The Complete Opera Book Part 57

French Opera

Gluck, Wagner, and Verdi each closed an epoch. In Gluck there culminated the pre-Mozartean school. In Mozart two streams of opera found their source. "Don Giovanni" and "Le Nozze di Figaro" were inspirations to Rossini, to whom, in due course of development, varied by individual characteristics, there succeeded Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi.

The second stream of opera which found its source in Mozart was German. The score of "Die Zauberflote" showed how successfully the rich vein of popular melody, or folk music, could be worked for the lyric stage. The hint was taken by Weber, from whom, in the course of gradual development, there derived Richard Wagner.

Meanwhile, however, there was another development which came direct from Gluck. His "Iphigenie en Aulide," "Orphee et Eurydice,"

"Alceste," and "Armide" were produced at the Academie Royale de Musique, founded by Lully in 1672, and now the Grand Opera, Paris.

They contributed materially to the development of French grand opera, which derives from Gluck, as well as from Lully (pp. 1, 4, and 6), and Rameau (p. 1). French opera also was sensibly influenced, and its development in the serious manner furthered, by one of the most learned of composers, Luigi Cherubini, for six years professor of composition and for twenty years thereafter (1821-1841) director of the Paris Conservatoire and at one time widely known as the composer of the operas "Les Deux Journees" (Paris, 1800; London, as "The Water-carrier," 1801); and "Faniska," Vienna, 1806.

To the brief statement regarding French grand opera on p. 2, I may add, also briefly, that manner as well as matter is a characteristic of all French art. The Frenchman is not satisfied with what he says, unless he says it in the best possible manner or style. Thus, while Italian composers long were contented with an instrumental accompaniment that simply did not interfere with the voice, the French always have sought to enrich and beautify what is sung, by the instrumental accompaniment with which they have supported and environed it. In its seriousness of purpose, and in the care with which it strives to preserve the proper balance between the vocal and orchestral portions of the score, French opera shows most clearly its indebtedness to Gluck, and, after him, to Cherubini. It is a beautiful form of operatic art.

In the restricted sense of the repertoire in this country, French grand opera means Meyerbeer, Gounod, Bizet, and Ma.s.senet. In fact it is a question if, popularly speaking, we draw the line at all between French and Italian grand opera, since, both being Latin, they are sister arts, and quite distinct from the German school.

Having traced opera in Germany from Gluck to Wagner, and in Italy from Rossini to Verdi, I now turn to opera in France from Meyerbeer and a few predecessors to Bizet.

Mehul to Meyerbeer

Certain early French operas still are in the Continental repertoire, although they may be said to have completely disappeared here. They are of sufficient significance to be referred to in this book.

The pianoforte pupils abroad are few who, in the course of their first years of instruction, fail to receive a potpourri of the three-act opera "Joseph" (Joseph in Egypt), by etienne Nicholas Mehul (1763-1817). The score is chaste and restrained. The princ.i.p.al air for _Joseph_ (tenor), "a peine au sortir de l'enfance" (Whilst yet in tender childhood), and the prayer for male voice, "Dieu d'Israel" (Oh, G.o.d of Israel), are the best-known portions of the score. In constructing the libretto Alexander Duval followed the Biblical story.

When the work opens, not only has the sale of _Joseph_ by his brethren taken place, but the young Jew has risen to high office. Roles, besides _Joseph_, are _Jacob_ (ba.s.s), _Simeon_ (baritone) [Transcriber's Note: should be 'tenor'], _Benjamin_ (soprano), _Utobal_, _Joseph's_ confidant (ba.s.s). "Joseph en Egypte" was produced at the Theatre Feydeau, Paris, February 17, 1808.

"Le Calife de Bagdad," "Jean de Paris," and "La Dame Blanche" (The White Lady), by Francois Adrien Boieldieu (1775-1834), are still known by their graceful overtures. In "La Dame Blanche" the composer has used the song of "Robin Adair," the scene of the opera being laid in Scotland, and drawn by Scribe from Scott's novels, "The Monastery" and "Guy Mannering." _George Brown_ was a favorite role with Wachtel. He sang it in this country. The graceful invocation to the white lady was especially well suited to his voice. "La Dame Blanche" was produced at the Opera Comique, Paris, December 10, 1825.

Boieldieu's music is light and graceful, in perfect French taste, and full of charm. It has the spirit of comedy and no doubt helped develop the comic vein in the lighter scores of Daniel Francois Esprit Auber (1782-1871). But in his greatest work, "Masaniello," the French t.i.tle of which is "La Muette de Portici" (The Dumb Girl of Portici), Auber is, musically, a descendant of Mehul. The libretto is by Scribe and Delavigne. The work was produced in Paris, February 29, 1828. It is one of the foundation stones of French grand opera. Eschewing vocal ornament merely as such, and introducing it only when called for by the portrayal of character, the emotion to be expressed, or the situation devised by the librettist, it is largely due to its development from this work of Auber's that French opera has occupied for so long a time the middle ground between Italian opera with its frank supremacy of voice on the one hand, and German opera with its solicitude for instrumental effects on the other.

The story of "Masaniello" is laid in 1647, in and near Naples. It deals with an uprising of the populace led by _Masaniello_. He is inspired thereto both by the wrongs the people have suffered and by his sister _Fenella's_ betrayal by _Alfonso_, Spanish viceroy of Naples. The revolution fails, its leader loses his mind and is killed, and, during an eruption of Vesuvius, _Fenella_ casts herself into the sea. _Fenella_ is dumb. Her role is taken by a pantomimist, usually the _prima ballerina_.

Greatly admired by musicians though the score be, "Masaniello's" hold upon the repertory long has been precarious. I doubt if it has been given in this country upon any scale of significance since the earliest days of opera in German at the Metropolitan, when Dr.

Leopold Damrosch revived it with Anton Schott in the t.i.tle role. Even then it was difficult to imagine that, when "Masaniello" was played in Brussels, in 1830, the scene of the uprising so excited the people that they drove the Dutch out of Belgium, which had been joined to Holland by the Congress of Vienna. The best-known musical number in the opera is the "Air du Sommeil" (Slumber-song) sung by _Masaniello_ to _Fenella_ in the fourth act.

Auber composed many successful operas in the vein of comedy. His "Fra Diavolo" long was popular. Its libretto by Scribe is amusing, the score sparkling. _Fra Diavolo's_ death can be made a sensational piece of acting, if the tenor knows how to take a fall down the wooden runway among the canvas rocks, over which the das.h.i.+ng bandit--the villain of the piece--is attempting to escape, when shot.

"Fra Diavolo" was given here with considerable frequency at one time.

But in a country where opera comique (in the French sense of the term) has ceased to exist, it has no place. We swing from one extreme to the other--from grand opera, with brilliant accessories, to musical comedy, with all its slap-dash. The sunlit middle road of opera comique we have ceased to tread.

Two other works, once of considerable popularity, also have disappeared from our stage. The overture to "Zampa," by Louis J.F.

Herold (1791-1833) still is played; the opera no more. It was produced in Paris May 3, 1831. The libretto, by Melesville, is based on the old tale of "The Statue Bride."

The high tenor role of _Chappelou_ in "Le Postillon de Longjumeau," by Adolphe Charles Adam (1802-1856), with its postillion song, "Ho!

ho!--Ho! ho!--Postillion of Longjumeau!" was made famous by Theodore Wachtel, who himself was a postillion before his voice was discovered by patrons of his father's stable, with whom he chanced to join in singing quartet. It was he who introduced the rhythmic cracking of the whip in the postillion's song. Wachtel sang the role in this country in the season of 1871-72, at the Stadt Theatre, and in 1875-76 at the Academy of Music. Then, having acc.u.mulated a fortune, chiefly out of the "Postillon," in which he sang more than 1200 times, he practically retired, accepting no fixed engagements.

During the Metropolitan Opera House season of 1884-85, Dr. Leopold Damrosch revived, in German, "La Juive," a five-act opera by Jacques Francois Fromental elie Halevy (1799-1862), the libretto by Scribe.

Materna was the Jewess, _Rachel_ (in German _Recha_). I cannot recall any production of the work here since then, and a considerable period had elapsed since its previous performance here. It had its _premiere_ in Paris, February 23, 1835. Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable" had been produced in 1831. Nevertheless "La Juive" scored a triumph. But with the production of Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots," that composer became the operatic idol of the public, and Halevy's star paled, although musicians continued for many years to consider "La Juive" one of the finest opera scores composed in France; and there are many who would be glad to see an occasional revival of this work, as well as of Auber's "Masaniello." The libretto of "La Juive," originally written for Rossini, was rejected by that composer for "William Tell" (see p.

312).

Giacomo Meyerbeer

(1791-1864)

Although he was born in Berlin (September 5, 1791), studied pianoforte and theory in Germany, and attained in that country a reputation as a brilliant pianist, besides producing several operas there, Meyerbeer is regarded as the founder of what generally is understood as modern French grand opera. It has been said of him that "he joined to the flowing melody of the Italians the solid harmony of the Germans, the poignant declamation and varied, piquant rhythm of the French"; which is a good description of the opera that flourishes on the stage of the Academie or Grand Opera, Paris. The models for elaborate spectacular scenes and finales furnished by Meyerbeer's operas have been followed ever since by French composers; nor have they been ignored by Italians. He understood how to write effectively for the voice, and he was the first composer of opera who made a point of striving for tone colour in the instrumental accompaniment. Sometimes the effect may be too calculated, too cunningly contrived, too obviously sought for. But what he accomplished had decided influence on the enrichment of the instrumental score in operatic composition.

Much criticism has been directed at Meyerbeer, and much of his music has disappeared from the stage. But such also has been the fate of much of the music of other composers earlier than, contemporary with, and later than he. Meyerbeer had the pick of the great artists of his day. His works were written for and produced with brilliant casts, and had better not be sung at all than indifferently. His greatest work, "Les Huguenots," is still capable of leaving a deep impression, when adequately performed.

Meyerbeer, like many other composers for the lyric stage, has suffered much from writers who have failed to approach opera as opera, but have written about it from the standpoint of the symphony, with which it has nothing in common, or have looked down upon it from the lofty heights of the music-drama, from which, save for the fact that both are intended to be sung and acted with scenery on a stage, it differs greatly. Opera is a highly artificial theatrical product, and those who have employed convincingly its sophisticated processes are not lightly to be thrust aside.

Meyerbeer came of a Jewish family. His real name was Jacob Liebmann Beer. He prefixed "Meyer" to his patronymic at the request of a wealthy relative who made him his heir. He was a pupil in pianoforte of Clementi; also studied under Abbe Vogler, being a fellow pupil of C.M. von Weber. His first operas were German. In 1815 he went to Italy and composed a series of operas in the style of Rossini. Going to Paris in 1826, he became "immersed in the study of French opera, from Lully onward." The first result was "Robert le Diable" (Robert the Devil), Grand Opera, Paris, 1831. This was followed by "Les Huguenots," 1836; "Le Prophete," 1849; "L'etoile du Nord," Opera Comique, 1854; "Dinorah, ou le Pardon de Ploermel" (Dinorah, or the Pardon of Ploermel), Opera Comique, 1859. Much of the music of "L'etoile du Nord" came from an earlier score, "Das Feldlager in Schlesien" (The Camp in Silesia), Berlin, 1843. Meyerbeer died May 2, 1864, in Paris, where his "L'Africaine" was produced at the Grand Opera in 1865.

ROBERT LE DIABLE

ROBERT THE DEVIL

Opera in five acts, by Meyerbeer; words by Scribe and Delavigne. Produced, Grand Opera, Paris, November 22, 1831.

Drury Lane, London, February 20, 1832, in English, as "The Demon, or the Mystic Branch"; Covent Garden, February 21, 1832, in English, as "The Fiend Father, or Robert of Normandy"; King's Theatre, June 11, 1832, in French; Her Majesty's Theatre, May 4, 1847, in Italian. Park Theatre, New York, April 7, 1834, in English, with Mrs. Wood as _Isabel_ and Wood as _Robert_, the opera being followed by a _pas seul_ by Miss Wheatley, and a farce, "My Uncle John"; Astor Place Opera House, November 3, 1851, with Bettini (_Robert_), Marini (_Bertram_), Bosio (_Isabella_), Steffanone (_Alice_); Academy of Music, November 30, 1857, with Formes as _Bertram_.

CHARACTERS

ALICE, foster-sister of Robert _Soprano_ ISABELLA, Princess of Sicily _Soprano_ THE ABBESS _Dancer_ ROBERT, Duke of Normandy _Tenor_ BERTRAM, the Unknown _Ba.s.s_ RAIMBAUT, a minstrel _Tenor_

_Time_--13th Century.

_Place_--Sicily.

The production of "Robert le Diable" in Paris was such a sensational success that it made the fortune of the Grand Opera. Nourrit was _Robert_, Leva.s.seur, _Bertram_ (the prototype of _Mephistopheles_); the women of the cast were Mlle. Dorus as _Alice_, Mme. Cinti-Damoreau as _Isabella_, and Taglioni, the famous danseuse, as the _Abbess_.

Jenny Lind made her debut in London as _Alice_, in the Italian production of the work. In New York Carl Formes was heard as _Bertram_ at the Astor Place Theatre, November 30, 1857.

Whatever criticism may now be directed against "Robert le Diable," it was a remarkable creation for its day. Meyerbeer's score not only saved the libretto, in which the grotesque is carried to the point of absurdity, but actually made a brilliant success of the production as a whole.

The story is legendary. _Robert_ is the son of the arch-fiend by a human woman. _Robert's_ father, known as _Bertram_, but really the devil, ever follows him about, and seeks to lure him to destruction.

The strain of purity in the drama is supplied by _Robert's_ foster-sister, _Alice_, who, if _Bertram_ is the prototype of _Mephistopheles_ in "Faust," may be regarded as the original of _Michaela_ in "Carmen."

_Robert_, because of his evil deeds (inspired by _Bertram_), has been banished from Normandy, and has come to Sicily. He has fallen in love with _Isabella_, she with him. He is to attend a tournament at which she is to award the prizes. Tempted by _Bertram_, he gambles and loses all his possessions, including even his armour. These facts are disclosed in the first act. This contains a song by _Raimbaut_, the minstrel, in which he tells of Robert's misdeeds, but is saved from the latter's fury by _Alice_, who is betrothed to _Raimbaut_, and who, in an expressive air, pleads vainly with _Robert_ to mend his ways and especially to avoid _Bertram_, from whom she instinctively shrinks. In the second act _Robert_ and _Isabella_ meet in the palace. She bestows upon him a suit of armour to wear in the tournament. But, misled by _Bertram_, he seeks his rival elsewhere than in the lists, and, by his failure to appear there, loses his honour as a knight. In the next act, laid in the cavern of St. Irene, occurs an orgy of evil spirits, to whose number _Bertram_ promises to add _Robert_. Next comes a scene that verges upon the grotesque, but which is converted by Meyerbeer's genius into something highly fantastic. This is in the ruined convent of St. Rosalie. _Bertram_ summons from their graves the nuns who, in life, were unfaithful to their vows. The fiend has promised _Robert_ that if he will but seize a mystic cypress branch from over the grave of St. Rosalie, and bear it away, whatever he wishes for will become his. The ghostly nuns, led by their _Abbess_, dance about him. They seek to inveigle him with gambling, drink, and love, until, dazed by their enticements, he seizes the branch. Besides the ballet of the nuns, there are two duets for _Robert_ and _Bertram_--"Du rendezvous"

(Our meeting place), and "Le bonheur est dans l'inconstance" (Our pleasure lies in constant change).

The first use _Robert_ makes of the branch is to effect entrance into _Isabella's_ chamber. He threatens to seize her and bear her away, but yields to her entreaties, breaks the branch, and destroys the spell.

In this act--the fourth--occurs the famous air for _Isabella_, "Robert, toi que j'aime" (Robert, whom I love).

Once more _Bertram_ seeks to make with _Robert_ a compact, the price for which shall be paid with his soul. But _Alice_, by repeating to him the last warning words of his mother, delays the signing of the compact until the clock strikes twelve. The spell is broken. _Bertram_ disappears. The cathedral doors swing open disclosing _Isabella_, who, in her bridal robes, awaits _Robert_. The finale contains a trio for _Alice_, _Robert_, and _Bertram_, which is considered one of Meyerbeer's finest inspirations.