"It wasn't a hit. The gossipy newspaper the Mercure de France noted that this bizarre Italian work had some tunes that were really only to the taste of 'un petite nombre de connoisseurs'. But that 'small number' soon grew and suddenly, it seemed, everyone was talking about and debating the relative merits of French and Italian music. This was the so-called 'Querelle des Bouffons', as Bambini's troupe was popular known as the 'Bouffons', or buffoons.
"It was mainly a quarrel of letter - although it's true that guards often had to be posted in the 'parterre' (stalls) of the Opéra to control the crowd when things got a bit rough. Gossips, musicians, philosophers and wits all exchanged their views on which style was better: the noble French or the new upstart Italian. As in many culture wars, the debate took on a larger social and political significance. Liking Italian music generally coded to others that you were progressive and liberal, whereas a preference for French music meant that you were a conservative and enjoying the status quo. Hence a younger generation favoured the tunefulness of the Italians, whereas an older generation emphasised a rich and proud French musical heritage in which declamation, poetry and melodic precision were all equally valued.
"Many wondered if a new style of music might be possible which combined the best and most interesting elements of the two. Around 1765 a 'philosophe' remarked: 'We are just beginning to realise that our opera lacks the aria phrased in the Italian manner.' He confirmed that experiments by a 'well-known composer' were already bearing fruit and that 'when we do learn how to use this style intelligently [...] I predict that French opera will be superior to the Italian.'
"This 'well-known composer' was André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry, and it was Grétry who, more than any other operatic composer, really managed to unite Italiante vocality with French wordsmithery. Grétry did it by always going back to his roots which were also the roots of the Querelle itself. 'I analysed Pergolesi's music when I sought to develop my musical faculties', he wrote. 'Many have tried to write music in the Italian taste, but they have had no success because the prosody of the language was incorrect; I believe I have surmounted this point.'
"Grétry was born in Liège in 1741, which makes him a contemporary of Paisiello, Boccherini and Wanhal. He came from a family of musicians. In his early teens, in the years of the Querelle, he had witnessed a touring Italian intermezzo troupe much like Bambini's; their performances made a profound impression on him. Grétry studied in Rome in the 1760s, and in 1767 finally settled in Paris, where, as an ambition 26-year-old, he attempted to forge a career for himself as an opera composer.
"Things weren't easy in the hothouse environment of the Parisian opera scene, but Grétry, impressed with the work of composers active in the new-fangled 'opéra comique', decided that this genre was the perfect vehicle for his art. 'I had never seen 'opéra comique' before', he reminisced, 'I laughed, I cried!'
"After a string of failures, Grétry finally achieved fame and popularity in 1769. His memorably tuneful style and his intuitive gift for theatricality rapidly made him one of Europe's most popular composers. Marie Antoinette was so taken with him that, once she became Queen in 1774, she appointed him her personal director of music. His success was at its height in the mid-1780s and his international reputation was cemented with 'Richard Cœur-de-lion' (1784). He kept up with the style of the times and cannily survived the Revolution. Napoleon made him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1802 and also granted him a generous annual pension. He died rich and lauded in 1813.
"'L'Amant jaloux, ou Les Fausses Apparences' (The Jealous Lover, or False Appearances) was written in 1778, when Grétry was cresting the cusp of greatness. It was given first at Versailles in the presence of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and then opened in Paris at the Comédie-Italienne in December of the same year. It was an immediate success and was considered at the time to be a masterpiece of 'opéra comique'. Grétry himself spoke of it in his 'Mémoires' as one of his favourite works. The newspaper 'Les Mémoires secrets', which was loath to praise any production at the Comédie-Italienne, reported that the first performances enjoyed 'the greatest success for the poem and the music alike. The former is the genuine Spanish character, and it seems that the work is inspired by a comedy from that nation; while the latter is perfectly equal and worthy of the composer's genius.
"The librettist had fooled the correspondent. 'L'Amant jaloux' was actually based on one of the most popular works on the 18th-century English stage: Susanna Cenlivre's 'The Wonder: A Woman Keeps a Secret' (1714). The librettist was an Irishman, Thomas Hales, who went by the Frenchified name of Thomas D'Hèle. After various adventures as a soldier in Jamaica, D'Hèle ended up turning to the profession of author 'by necessity', as Grétry reminisced, for when he arrived in Paris he was penniless. The librettist and composer soon formed a strong and fruitful working relationship, and 'L'Amant jaloux' was their second collaboration. It held the stage from 1779 to 1821 for an astonishing 365 performances.
"The score of 'L'Amant jaloux' is one of Grétry's finest, and demonstrates the composer's extraordinary aptitude, elegance and acuity in effecting the marriage of French words and music. It is one of the first operas to develop what scholars have since called the 'functional recollection' of motifs. These created a web of associations between characters and scenes and contributed to a newly fashionable sense of organic unity and interconnectedness. For example, Lopez 'quotes' Jacinte's Act I aria 'Qu'une fille de quinze ans' back to her in a later scene, memorably painting a remarkably modern sense of irony. The loving duo between Léonore and Alonze at the close of Act II is repeated and transformed into a jealous spat by means of subtle but profound changes in accompaniment and delivery. Grétry uses national topics to paint the characters' backgrounds: he quotes the famous 'Folies d'Espagne' for the Spanish Lopez, and there is a 'temps de minuet' for the French Florival.
"Grétry later recalled that the spectacular aria for Léonore at the start of Act II was inserted purely to allow Marie-Jeanne Trial ('the finest voice ever formed by nature') 'a chance to shine'. In a similar spirit, we have inserted, as was the practice in the 18th century, the ariette 'Du moment qu'on aime' from Grétry's 'Zémire et Azor' for the character of Don Alonze in Act II. Also following 18th-century practice, we perform two contemporaneous instrumental works as entr'actes.
"Grétry was once asked how he went about writing his operas. 'Well, just as one writes poetry or paints a picture. I read, re-read twenty times the words I want to paint in sounds; it takes several days for my head to become heated: in the end I lose my appetite, my eyes get inflamed, the imagination rises, then I write an opera in three weeks or a month.' Apparently he liked his stimulants: he was addicted to snuff, which he took as he one-handedly composed at the harpsichord, and, like Mozart, he found his relaxation in the game of billiards. By all accounts he was a great wit and conversationalist and was a friend of 'philisophes' and musicians alike. As musicologist David Charlton remarks, 'It is hard to imagine the evolution of 'opéra comique', and Romantic opera in general, without the part played by his works.' Not for nothing was Grétry called' the Molière of Music'. (Erin Helyard, 2015. From the liner notes.)
Performers: Orchestra Of The Antipodes, Erin Helyard, Ed Lyon, Celeste Lazarenko, Andrew Goodwin, Alexandra Oomens, Jessica Aszodi, David Greco, Stephen Lalor, Melissa Farrow
1.1. Ouverture
1.2. Acte I: 'Qu'une Fille De Quinze Ans'
1.3. Acte I: 'Plus De Soeur! Plus De Frère!'
1.4. Acte I: 'Victime Infortunée'
1.5. Acte I: 'Plus D'égards, Plus De Prudence'
1.6. Johann Nepomuk Hummel - Mandolin Concerto In G Major, S28: II. Andante Con Variazioni
1.7. Acte II: 'Je Romps La Chaîne Qui M'engage'
1.8. Acte II: 'Le Mariage Est Une Envie'
1.9. Acte II: 'La Gloire Vous Appelle'
1.10. Acte II: 'Du Moment Qu'on Aime'
1.11. Acte II: 'D'abord, Amants Soumis Et Doux'
1.12. Acte II: 'Cruelle! De Ma Douleur Mortelle'
1.13. Acte II: 'Tandis Que Tout Sommeille'
1.14. Acte II: 'Jamais Le Coeur De Léonore'
2.1. Flute Concerto In C Major: I. Allegro
2.2. Flute Concerto In C Major: II. Larghetto
2.3. Flute Concerto In C Major: III. Allegro
2.4. Acte III: 'O Douce Nuit, Sous Ton Ombre Paisible'
2.5. Acte III: 'Je Sens Bien Que Votre Hommage'
2.6. Acte III: 'Seigneur, Sans Trop Être Indiscret'
2.7. Acte III: 'Prenez Pitié De Ma Douleur'
No comments:
Post a Comment