Castor and Pollux

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Opera dates
Title: Castor and Pollux
Shape: Tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts
Original language: French
Music: Jean-Philippe Rameau
Libretto : Pierre-Joseph-Justin Bernard
Premiere: October 24, 1737
Place of premiere: Académie Royale de Musique in Paris
Playing time: about 3 hours
Place and time of the action: Sparta, the Elyseian Fields
people

Prologue (version from 1737)

tragedy

  • Pollux (see Dioscuri ), son of Jupiter and Leda , king of Sparta (Bass)
  • Castor, son of Tindare and Leda (Haute-Contre)
  • Télaïre, Spartan Princess, Daughter of the Sun (soprano)
  • Phébé, daughter of the sun (soprano)
  • Jupiter (bass)
  • Cléone, confidante of Phébé (only in the version from 1754, soprano)
  • High Priest Jupiter ( tenor )
  • Two athletes (Haute-Contre and Bass)
  • A follower of the Hébé (soprano)
  • A blessed spirit (soprano)
  • One planet (soprano)
  • Arts and amusements, Spartans, athletes, Jupiter's priests, Heavenly amusements, Hébé's companions, demons, blessed spirits, stars ( choir )

Castor et Pollux (Eng .: Castor and Pollux ) is an opera in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Philippe Rameau based on a libretto by Pierre-Joseph-Justin Bernard. The first performance was on October 24, 1737 at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris . It was Rameau's third opera and his second in the form of the Tragédie en musique ( not counting the unfinished Samson ). Rameau made considerable cuts for the re-performance in 1754, added new material and reduced the opera to four acts. There is controversial debate among experts as to which of the two versions is the better. Regardless of this, Castor and Pollux is regarded as one of the most beautiful works by Rameau.

action

The framework for the action is the mythical relationship between the immortal Pollux and his mortal twin brother Castor in their conflict between brotherly love and competing or unrequited love for Princess Télaïre.

The following table of contents is based on the first version from 1737.

prolog

The allegorical prologue is not related to the main plot. He praises the Treaty of Vienna of 1736, which ended the war of succession to the Polish throne , in which France was also involved. In the prologue, Venus, goddess of love, tames the god of war Mars with the help of Minerva. In the revision of 1754 the prologue was deleted.

first act

Castor and Pollux are famous heroes. Although they are twin brothers, one of them (Pollux, son of Leda and Jupiter ) is immortal and the other (Castor, son of Leda and Tyndareos ) is mortal. They both love the princess Télaïre, who in turn only loves Castor. The twins fought in a war against King Lynkeus (Lyncée), which leads to catastrophe: Castor falls at Lynkeus' hand.

The opera begins with his funeral ceremony. Télaïre expresses her friend Phébé's grief for Castor in “Tristes apprêts”, one of Rameau's most famous arias . Pollux and his warriors from Sparta interrupt the celebration when they bring the body of Lynkeus killed in a campaign of revenge. Pollux confesses his love for Télaïre. She refuses to answer and instead asks him to go to his father Jupiter and ask for Castor's resurrection.

Second act

Pollux expresses his contradicting feelings in the aria "Natur, amour, mon cœur qui partagez". He knows that if he accepts her request and persuades Jupiter to wake his brother up, he will lose Télaïre. But he gives in to her pleading. Jupiter descends and Pollux begs him to bring Castor back to life. Jupiter replies that he is unable to change the course of fate. The only way to save Castor is for Pollux to become a mortal too. Pollux, desperate that he will never win Télaïre, decides to go to the underworld. Jupiter tries to dissuade him with a ballet of heavenly pleasures, led by Hebe , the goddess of youth, but Pollux's decision is irreversible.

Third act

The stage shows the entrance to the underworld, guarded by monsters and demons . Phébé gathers the Spartans to close Pollux's gate to the underworld. Pollux refuses to be stopped even though Phébé declares her love for him. When Télaïre appears, Phébé realizes Pollux's passion for Télaïre and realizes that her love will not be reciprocated. She urges the demons of the underworld to stop him ("Sortez, sortez d'esclavage / Combattez, Démons furieux"). But Pollux fights the demons with the help of Mercury and descends into Hades .

Fourth act

The scene shows the Elysian Fields in the underworld. Castor sings the aria "Séjours de l'éternelle paix". However, neither the beautiful surroundings nor the choir of blessed spirits can comfort him for the loss of Télaïre. He is astonished to meet his brother Pollux again, who tells him about his sacrifice. Castor says he will only be returning to the land of the living for a day so he can see Télaïre for the last time.

Fifth act

Castor returns to Sparta. When Phébé sees him, she thinks Pollux is dead forever and kills herself to be able to join him in the underworld. But Castor tells Télaïre that he can only stay alive with her for a single day. Télaïre bitterly accuses him of never having loved her. Jupiter then descends in a storm as Deus ex machina to solve the dilemma. He explains that Castor and Pollux both share immortality. The opera ends with the “Fête de l'univers” (“Festival of the Universe”), in which the sun, planets and stars celebrate the decision of God and the twin brothers as the constellation Gemini are given their place in the heavenly zodiac .

Changes in the version of 1754

The prologue was dispensed with because it had become politically irrelevant and the operatic form with prologues was no longer appropriate.

The opera no longer begins with Castor's funeral. The whole first act has been completely recreated and explains the background of the story: Télaïre loves Castor, but she is promised to Pollux, who in turn is willing to give her up out of love for his twin brother. The wedding celebration is interrupted by Lynkeus and a fight breaks out in which Castor is killed. Acts three and four have been merged and the entire work is shortened mainly by deleting the recitatives .

layout

Castor et Pollux contains only one Italian-style aria, "Brillez, astres nouveaux", which is sung by a planet at the end of the fifth act. All the others are French airs that merge with the recitatives and usually have no da capo repetition .

Music in the first act

In the version from 1737, the plot begins with a funeral ceremony in which the Spartan choir mourns their fallen King Castor, who was killed in the battle by Lynkeus. The music associates the lament with a descending tetrachord motif, which alludes to Claudio Monteverdi's Nymph’s Lament (in this case it is the chromatic one: FE-Es-D-Des-C). Although Télaïres “Tristes apprêts” in scene 2 does not have this descending tetrachord motif, Cuthbert Girdlestone calls it a lawsuit. The aria is created in the da capo form, the B section of which is held in a recitative-like manner. The instrumentation with obbligato bassoon underlines the gloomy mood; the climax of the Ariette is the double exclamation "non".

The marching music for the appearance of Castor and the Spartans has a martial character. With Lynkeus' corpse at his feet, Castor proclaims “Let the hell applaud this new twist! ... The call of vengeance is the song of hell. ”The Spartan choir sings and dances. The Spartan's second aria is in C major, which enables the obligatory trumpet setting with its military associations (before the introduction of valve trumpets, the aria was notated in C and D). The act ends with a longer recitative in which Pollux confesses his love for Télaïre.

Work history

Emergence

Charles Dill suspects that Rameau began composing the opera in 1737 shortly after starting work with Voltaire on the opera Samson . Samson was never completed, however, perhaps because Rameau had already incorporated Voltaire's aesthetic into Castor et Pollux . Voltaire preferred the expression of emotions through the representation of static scenes, e.g. B. in the first act of the version from 1737. Here the Spartans choir sings “Que tout gemisse” in Castor's funeral scene, followed by a recitative between Télaïre and Phébé in which the latter mourns the loss of her lover Castor. The scene culminates in Télaïre's lamentation “Tristes apprêts”. Dill notes that, in contrast, the 1754 version contains much more background to the story of Télaïre's love for Castor and that Castor's death was put at the end. The events in the first act of the 1737 version appear in the second act of the 1754 version. Dill notes that, according to Voltaire, the music is more important than the plot for opera. In addition, Dill points out a difference in the plot between the two versions. In the 1737 version, the focus is on the moral dilemma between love and duty that Pollux is confronted with: should he follow his love for Télaïre or decide to save his brother? Of course, he chooses the latter. In the 1754 version, on the other hand, Dill notes that the plot is more focused on the trials for Pollux: he has to kill Lynkeus, has to convince Jupiter not to prevent his journey into the underworld, and he has to persuade Castor to accept the gift of the Not to accept immortality.

While some scholars (such as Cuthbert Girdlestone, Paul Marie-Masson, and Graham Sadler) have assumed that the 1754 version was superior to the original, Dill argues that Rameau made the 1754 changes during a different period of his work. In 1737 he was still exploring the limits of the genre tragédie lyrique , while in 1754 he was more concerned with ballet-oriented genres in which he wanted to entertain his audience with inspiring musical compositions. Dill suspects that in the background of the changed aesthetics of 1754 there were also commercial interests, because the revised version is more in line with Jean-Baptiste Lully's traditional aesthetics . He comments that although many see the revision as more innovative, in reality the 1737 version is the more daring.

Cast of the premiere

At the premiere on October 24, 1737, the following sang:

role Pitch occupation
Castor Haute-Contre Monsieur Tribou
Pollux bass Claude Chassé
Télaïre soprano Mlle Pélissier
Phébé soprano Marie Antier
Jupiter bass Monsieur Dun
Venus soprano Mlle Rabon
Mars bass Monsieur Le Page
Minerve soprano Mlle Eremans

reception

Castor et Pollux appeared in 1737, when the controversy that sparked Rameau's first opera Hippolyte et Aricie was still in full swing. Conservative critics considered the works of the "father of French opera", Jean-Baptiste Lully , to be unsurpassable. They saw Rameau's radical musical innovations as an attack on everything that had become dear to them. A real war of words broke out between the Lullists and the followers of the new music, some of which were denigrated as Rameauneurs (pun in French: ramoneur = "chimney sweep") or Ramistes . However, this controversy ensured that the premiere of Castor et Pollux received the attention it deserved.

However, Rameau had not changed the dramatic structure of Lully's tragédie lyrique : he retained both the traditional opera format in five acts and he also used traditional musical forms such as overture, recitative, aria, choir and dance suites. He simply expanded the musical possibilities of opera composers. While some welcomed the new breed of Rameau, it was judged to be unappealing by more conservative listeners. On the one hand, Rameau's follower noted Diderot , who later gave up his loyalty to him: “Old Lully is simple, natural, uniform, sometimes even too uniform, and that is his flaw. The young Rameau is unique, brilliant, complex, learned, sometimes too learned, but that is perhaps more of a lack of the listener ”. The objections of the Lullists were that Rameau's tonal language was far more expressive than the Lullys, and they even went so far as to describe his style as a tasteless ingratiation to Italian taste. Rameau's recitative style contains much larger melodic arcs in contrast to Lully's more pathetic style. This can be clearly heard, for example, in the opening recitative between Phébé and Cléone (Phébé's confidante) in the first act, scene 1 of the 1754 revised version. In addition, used Rameau complex harmonies, nonene chords included. Rameau's more sophisticated singing style led to the remark (possibly by Rameau himself) that while Lully needed actors for his operas, Rameau needed singers. Over time, however, these changes became more and more popular with the French public.

As it turned out, the opera was a complete success. At the end of 1737 it had 20 performances. After that, however, it was not brought back to the stage until 1754 in the revised version, with thirty performances in 1754 and ten in 1755. Graham Sadler writes that “ Castor et Pollux should be regarded as Rameau's coronation, at least from the time of its re-performance (1754) ".

Performances followed in 1764, 1765, 1772, 1773, 1778, 1779 and 1780. The taste for Rameau's operas did not survive the French Revolution for long, but excerpts from Castor et Pollux were performed in Paris until 1792. During the nineteenth century the work no longer appeared on the French stages, although its fame outlasted the neglect of the rest of Rameau's works. Hector Berlioz mentions e.g. B. admiring the aria Tristes apprêts .

The first modern revival took place at the Schola Cantorum in Paris in 1903. Claude Debussy was among the audience at the time .

On January 28, 2012, a performance was shown in the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in the Düsseldorf Opera House under the direction of Martin Schläpfer .

Recordings

  • Castor et Pollux (version from 1737): Concentus Musicus Wien , Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Teldec, 1972)
  • Castor et Pollux (1737 version): Les Arts Florissants , William Christie (Harmonia Mundi, 1993)
  • Castor et Pollux (1754 version): English Bach Festival Singers and Orchestra, Farncombe (Erato, 1982)
  • Castor et Pollux (version from 1754): Ensemble Instrumental XVIII; Musique des Lumières, Jean-Christophe Frisch (Astrée / Audivis)
  • Castor et Pollux (version from 1754): Aradia Ensemble; Opera in Concert Chorus, Kevin Mallon (Naxos, 2004)

DVD playback:

  • Castor et Pollux (version from 1754): Les Talens Lyriques, De Nederlandse Opera choir, Christophe Rousset (Opus Arte, 2008)

literature

  • Sylvie Bouissou: CD supplement for the recording of Christie
  • Cuthbert Girdlestone: Jean-Philippe Rameau: His Life and Work. Cassell & Company Ltd, 1962; Dover paperback, 1990, ISBN 978-0-486-26200-0
  • Amanda Holden (Ed.): The New Penguin Opera Guide. Penguin Putnam, New York 2001, ISBN 0-14-029312-4
  • Graham Sadler (Ed.): The New Grove French Baroque Masters. WW Norton & Company, New York 1997, ISBN 0-393-30356-X

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Graham Sadler:  Castor et Pollux. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  2. ↑ Holden, p. 721. The exact date of the revival is unknown, but probably June 8 or 11, 1754
  3. ↑ Holden, pp. 721-722
  4. ^ Castor et Pollux (Rameau). In: Reclam's Opernlexikon. Digital library volume 52. Philipp Reclam jun., 2001, p. 413.
  5. ^ Girdlestone, Cuthbert: Jean-Philippe Rameau: His Life and Work , p. 203.
  6. ^ Charles Dill: Creative Process in Rameau's Castor et Pollux. In: The Creative Process, Studies in the History of Music, No. 3 , pp. 93-106
  7. ^ Graham Sadler: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , Vol. 25, p. 686.
  8. ^ Cuthbert Girdlestone: Jean-Philippe Rameau: His Life and Work , p. 484.
  9. ^ Graham Sadler: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , Vol. 20, p. 781.
  10. ↑ See also Girdlestone: Jean-Philippe Rameau: His Life and Work , p. 484
  11. ^ Sarah Fuller: The European Musical Heritage 800–1750.
  12. ^ Barry Millington, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , Vol. 18, p. 455.
  13. ↑ Bouissou pp. 16-17
  14. ^ New Grove French Baroque Masters p. 259
  15. ↑ Girdlestone p. 205
  16. ^ Performance history. Girdlestone pp. 230-231
  17. ↑ Fred Feuerstein in the gym. FAZ of February 3, 2012, page 33
  18. ↑ Rameau: Castor et Pollux (Nikolaus Harnoncourt) . Warner Classics & Jazz (Teldec Das Alte Werk ). Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  19. ^ Castor & Pollux (William Christie) . Harmonia Mundi. Retrieved November 22, 2010.
  20. ↑ Work data on Castor et Pollux based on the MGG with discography in Operone. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
  21. ^ Castor et Pollux (Jean-Christophe Frisch) . Astrée / Audivis. Retrieved November 22, 2010.
  22. ↑ Rameau: Castor et Pollux (Kevin Mallon) . Naxos Records. Retrieved November 22, 2010.
  23. ↑ Rameau: Castor et Pollux (Christophe Rousset, DVD) . Opus Arte. Retrieved June 22, 2014.