents a striking contrast to that grand choral spectacle. The wedding is between Catarina – who was once promised to Gérard – and Lusignan, King of Cyprus. Meanwhile, Gérard considers his decision to murder Lusignan. Following the opening declamatory passage, ‘De mes aïeux ombres sacrées’, the aria proper opens with two surprisingly serene-sounding verses as Gérard thinks of Catarina (‘Et toi, seul espoir’). Though his resolve seems to strengthen (‘Il est temps’), the next section – heralded by rapid ascending scales in the strings, and prominent trombones – brings uncertainty,

30 particularly when he hears the church congregation singing to glorify God. Eventually he musters the courage for his cabaletta, ‘Sur le bord de l’abîme’, launching boldly into high B flats almost immediately. The scene ends with Gérard declaiming his commitment to vengeance, justice and bloodshed, with the full weight of the orchestra beneath him.

De mes aïeux ombres sacrées, Sacred ghosts of my ancestors, Du fond de vos tombeaux n’arrêtez pas mon From the depths of your tombs do not stay bras, my hand, Et que vos cendres vénérées And may your venerable ashes D’horreur à mon aspect ne se soulèvent pas. Not rise up in horror at my deeds.

Et toi, seul espoir de ma triste vie, And you, only hope of my sad life, Toi qui m’aimas pour me trahir, You who loved me to betray me, À l’autel où ta voix supplie, At the altar where you plead, Tu dis à Dieu de te bénir. You ask God to bless you.

Mais je suis là... ma plainte amère But I am here… my bitter lament Vient se mêler à tes serments; Mingles with your vows; Entre le ciel et ta prière Between heaven and your prayer, Vont s’élever tous mes tourments! All my torment rises up!

Sur ton front, quand la voix du prêtre On your brow, when the priest’s voice Appellera la paix des cieux, Will call for heavenly peace, Le remords répondra peut-être Perhaps your remorse will rise up Et troublera ton cœur joyeux! And trouble your joyful heart!

Il est temps... It is time…

31 Qu’ai-je entendu? Ces chants... Seigneur! What do I hear? That singing… Lord! Ah! Ah! Seigneur, donne à mon âme Lord, grant my soul Un rayon tout-puissant de ta céleste flamme; An all-powerful ray from your celestial flame; Viens briller en mon cœur, viens calmer Shine in my heart, calm my senses. tous mes sens. Que le cœur du chrétien s’ouvre à leurs Let this Christian heart open itself to such saints accents! holy sounds!

Lusignan, Catarina! Lusignan, Catarina!

Ma tête s’égare, My head is spinning, Vengeance et fureur! Vengeance and fury!

Sur le bord de l’abîme, ô Dieu! daignez On the edge of the abyss, oh God! Hear me! m’entendre! À mes pleurs, à mes cris, ne fermez pas le Do not close the heavens to my tears, to my ciel! cries! Et que le sang qu’ici je dois répandre And may the blood that I must spill here Au pardon ne soit point un obstacle éternel! Not be an eternal obstacle to forgiveness!

Eh bien, ici s’accomplira le sanglant Here I will complete the bloody sacrifice! sacrifice! Cette terre boira son sang avec le mien! This place will be soaked both in his blood and mine!

32 [11] Gaetano Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor, Act III, Ultima scena: ‘Tombe degli avi miei… Fra poco a me ricovero’ (Edgardo)

DUPREZ WAS THE original Edgardo in Lucia’s premiere in Naples on 26 September 1835, alongside Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani in the title role. Donizetti was enormously pleased with the performances of his leading couple, and the work flourished internationally. Both Duprez and his audiences saw continued symbolic importance in his relationship with the work. He could astonish critics with his continued agility and vibrancy as Edgardo at a time when, in other roles, his voice had been weakening: one 1846 Lucia was variously described as a ‘resurrection’ or ‘transfiguration’ for him. As late as 1851, he appeared as Edgardo in his daughter Caroline’s debut as Lucia at Paris’s Théâtre Italien. This is the opera’s final scene, which begins with Edgardo’s preparations to kill himself, because Lucia has – willingly, as far as he knows – married another man. In the tempo di mezzo (not included in this recording) between the cantabile and cabaletta, Edgardo learns of Lucia’s death; during the cabaletta he stabs himself. Both cantabile (‘Fra poco a me ricovero’) and cabaletta (‘Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali’) create their effect through despairing high notes, rather than any melodic ornamentation. This scene (despite belonging to an ) could therefore be considered an ideal vehicle for Duprez to embody central values of French performance at the time: France was proud of its spoken-drama tradition; in opera as well as in other theatre, mastery of gesture, emotion and sensitive expression of text were the markers of a great artist.

33 Tombe degli avi miei, l’ultimo avanzo Tombs of my ancestors, as I am the last D’una stirpe infelice, In a troubled line, Deh, raccogliete voi. Cessò dell’ira Collect around me. The brief fire of my rage Il breve foco... sul nemico acciaro Is no more… I will fall Abbandonar mi vo’. Per me la vita On my enemy’s sword. For me, life is a È orrendo peso! L’universo intero Horrible burden! The whole universe È un deserto per me senza Lucia! Is a desert for me without Lucia! Di faci tuttavia Yet the castle Splende il castello... Ah, scarsa Glows with torchlight… Ah, the night Fu la notte al tripudio! Ingrata donna! Was too short for the festivities! Ungrateful woman! Mentr’io mi struggo in disperato pianto, While I struggle in desperate tears Tu ridi, esulti accanto You laugh and rejoice by the side Al felice consorte! Of your happy consort! Tu delle gioie in seno, io della morte! You with joy in your breast, I with death! Fra poco a me ricovero Soon this neglected tomb Darà negletto avello. Will give me refuge. Una pietosa lagrima Not a sorrowful tear Non scenderà su quello!... Will fall upon it!... Ah! Fin degli estinti, ahi misero, Ah! Even from the dead, miserable as I am, Manca il conforto a me. I will gain no comfort. Tu pur, tu pur dimentica Even you, even you must forget Quel marmo dispregiato! This despised marble stone! Mai non passarvi, o barbara, Never visit it, o cruel woman, Del tuo consorte a lato. With your husband at your side. Ah! rispetta almen le ceneri Ah! At least respect the ashes Di chi moria per te. Of one who died for you.

34 Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali, You who spread your wings to God, O bell’alma innamorata, Oh beautiful, beloved soul, Ti rivolgi a me placata, Look down on me gently, Teco ascenda il tuo fedel. As your true love rises up to join you. Ah, se l’ira dei mortali Ah, if the wrath of mortals Fece a noi sì cruda guerra, Put us at war so brutally, Se divisi fummo in terra, If we were divided on earth, Ne congiunga il Nume in ciel. Let God unite us in heaven.

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With thanks to the Consultants 134-146 Curtain Road, following: Chaz Jenkins (marketing) London, EC2A 3AR C&CO (Design) (repertoire) Tel: +44 (0)20 7613 2858 James Hadley Fax: +44 (0)20 7613 2261 Jesús Inglesias Noriega (casting) Email: [email protected] Opéra National de Media Relations (Press & PR) www.opera-rara.com Bordeaux Opera Rara Board of Directors © in the publication, OPERA RARA Anthony Bunker Opera Rara 2017 Glenn Hurstfield Printed and manufactured Artistic Director Simon Mortimore QC by Software Logistics. Sir Mark Elder CBE Opera Rara is a company John Nickson limited by guarantee and Chairman Alison Nicol registered as a charity Charles Alexander Islée Oliva Salinas no. 261403 Chief Executive Henry Little Production Manager Kim Panter Development Director Kirstin Peltonen Finance Director Irene Cook

Opera Rara is very grateful to the staff and management of The Stoller Hall at Chetham’s School of Music for making the hall available for our recording.