Armide (Lully)
| Opera dates | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Armida |
| Original title: | Armide |
Title page of the first edition of the score, Paris 1686 |
|
| Shape: | Tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts |
| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Jean-Baptiste Lully |
| Libretto : | Philippe Quinault |
| Literary source: | Torquato Tasso : The Liberated Jerusalem |
| Premiere: | February 15, 1686 |
| Place of premiere: | Théâtre du Palais-Royal of the Paris Opera |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ½ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | In and around Damascus at the time of the First Crusade in the late 11th century |
| people | |
|
prolog
tragedy
|
|
Armide is an opera (LWV 71, original name: "Tragédie en musique") in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully . Philippe Quinault's libretto is based on Torquato Tasso's epic The Liberated Jerusalem . The premiere took place on February 15, 1686 in the Théâtre du Palais-Royal of the Paris Opera .
action
prolog
A palace
La Gloire (the allegory of fame) and La Sagesse (the allegory of wisdom), supported by their respective entourage, praise an unnamed hero (King Louis XIV ) and argue over which of them this hero prefers. They finally agree that La Gloire should be given priority in wartime, but La Sagesse in peace. The latter recalls that her hero invited her to a play in which Renaud renounced his love for the sorceress Armide in favor of fame.
first act
Square in Damascus with a triumphal arch
Scene 1. Armide, the magical princess of Damascus, was spurned by her lover Renaud and complains of her misery to her companions Phénice and Sidonie. The two remind you of the recent victory over the crusader army Godefrois ( Gottfried von Bouillon ). But nothing can lift Armides' mood: in a dream she saw Renaud pierce her heart (Armide: “Un songe affreux m'inspire une fureur nouvelle”).
Scene 2. Old Hidraot, Armides' uncle and King of Damascus, appears with his entourage. He wants nothing more than that Armide find a worthy husband who can rule over the kingdom after him. Armide explains that she will only marry the one who had previously defeated Renaud in battle.
Scene 3. The people of Damascus celebrate Armide's victory with dance and song (Hidraot and choir: “Armide est encor plus aimable”). Phénice and Sidonie agree: Armide had conquered the opponents without weapons of war, simply by their beauty (Chor and Phénice: “Que la douceur d'un triomphe est extreme”).
Scene 4. The general Aronte stumbles in wounded with a broken sword and reports that the prisoners he is guarding have been freed by a single invincible hero. As Armide immediately suspects, it is Renaud. All swear vengeance (Armide, Hidraot and Chor: “Poursuivons jusqu'au trépas”).
Second act
Landscape in which a river forms a graceful island
Scene 1. The knight Artémidore thanks his liberator Renaud, who sends him back to the crusader camp. Renaud himself cannot return there, as he - falsely accused of an offense by Gernaud - had been banished by Godefroi. Renaud now wants to look for new adventures alone. He dismissed Artémidore's warning about Armide with the words that she could not bewitch him even when they last met. Both go.
Scene 2. Hidraot brings Armide over. He has summoned demons to appear in this remote place. Since no monster has yet to be seen, they both cast a spell again to summon their spirits and charm Renaud (Hidraot and Armide: "Esprits de haine et de rage"). In a vision Armide sees Renaud approach the river bank. She withdraws with Hidraot.
Scene 3. Arrived on the bank, the bewitched Renaud praises the beauty of nature (Renaud: “Plus j'observe ces lieux et plus je les admire”). He becomes tired and falls asleep.
Scene 4. A naïad, nymphs, shepherds and shepherdesses appear - in reality it is the demons summoned by Armide in transformed form. They dance, sing about the peaceful life and love and surround Renaud with garlands of flowers (“Au tems heureux où l'on sçait plaire”).
Scene 5. Armide sees her chance for revenge and approaches the sleeping Renaud with a dagger (Armide: “Enfin, il est en ma puissance”). But suddenly she is overwhelmed by love for him again. Your anger dissipates. Out of shame about her inability, she asks her demons to transform themselves into Zephyre and to carry them both far away into the desert (Armide: “Venez, secondez mes desirs”).
Third act
A desert
Scene 1. Armide is plagued by self-doubt (Armide: "Ah! Si la liberté me doit être ravie").
Scene 2. Phénice, Sidonie try to comfort their mistress. After all, Renaud is now in her power and has to succumb to her love spell. But Armide cannot be satisfied with forced love (Armide: “De mes plus doux regards Renaud sçût se défendre”). She decides to replace her love with hate (Armide: “Quelle vengeance ai-je à prétendre”).
Scene 3. Alone again, Armide calls La Haine, the fury of hate, to drive away her love (Armide: “Venez, venez, Haine implacable”).
Scene 4. La Haine appears with her entourage. She gladly fulfills Armide's wish to destroy the love in her heart (La Haine: “Je réponds à tes vœux, ta vois s'est fait entender”). But when the incantation (a fury dance) is in full swing, Armide calls a halt because she has changed her mind. La Haine feels mocked by her and swears never to come to her aid again. Cupid will lead them to ruin.
Fourth act
The same wasteland whose abysses open; then transformation into a lovely landscape
Scene 1. Ubalde and the Danish knight were sent by Godefroi to rescue Renaud from Armide's clutches. In order to escape her magical powers, Ubalde received a diamond shield and a golden scepter from a magician. The Danish knight is carrying a sword that he is supposed to hand over to Renaud. Fog rises and spreads in the desert of the third act. Various monsters oppose the two (Ubalde and the Danish knight: "Ah! Que d'objets horribles!"), But Ubalde can drive them away with his scepter. The fog also disappears. The desert turns into a lovely landscape. They are confident that they will find Renaud and win her back for the crusade.
Scene 2. A demon appears in the form of Lucinde, the Danish knight's lover, and tries to beguile him (Lucinde and choir: “Voici la charming retraite”). The Danish knight cannot tear himself away from her and ignores all of Ubaldes warnings. But when he touches her with the golden scepter, she disappears on the spot.
Scene 3. Ubalde assures the Danish knight that the apparition was only an illusion (Ubalde and the Danish knight: “Ce que l'amour a de charming”). He believes himself safe from such aberrations, since he has left his lover to devote himself entirely to glory.
Scene 4. A demon in the form of Ubaldes' former lover Melissa appears. This time Ubalde ignores the Danish knight's warnings. This snatches the scepter from him, touches lemon balm and drives it away. The two knights decide to be more careful in the future and to hurry to reach the Armides palace (Ubalde and the Danish knight: "Que deviens l'objet qui m'enflâme?").
Fifth act
The enchanted palace of Armides
Scene 1. Renaud is completely addicted to Armide. Unarmed, adorned with garlands of flowers, he is in her palace. But Armide is plagued by foreboding. She sets off for the underworld to seek advice. During their absence, the geniuses of joy are supposed to entertain their loved ones.
Scene 2. The geniuses of joy and choirs of blessed lovers appear in a divertissement - an extended passacaille with sung interludes and dances (“Les plaisirs ont choisi pour azile”). But Renaud prefers solitude as long as his lover is not with him. The geniuses and choirs withdraw.
Scene 3. Ubalde and the Danish knight have reached their destination and find Renaud alone. After Ubalde has held the diamond shield in front of his eyes, his enchantment evaporates. They tell him that their general is calling him back to fight. Renaud tears off the flower garlands and receives the diamond shield from Ubalde and the sword from the Danish knight. He is ready to go.
Scene 4. Before the three of them can leave the palace, Armide returns. She begs Renaud to stay, or at least take her as a prisoner. But Renaud is determined to resume his duty. He only assures her that he will remember her forever. Armide is now resorting to threats, but these do nothing either. After a final expression of regret, Renaud and his companions leave the magic palace.
Scene 5. Armide is left alone. After a complaint about the loss of Renaud, she recalls the prophecy of La Haines (Armide: “Le perfide Renaud me fuit”). Now all that's left is vengeance. Desperate, she orders her furies and demons to tear down the magic palace. Then she takes off in a flying car.
layout
Instrumentation
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
music
The opera consists of recitatives and closed forms with integrated dances, orchestral movements and choirs. In Lully's work it forms the end point of a tendency towards ever more expressive recitatives and an ever more carefully worked out musical structure. The solo singing is also becoming increasingly important. In contrast to several later settings of the same subject, Lully does not focus on Renaud's inner conflict between love and duty, but on Armide's feelings for Renaud, which fluctuate between love and hate. Accordingly, your scenes also leave the greatest impression on the listener.
Important pieces of the opera are:
- Armides performance scene accompanied by low strings "Un songe affreux m'inspire une fureur nouvelle" after a prelude to the "Demon Topos" (first act, scene 1)
- The conjuring of the demons by Armide and Hidraot (second act, scene 2): varied resumption of the demonic prelude from the beginning with tight rhythms and dissonances. The duet "Esprits de haine et de rage" is characterized by tone repetitions.
- Renaud's scene “Plus j'observe ces lieux et plus je les admire” (second act, scene 3) to a pastoral accompaniment of recorders and muted strings. Johann Sebastian Bach quoted this music almost note for note in the accompanying choir "So our sins asleep" the tenor aria "I will watch with my Jesus" of his St. Matthew Passion . Overall, however, the figure of Renaud makes a weak hero who looks a bit pale.
- After a demonic orchestral prelude, Armide's famous monologue “Enfin, il est en ma puissance” (second act, scene 5), accompanied by a figured bass, forms a strong contrast in key and sound to the previous scene by Renaud.
- At the beginning of the third act, “Ah! si la liberté me doit être ravie “another monologue by Armides, this time accompanied by the orchestra.
- Armides' next monologue, the evocation of hatred in “Venez, venez, Haine implacable” (third act, scene 3), develops over a wild bass line.
- In the actual hate scene (third act, scene 4) Lully does without the soprano of the choir. The gloomy sound is also ensured by the line-up of La Haines with a deep tenor.
- In contrast to this are the lighter scenes that follow, which do without the deep voices and sometimes also without the deep strings.
- The fifth act is the opera's dramatic climax. Jean Laurent Le Cerf de la Viéville called it a "triomphe abrégé de la musique française". The divertissement of the second scene is a large passacaille of 76 couplets and a recapitulation of the middle section (couplets 37-44). The first 36 couplets are instrumental, the couplets 37-44, 49-60 and 65-76 vocal. It is the most extensive ostinato piece by Lully.
- The dramatic final scene by Armides is characterized by tempo changes and emotionally charged instrumental movements. Lully's music reaches its “highest perfection” here.
libretto
In addition to the story of Armide and Renaud, Tasso's original text contains numerous other motifs and people that are interlinked in a complex way. It was therefore a challenge for every librettist to create a coherent operatic material in the five acts customary at the time. Philippe Quinault had become famous for precisely this ability. The composer Francesco Cavalli is credited with the statement: "Quinault has the great ability of our age: He knows how to order things." Quinault waived the happy ending of the original, but in return expanded the plot of the third act to include Armide's rejection of hatred . In the course of the plot, he oriented himself on the classicist drama and thus created a “rock-solid text foundation” for Lully's and later Gluck's setting.
Work history
Armide is Lully's last joint work with the librettist Philippe Quinault and at the same time Lully's last completed opera. It is considered the masterful climax of their collaboration. The text is based on Torquato Tasso's epic The Liberated Jerusalem . King Louis XIV chose the topic personally. Politically, the play took place at a time of upheaval: with the repeal of the Edict of Nantes on October 22, 1685, the persecution of the Huguenots took off. In the crusader Renaud one could visually see Catholic France faced with the monsters of Protestantism. For various reasons ( Grove Music Online names illness and appointment problems, Piper's Encyclopedia of Music Theater, the increasing influence of Catholicism and Lully's temporary disfavor with the king) there was no advance premiere at court. The Dauphine was only able to take part in later concert chamber performances .
Apart from the two main roles Armide and Renaud, the names of the singers at the premiere on February 15, 1686 in the great hall of the Théâtre du Palais-Royal of the Paris Opera ( Académie Royale de Musique et de Danse ) are not certain. Gherardo Casaglia's almanacco names Armand (La Gloire), Marie / Marthe Le Rochois (Armide), Marie-Louise-Antoinette Desmâtins (Phénice), Françoise “Fanchon” Moreau (Sidonie), Jean Dun “père” (Hidraot), Charles Hardouin (Aronte and Ubalde), Louis Gaulard Dumesny (Renaud), Claude Desvoyes (Artémidore), Pierre Chopelet (Chevalier danois), Frère (La Haine), Cochereau (Melissa and Bergère héroïque), Bataille (Lucinde and Naïade), François Beaumavielle (Amant fortuné) and Antoine Boutelou (Plaisir). The dancers included Marie Sallé (Sagesse) and Louis Pécour , who also created the choreography. Pascal Collasse was the musical director . The stage design came from Jean Bérain .
- Costumes
Armide
Renaud
According to contemporary reports, the premiere was a failure. Nevertheless, Armide achieved great popularity with the audience. Between 1692 and 1766 it was played regularly in different arrangements in Paris. In the years 1745–1747 there was a joint production with the Versailles court. From the end of the 17th century, the last scene of the fourth act (the meeting of Ubalde and Melissa) was deleted. In 1761 the composer François Francœur thoroughly revised the opera to adapt it to current tastes. In 1766, Pierre-Montan Berton replaced the divertissement of the fifth act. Until the middle of the 18th century there were also frequent performances in Marseille (1686, 1694, 1701), Brussels (1695, 1697, 1708, 1722, 1726) and Lyon (1689–1750). There were other early productions in Avignon (1687), The Hague (1701?), Lunéville (1710) and in Berlin - the latter with adaptations by Carl Heinrich Graun . In 1690 Armide was performed in Rome - the only performance of a Lully opera in Italy.
Armide's great popularity can be seen in the frequent arrangements, the use of individual pieces in suites put together by a third party, and in four scenic parodies. Armide's monologue “Enfin, il est en ma puissance” (second act, scene 5) in particular achieved greater awareness and was often published in anthologies. He was seen as “a model for setting the French language to music”. Particularly noteworthy in this context are a parody by Charles Dufresny in his Opéra de campagne from 1692 and the inclusion as a “model setting ” in Jean-Philippe Rameau's Nouveau système de musique théorique from 1726. In the middle of the 18th century, however, he was criticized by Jean -Jacques Rousseau ( Lettre sur la musique française from 1753) in the center of the Buffonist dispute .
Jean-Laurent Le Cerf de La Viéville described Armide as "the opera of women" ("L'Opera des femmes") and compared it with Lully's other operas Atys ("the king's opera"), Phaëton ("the opera of Volks ") and Isis (" the opera of the musicians ").
The libretto was edited and set to music several times in later years, e.g. B. by Tommaso Traetta ( Armida, Vienna 1761, libretto by Count Giacomo Durazzo and Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca ) and Christoph Willibald Gluck, who apart from the prologue used Quinault's original text ( Armide , 1777).
In the 20th century Armide was first played in 1905 in the Schola Cantorum Paris, in 1911 in Florence, in 1918 in Monte Carlo and in 1939 in Geneva.
Recordings
- 196? (Excerpts): Jean-François Paillard (conductor), Orchester Jean-François Paillard, Chœurs Philippe Caillard. ERATO STU 70313 (1 LP), Musical Heritage Society MHS 867 (1 LP), ERATO 2564605782 (1 CD).
- January 1983 (studio recording, abridged): Philippe Herreweghe (conductor), La Chapelle Royale , Ensemble Vocal La Chapelle Royale et Collegium Vocale. Danièle Borst (La Gloire and Phénice), Greta de Reyghere (La Sagesse and Naïade), Rachel Yakar (Armide), Suzanne Gari (Sidonie), Ulrik Cold (Hidraot), Ulrich Studer (Aronte and La Haine), Zeger Vandersteene (Renaud ), Martin Egel (Artémidore and Ubalde), Guy de Mey (Chevalier danois and Amant fortuné), Isabelle Poulenard (Bergère héroïque). Erato STU 715302 (2 CP).
- 1986 (video, live, presumably from the Octagon Theater of the University of Western Australia): Ivor Keys (conductor). Jane Manning (Armide), John Foster (Renaud). House of Opera DVDCC 173.
- November 1992 (studio recording, original version): Philippe Herreweghe (conductor), La Chapelle Royale, Ensemble Vocal La Chapelle Royale et Collegium Vocale. Véronique Gens (La Gloire, Phénice, Melisse and Bergère héroïque), Noemi Rime (La Sagesse, Lucinde, Sidonie and Naïade), Guillemette Laurens (Armide), Bernard Deletré (Hidraot and Ubalde), Luc Coadou (Aronte), Howard Crook ( Renaud), John Hancock (Artémidore and La Haine), Gilles Ragon (Chevalier danois and Amant fortuné). HMC CD: 901 456.57 (2 CD).
- 2007 (studio recording): Ryan Brown (conductor), Opera Lafayette. Stephanie Houtzeel (Armide), Ann Monoyios (Phénice and Lucinde), Miriam Dubrow (Sidonie), François Loup (Hidraot and Ubalde), Darren Perry (Aronte), Robert Getchell (Renaud), William Sharp (Artémidore and La Haine), Tony Boutté (Chevalier danois and Amant fortuné), Tara McCredie (Naïade), Adria McCulloch (Bergère héroïque). Naxos 8.660209-10 (2 CD).
- 2008 (video, live from the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris): William Christie (conductor), Robert Carsen (director), Jean-Claude Gallotta (choreography), Gideon Davey (set and costumes), Chœur et orchester Les Arts Florissants , Danseur du Center Chorégraphique National de Grenoble, Groupe Emile Dubois. Claire Debono (La Gloire, Phénice and Lucinde), Isabelle Druet (La Sagesse, Sidonie and Melisse), Stéphanie d'Oustrac (Armide), Nathan Berg (Hidraot), Marc Mauillon (Aronte and Ubalde), Paul Agnew (Renaud), Marc Callahan (Artémidore), Andrew Tortise (Chevalier danois), Laurent Naouri (La Haine), Anders J. Dahlin (Amant fortuné).
- December 10, 2015 (live, in concert from the Grande salle Pierre Boulez of the Philharmonie de Paris ): Christophe Rousset (conductor, harpsichord), Les Talens Lyriques , Chœur de chambre de Namur. Judith van Wanroij (Phénice, la Gloire, Mélisse), Marie-Claude Chappuis (La Sagesse, Sidonie, Bergère héroïque), Marie-Adeline Henry (Armide), Douglas Williams (Hidraot), Antonio Figueroa (Renaud), Emiliano Gonzalez Toro ( Artémidore), Etienne Bazola (Ubalde), Cyril Auvity (Chevalier danois, Amant fortuné), Marc Mauillon (Aronte, La Haine). Aparté, AP135.
Web links
- Armide, LWV 71 : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Libretto (Italian), Paris 1686. Digitized at Google Books
- Libretto (Italian), Rome 1690. Digitized in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Work information and libretto (French) as full text on operalib.eu
- Armide (Jean-Baptiste Lully) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Discography about Armide at Operadis
Remarks
- ↑ Grove Music Online, according to it is uncertain whether or Dun Beaumavielle sang the role of Hidraot.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Rudolf Kloiber , Wulf Konold , Robert Maschka: Handbuch der Oper. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag / Bärenreiter, 9th, expanded, revised edition 2002, ISBN 3-423-32526-7 , pp. 394–397.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Herbert Schneider : Armide. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 3: Works. Henze - Massine. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-492-02413-0 , pp. 609-612.
- ↑ a b c d e Lois Rosow: Armide (i). In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
- ↑ Hellmuth Christian Wolff: JS Bach and France , Das Musikleben, Volume 3, 3rd year, March 1950, p. 67.
- ^ Philippe Beaussant : Lully ou Le Musicien du Soleil . Gallimard, Paris 1992, ISBN 2-07-072478-6 , p. 692 and 705
- ↑ Lois Rosow (ed.): Jean-Baptiste Lully: Armide. Tragédie en musique , Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 2003, ISBN 3-487-12524-2 , p. XXI.
- ^ February 15, 1686: "Armide". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
- ↑ Le Cerf de la Viéville: Comparaison de la musique. 1704-06, p. 102 ( online (PDF) ).
- ^ Admission by Jean-François Paillard (196?) In the discography for Armide at Operadis.
- ↑ a b Jean-Baptiste Lully. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all opera complete recordings. Zeno.org , volume 20.
- ^ Ivor Keys (1986) was included in the Armide discography at Operadis.
- ↑ Inclusion by Ryan Brown (2007) in the Armide discography at Operadis.
- ↑ William Christie conducting Armide de Lully au Théâtre des Champs-Elysées ( Memento of November 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on Mezzo TV , accessed on November 27, 2016.
- ↑ Les Talens Lyriques homepage, accessed on September 6, 2017
Cadmus et Hermione (1673) | Alceste ou Le triomphe d'Alcide (1674) | Thésée (1675) | Atys (1676) | Isis (1677) | Psyché (1678) | Bellérophon (1679) | Proserpine (1680) | Persée (1682) | Phaëton (1683) | Amadis (1684) | Roland (1685) | Armide (1686) | Achille et Polyxène (1687, completed by Pascal Collasse )