"By the mid-1680s, having achieved a considerable reputation as a composer of sacred music, Charpentier was appoint maître de musique at the most prestigious Jesuit church in Paris, St. Louis, renowned for the high quality of its music. And ultimately, in 1698, he became maître de musique at the Saint-Chapelle, a position in French sacred music second only to that of music director in the King's chapel. He remained there until his death early in 1704.
"Quite possibly, had Jean-Baptiste Lully and Michel Richard de Lalande not dominated so successfully the music at the court of Louis XIV, Charpentier might himself have become a figure there and composed more instrumental music and especially works for the theatre. He had great talent for musical drama, as is apparently in the stage work we have by him - notably the sacred opera 'David et Jonathas' (1688); 'Médée', perhaps the greatest masterpiece (produced at the Académie Royale, the Opéra, in 1693); and operatic divertissements, pastorales, and cantates - not to mention dozens of dramatic motets (histoires sacrées). With 'La descente d'Orphée aux enfers', Charpentier joined the many composers drawn to the myth of Orphée as the basis for operas.
"Understandably: not only is it a poignant love story and dramatic tragedy, it celebrates the mysterious and formidable power of music itself, over even supernatural forces. The earliest surviving operas, composed in Italy about 1600, were based on that myth (settings by each of the Florentines Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini of Rinuccini's libretto, 'Euridice', and Claudio Monteverdi's masterpiece, for Mantua, to Striggio's 'Orfeo'). Other operatic versions predating Charpentier's were Stefano Landi's 'La morte d'Ortfeo' (1619) and Luigi Rossi's 'Orfeo' (1647) - which was staged at the Palais Royal, as part of Mazarin's campaign to italianize French culture. Charpentier himself composed a sort of warm-up for 'La descente d'Orphée' in a chamber cantata (probably the first of that genre by a French composer): 'Orphée descendant aux enfers', a modest work for three male singers (representing Orphée and the shades Ixion and Tantale) and a small chamber ensemble.
"About three years later - late 1686 or early 1687 - came 'La descente d'Orphée aux enfers'. Charpentier composed it for the musicians of M'lle de Guise, though we know nothing about the circumstances of its performance. Although not on the grand scale of the 'tragédies en musique' staged at court (with their full orchestras, generous corps de ballet, massive choruses, and panopolies of solo-vocalists), the work called for the entire musical équipe of M'lle de Guise, plus some extra instrumentalists: Charpentier's manuscript mentions by name five female and five male singers, with an instrumental ensemble consisting of flutes (alternating with violins), viols, and harspichord. 'La descente d'Orphée' seems also to have been the last major work in which Charpentier participated as a singer: he had been for years the principal 'haute-contre' of the de Guise establishment, but in this opera, a newly appointed one, François Anthoine, sang the title role and Charpentier was relegated to the secondary one of Ixion. Charpentier's score also mentions (as player of flute or violin) 'Luollié' - Etienne Loulié, best-known as a music theorist - and a pair of flautists, 'Anth' and 'Pierrot', probably the brothers Antoine and Pierre of the family Pièche, well known at the time in court circles. Various 'chœurs' appear in the opera: a high-voiced 'Chœur de Nymphes' and a mixed-voice 'chœur de Nymphes et de Bergers' in Act I; in Act II, a mixed 'Chœur de Furies', a slighter 'Chœur d'Ombres heureuses et de Furies'. Not independent choral ensembles, these were varied combinations of the named solo singers, who may also have served as dancers for the brief ballet entrées in both acts.
"In sum, as conceived by Charpentier, 'La descente d'Orphée' was a chamber opera, probably performed only once - and not in public but in the private quarters of M'lle de Guise (or perhaps of her less single-mindedly devout younger relative known as Mme. de Guise').
"The librettist of 'La descente d'Orphée is unknown, but the ultimate source is the 'Metamorphoses' of Ovid (Libre X, histoire 1). The leading actors in the drama are, of course, Orphée and his bride Euridice (the latter mortally stung by a serpent on their wedding day). To Ovid's couple the librettist added, in the happy first scene of Act I, some nymphs and shepherds; as the act ends, Apollon, father of Orphée, also makes a brief appearance, inviting Orphée to go to Hades and persuade its sovereign, Pluton, to allow Euridice to return to the upper world. (Apollon appears similarly as 'deus ex machina' in Monteverdi's 'Orfeo'.) In Act II, the opera's underworld characters are all Ovidian: the 'ombres coupables' Tantale (punished by eternal hunger and thirst), Ixion (bound to a revolving wheel), and Titye (his liver torn by vultures), as well as a crowd of Furies - all brought to tears (the Furies for the first time ever) by the beauty of Orphée's singing.
"Pluton is at first resistant to Orphée's pleading and not persuaded by Orphée's argument (as related by Ovid) that, after all, both Euridice and Orphée must eventually return to Hades and thus, surely, Pluton can afford to make a temporary -loan- of Euridice! Ultimately, however, implored by his queen Proserpine (supported and echoed by groups of shades), Pluton yields and gives permission for Euridice to be restored to Orphée.
"And here is where Charpentier's opera ends - or, at least, where the unique surviving score (the composer's autograph) ends. Some believe that he intended to end here - and indeed, Act II has an effective conclusion, a 'Sarabande légère' to be danced by the 'Fantômes' who, moments before, have lamented that the beautiful voice of Orphée will be only a 'souvenir si doux' when he departs with Euridice. I believe, however, that Charpentier planned (and may in fact have composed) a third, concluding act, the music for which has not survived.
"The little opera is full of musical charm and cunning characterization. It opens with an overture that is vaguely Lullian (in two parts, each repeated, the first a sort of march, the second a livelier, more contrapuntal triple-meter dance), but lighter in texture and briefer than most overtures by Lully - perfectly appropriate in scale for the chamber opera to follow. The tonality is A-major, characterized as 'joyeux et champêtre' by Charpentier in a list he once drew up of 'Energie des modes', thus preparing perfectly the pastoral ambience with which the drama opens.
"Nymphs and shepherds celebrate the marriage of Orphée and Euridice with bright, light songs and dances. These are interrupted by a single cry - 'Ah!' - from Euridice, which her friend Enone blithely laughs off as due only to a thorn-prick. But Euridice's next words contradict her: 'Soutiens-moi, chère Enone, un serpent m'a blessée'. Charpentier sets these to a descending bass figure much favored by Baroque-era composers as an 'emblem of lament' (as the American musicologist Ellen Rosand has put it), and with it a shift from A-major to A-minor ('tendre et plaintif') for the brief, heartbreaking scene of Euridicie's death. The same 'emblem of lament' marks Orphée's griefstricken reaction to Euridice's loss (and the chorus's echo of it), and the gloomy pall of A-minor hovers over the mournful scene, which ends with Orphée wishing death for himself. Whereupon Apollon appears (to mild music - but in the key of C-major, 'gai et guerrier', according to Charpentier). He succeeds in arguing Orphée out of suicide and into a determination - not a very optimistic one, as both his words and the music to A-minor tell us - to attempt to gain back Euridice.
"Act II is set in Hades, and we hear first the bitter complaints of the trio of guilty, tortured shades (Ixion, Tantale, and Titye). Orphée sings - to a new, alluring soft sonority: viols, not the more brilliant violins or the rustic flutes heard before - and the shades, even the 'Chœur de Furies', are utterly beguiled ('Que tes chants ont d'appas!'). Pluton and Proserpine appear. Orphée goes to work - sensuously, seductively, lyrically - overcome Pluton's blustering opposition. (Prosperine is immediately won over, as is the Chœur d'Ombres heureuses'.)
"The more Pluton denies him, the more Orphée's song becomes persuasively voluptuous (and the more Proserpine pleads on his behalf). Finally Pluton relents (before he and his queen depart) - warning Orphée, however, that although Euridice will follow him, Orphée is not to look back to make sure. Orphée has one final prophetic couplet - 'Amour, brûlant Amour, pourras-tu te contraindre?'/'Ah! Que le tendre Orphée à lui-même est à craindre' - before he too leaves the stage. The trio of 'Coupables' and the 'Chœur d'ombres heureuses et de Furies' are left to lament his loss, or rather that of his captivating voice - but their music belies their words: foreshadowing in both its bright D-major key ('joyeux et très guerrier') and its rhythms the finale 'Sarabande légère', it seems in fact to be voicing joy over the lovers' reunion. (H. Wiley Hitchcock. From the liner notes.)
Performers: Les Arts Florissants, William Christie, Patricia Petibon, Monique Zanetti, Kátalin Karolyim, Sophie Daneman, Paul Agnew, Jean-François Gardeil, Steve Dugardin, François Piolino, Fernand Bernadi
1. Ouverture
2. Acte I, Scène I: 'Inventons Mille Jeux Divers'/'Ruisseau Qui Dans Ce Beau Séjour'
3. Acte I, Scène I: 'Compagnes Fidèles'
4. Acte I, Scène I: 'Soutiens-moi, Chère Énone'/Scène II: 'Qu'ai-je Entendu, Que Vois-je?'
5. Acte I, Scène II: 'Ah! Bergers, C'en Est Fait'
6. Acte I, Scène II: Entrée De Nymphes Et De Bergers Désespérés/'Lâche Amant'
7. Acte I, Scène III: 'Ne Tourne Point, Mon Fils'
8. Acte I, Scène III: 'Que D'un Frivole Espoir'/'Juste Sujet De Pleurs'
9. Acte II 'L'Enfer', Scène I: Prélude/'Affreux Tourments'
10. Acte II 'L'Enfer', Scène II: Prélude/'Cessez, Cessez, Fameux Coupables'
11. Acte II 'L'Enfer', Scène II: 'Je Ne Refuse Point Le Secours'/'Il N'est Rien Aux Enfers'
12. Acte II 'L'Enfer', Scène II: Les Fantômes
13. Acte II 'L'Enfer', Scène III: Prélude/'Que Cherche En Mon Palais'
14. Acte II 'L'Enfer', Scène III: 'Je Ne Viens Point Ici'/'Pauvre Amant'
15. Acte II 'L'Enfer', Scène III: 'Euridice N'est Plus'/'Le Destin Est Contraire' (Pluton) - 'Ah! Puisqu'avant Le Temps'
16. Acte II 'L'Enfer', Scène III: 'Tu Ne La Perdras Point, Hélas'/'Quel Charme Imperieux'/'Courage Orphée'
17. Acte II 'L'Enfer', Scène III: 'Souviens-toi Du Larcin'
18. Acte II 'L'Enfer', Scène III: 'Je Cède, Je Me Rends'
19. Acte II 'L'Enfer', Scène IV: 'Vous Partez Donc, Orphée'
20. Acte II 'L'Enfer', Scène IV: Entrée Des Fantômes
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