Guercœur
| Opera dates | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Guercœur |
Title page of the piano reduction, Paris 1904 |
|
| Shape: | “Tragédie en musique” in three acts and five pictures |
| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Albéric Magnard |
| Libretto : | Albéric Magnard |
| Premiere: | April 24, 1931 |
| Place of premiere: | Paris Opera |
| Playing time: | approx. 3 ¼ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | 1st and 3rd act: in heaven, 2nd act: on earth in a free city |
| people | |
|
Heavenly persons
Earthly persons
Allegorical people
|
|
Guercœur is an opera (original name: "Tragédie en musique", Op. 12) in three acts and five pictures by Albéric Magnard (music and libretto ). It was created between 1897 and 1901, but had its full staged world premiere after two partial concerts only on April 24, 1931 at the Paris Opera in a reconstruction by Joseph Guy Ropartz .
action
short version
Act I. The knight and democratic freedom fighter Guercœur has died and has come to the paradise of verite (truth). In contrast to the other souls there, however, he cannot enjoy this, but longs to return to earth to his wife Giselle, his friend and student Heurtal and his people, whom he had led to freedom. Bonté (goodness) and Beauté (beauty) support his supplication. Souffrance (suffering), on the other hand, wants to punish him for his arrogance on earth. Vérité restores his body and sends it back to life.
Act Two . The situation on earth has changed in the two years since Guercœur's death. Giselle has entered into a love affair with Heurtal. The latter in turn no longer adheres to Guercœur's principles of freedom and love and is in the process of setting himself up as a tyrant. The people are hungry. Violent uprisings break out. Many believe Heurtal's promises that a dictatorship under his leadership could restore peace. Guercœur forgives his wife and watches the goings-on for a while, shaken. As the violence escalates, he intervenes and reminds those fighting of his principles. This turns both parties against him. Everyone falls on him and kills him. Then they turn against each other again. The followers of Heurtal win and appoint him dictator.
Third act. Guercœur is recorded again in paradise. He asks the gods there for forgiveness for his arrogance and especially thanks Promptrance, who opened his eyes. Vérité promises him that one day his dream will come true on earth. He himself will forget his suffering. The four deities rock him to sleep. His last word is "Espoir" (hope). Vérité sends Souffrance to Earth to remind them of Guercœur's principles.
First act: “Les regrets” - complaints
In the paradise of Vérité, dream landscape, moonlight, shadows wandering around in the background
Scene 1. An invisible choir of spirits praises Vérité, the truth that makes them forget the sufferings and longings of their earthly existence. Only the shadow of the knight Guercœur still longs for life two years after his death.
Scene 2. The shadows of a woman and a virgin ask Guercœur the reason for his discontent. The woman tells him that she had a happy life, but that love has left her as well as her children over time. Both advise him to join them in order to walk forever free from desires. Guercœur feels misunderstood.
Scene 3. The shadow of a poet tells of the successful exercise of his art, which could not prevent that he ultimately went hungry and was abandoned by his students. He also sings about the peace of oblivion in paradise.
Scene 4. Guercœur longs for his past triumphs and the love of his wife Giselle. The beauties of this paradise have nothing to offer him. He begs Vérité to answer his request.
Scene 5. In a light in the background of the scene, Vérité appears on a throne, next to her Beauté, the beauty, and Bonté, the goodness - all three in blue robes. At her feet is Promptrance, suffering, dressed in dark red. The spirits greet and honor the gods. Vérité has come to hear Guercœur's plea and asks him to express his request. Guercœur tells her about his love for Giselle and his actions as a knight. Although he freed his country from the rule of a tyrant, he was barely able to enjoy the tenderness of his wife because of his early death. Both Giselle and his people have sworn eternal loyalty to him. His student Heurtal has now completed his work. Guercœur begs Vérité and her companions to give him back his life - if only for a single day. Bonté and Beauté ask Vérité to grant his wish, as he has always respected them. Souffrance, on the other hand, wants to punish Guercœur for his arrogance. He should come back to life to get to know their laws. Vérité answers Guercœur's plea. The shadows wish him luck.
Scene 6. Surrounded by total darkness, Vérité summons the forces of nature to form a new body from Guercœur's ashes. After this is done, she sends him back to earth, but exhorts him not to forget the bliss of her paradise that he disdains.
Scene 7. Vérité implores Bonté to watch over Guercœur's soul.
Scene 8. The moon is shining again. While Vérité, Beauté and Promptrance are veiled by clouds and the shadows start singing their song from the first scene, Bonté slowly descends from the sky and laments the cruel fate. The voice of Souffrance demands Guercœur's punishment again.
Second act
First picture: "Les illusions" - The illusions
On earth; the top of a wooded hill; Dawn in spring; in the background a town in a valley
Scene 1. When Guercœur wakes up from sleep, he looks at his surroundings in astonishment. He greets nature and spring with delight and thanks Vérité for her sympathy. The place brings back memories of his life with Giselle. He fears that the sight of him might terrify his loved ones.
Scene 2. Illusions of love and fame dance around him. They assure him that Giselle and his people do not believe in his death and that he will be received as a lover and hero, as if after a long journey.
Second picture: “L'amante” - The Lover
A room in Guercœur's old apartment; large glass windows in the background; on the left the front door, on the right an alcove covered by a curtain; Furniture, seats, flowers in vases
Scene 1. Heurtal and Giselle emerge from the alcove, closely embraced. Heurtal assures Giselle of his ardent love. Giselle replies, but admits that her thoughts are still with Guercœur, to whom she had sworn eternal allegiance.
Scene 2. The people, desperate of hunger and misery, protested in front of the house and demanded the death of the traitor Heurtal, who seized power after Guercœur's death. Giselle opens the window worried.
Scene 3. Unimpressed by the calls, Heurtal closes the window again. He reassures Giselle that he knows how to deal with the people. Guercœur left him his power, but not his dreams of freedom. That evening he would overthrow the rebels and establish a dictatorship. The city will get to know Giselle as queen tomorrow. Heurtal says goodbye to her in order to implement his plans.
Scene 4. Left alone in the room, Giselle ponders her love for Heurtal. She wants nothing more than to have a child from him. Still, she feels guilty about Guercœur. She wonders whether the dead are watching their actions and thoughts. She waits longingly for the return of Heurtal. When she hears footsteps, she hurries towards the newcomer and opens the door.
Scene 5. Not Heurtal, but Guercœur enters the apartment. He explains to her that he preferred her love to the joys of Paradise and that thanks to the divine powers, he was allowed to return. Giselle, ashamed, confesses her betrayal and asks his forgiveness. Guercœur is badly hit. He hopes that at least the people have remained loyal to him. However, since Giselle continues to plead with him, Guercœur gradually calms down and forgives her. He gives her a kiss for peace and leads her to the bed, on which she sinks. After looking at her in silence for a while, he turns thoughtfully to the door.
Scene 6. At this moment Heurtal returns. When he sees Guercœur, he becomes aggressive for a moment, but Guercœur remains calm. He reminds his former friend of their principles of friendship, love and freedom and slowly leaves the apartment.
Scene 7. Heurtal sits down to regain his composure. He tells himself it must be a Guercœur doppelganger. This on the part of his opponents could possibly be dangerous to him. Giselle tells him she dreamed that Guercœur had forgiven her. Now she could love him, Heurtal, without reservation. She throws herself into his arms.
Third picture: “Le peuple” - The people
Public place on the day of the riot; on the left the town hall with a speaker's platform; on the right a house with an outside staircase; in the background more houses, partly abandoned, barricaded, in ruins or in flames
Scene 1. The people are divided. A group of men cheered Heurtal in the town hall, while others demanded his death. Angry women in the square demand action and an end to their misery. When they see Guercœur, they turn against him. They believe that his ideas of freedom led to the present situation and curse him. Calls ring out in the town hall to appoint Heurtal dictator. The women join this wish. Only a “good tyrant” could free them from their wretched situation. The uprising is escalating, and the first deaths are occurring.
Scene 2. Guercœur watches the goings-on in horror. He realizes that the people are not free, but are falling back into slavery. Ironically, his student Heurtal forces it under his yoke.
Scene 3. Now the crowd streams out of the town hall. The opponents of Heurtal gather on the left side around Guercœur. Its supporters, by far more numerous, are gathering on the other side. Heurtal takes the floor. Interrupted again and again by his opponents, he promises the people improvement under his dictatorship, since he will restore order. His followers take up arms to pounce on their enemies. Guercœur throws himself between the two groups and demands a halt. When he decidedly against a dictatorship, his followers no longer believe him either - after all, he was Heurtal's friend. The others think he's an impostor. In desperation he exclaims: “Slaves! Kill me Kill freedom! ”Everyone rushes at him. Mortally wounded, Guercœur sinks to the ground. Then the fight between the two groups breaks out again. Heurtal's supporters gain the upper hand and drive out their opponents.
Scene 4. The winners proclaim Heurtal to be dictator cheering and dancing.
Scene 5. When the night finally quieted, Guercœur rises with the last of his strength and asks Vérité for forgiveness for his arrogance. He dies. More cheers for Heurtal can be heard in the background.
Third act: “L'espoir” - Hope
In heaven; a clearing in front of an avenue of huge trees; left bushes on a bed of flowers; moonlit dream landscape
Scene 1. Bonté and other shadows ask Vérité for compassion for suffering humanity. Bonté informs her that Guercœur has died again and will go to heaven.
Scene 2. Guercœur's shadow approaches, swaying, supported by prompts. Bonté reproaches promptrance, but can't manage to hate her.
Scene 3. Vérité and Beauté join. Souffrance asks the mistress to forgive Guercœur for his arrogance, as he was severely punished for it. He himself asks for forgiveness with simple words. Bonté and Beauté point out that despite his misfortune, he retained his kindness and generosity. Vérité grants him his request and promises that forgetting will ease his soul. Guercœur declares himself unworthy, but thanks Promptrance for opening his eyes. She revealed to him the vanities of life, wishing, triumph and pride. He misunderstood her and is only now understanding her sacred mission: “Oh you who eradicate our flaws, oh you who make heroes and mothers, oh you who loved Jesus, the kindly prophet. Praise. ”Vérité promises him that one day his lifelong dream will come true all over the world. Humanity will recognize its mistakes and grow in love and freedom. “The amalgamation of races, of languages, will give [man] the culture of peace. Through work he will conquer misery. Through science he will conquer pain, and to rise up to me he will unite reason and faith. ”At a nod from Vérités, Souffrance Guercœur leads him to the bed of flowers, where he falls asleep with the word“ Espoir ”('hope') . The four deities sing him a lullaby in which they express their wish that he will forget his sufferings forever and return to eternity. Vérité sends Souffrance back to earth in order to dampen the arrogance of the lucky ones and to reveal Guercœur's dream to the heroes. The goddesses withdraw. The opera ends with the fortissimo sung “Espoir” by the invisible choir.
layout
orchestra
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : three flutes (3rd also piccolo ), three oboes , English horn , three clarinets (3rd also bass clarinet ), three bassoons (3rd also contrabassoon )
- Brass : four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba
- Timpani , percussion : snare drum , bass drum , stirring drum, triangle , cymbals , tam-tam
- Celesta
- two harps
- Strings
music
The term "tragédie en musique" is reminiscent of the popular 18th century genre of tragédie lyrique . The guercœur, however, stands between opera, oratorio and sacred play . Symbolisms as in this work can also be found in Maurice Maeterlinck , Claude Debussy and Paul Dukas . For example, Maeterlinck and Dukas' opera Ariane et Barbe-Bleue from 1907 also used the motif of unrecognized happiness. The religious-philosophical text follows the French Catholicism of Ernest Renan and Clémence Royer . At the same time, it is a "humanist tragedy of ideas". Ulrich Schreiber saw the Guercœur as the “Redemption Opera ” in the successor to Ernest Chausson's Le roi Arthus .
Magnard openly acknowledged Richard Wagner's concepts , and the Guercœur also contains some unmistakable “Wagnerisms”. Nevertheless, the musical language is independent. The two framework acts are neither dramaturgically nor harmoniously based on Wagner. The popular uprising in the second act is depicted realistically and looks downright expressionistic . The instrumentation corresponds to that of Wagner's operas, but sounds more like Anton Bruckner . Leitmotifs are used sparingly but centrally. Magnard does not use Wagner's techniques epigonally, but extends them. The musical language of the acts playing in heaven is reminiscent of Parsifal , while that of the earthly second act is more reminiscent of Hector Berlioz . During the scene changes there are orchestral interludes in Magnard's own personal style. The encounter between Guercœur and Giselle in particular is characterized by “lyrical warmth and refinement” (“lyric warmth and nobility”).
Work history
Albéric Magnard wrote his "Tragédie en musique" Guercœur , his second full-length opera, in the years 1897 to 1901. It was never performed in full during his lifetime. On February 23, 1908, the first act was played in concert at the Nancy Conservatory, and on December 18, 1910, the third act at the Concerts Colonne in Paris. In 1914, at the beginning of World War I , Magnard was killed while defending his country house in Baron against German soldiers. The house was set on fire and he himself and numerous manuscripts including the score of the first and third acts of the Guercœur were burned. The composer Joseph Guy Ropartz , one of Magnard's few friends, later reconstructed the instrumentation from memory using the piano reduction that Magnard had self-published in 1904. The manuscript of the second act has been preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France .
The scenic premiere of the reconstructed version took place on April 24, 1931 in the Salle Garnier of the Paris Opera . François Ruhlmann conducted it . Directed by Pierre Chéreau. The set was designed by André Boll. The soloists were Arthur Endrèze (Guercœur), Yvonne Gall (Vérité), Germaine Hoerner (Bonté), Milly Morère (Beauté), Ketty Lapeyrette (Souffrance), Jeanne Manceau (l'ombre d'une femme), Jane Laval (L ' ombre d'une vierge), Raoul Jobin (L'ombre d'un poète), Marisa Ferrer (Giselle) and Victor Forti (Heurtal).
Although the world premiere production was a great success, the work could not assert itself on the stage, which was probably more due to the religious-philosophical subject than the music. In 1951 there was a performance for the radio in Paris.
It was not until 2019 that the Osnabrück Theater staged the opera again in a production by Dirk Schmeding. Martina Segna was responsible for the stage, Frank Lichtenberg for the costumes and Roman Kuskowski for the videos. The Osnabrück Symphony Orchestra and the Osnabrück Theater Choir were directed by Andreas Hotz . The title role was sung by Rhys Jenkins. This “scenic, rigorous, spirit and intentions of the piece that never betrayed the realization of the fascinating music” ( Uwe Schweikert ) received a lot of attention. Manuel Brug characterized the opera in his review in Die Welt as “beautiful, profound, weird, moving, original and addicting. The way opera should ideally be. ”It was a“ phenomenal rediscovery, the most important in recent years ”. The production was voted "Rediscovery of the Year" in the critics' survey by Opernwelt magazine . Deutschlandfunk Kultur broadcast a recording of the premiere.
Recordings
- 1933 - Arthur Endreze (baritone).
Excerpts ("Où suis-je?" - "Le calme rentre dans mon cœur") - 1951 - Tony Aubin (conductor).
Bernard Demigny (Guercœur), Marcelle Bunlet (Vérité), Jacqueline Delusseux (Bonté), Jeanne Rolland (Beauté), Denise Scharley (Souffrance), Fréda Betti (L'ombre d'une femme), Yvette Darras (L'ombre d ' une vierge), Joseph Peyron (L'ombre d'un poète), Marisa Ferrer (Giselle), Fernand Faniard (Heurtal).
Studio shot, heavily shortened.
Bourg CD: BGC 20-21. - 1986 - Michel Plasson (conductor) , Orfeon Donostiarra National Orchestra of Toulouse .
José van Dam (Guercœur), Hildegard Behrens (Vérité), Anne Salvan (Bonté), Michèle Lagrange (Beauté), Nathalie Stutzmann (Souffrance), Hélène Jossoud (L'ombre d'une femme), Isabelle Manent (L'ombre d 'une vierge), Jean-Luc Viala (L'ombre d'un poète), Nadine Denize (Giselle), Gary Lakes (Heurtal).
Studio shot, complete.
EMI CD: 7 49193 8 (3 CDs). - June 15, 2019 - Andreas Hotz (conductor), Osnabrück Symphony Orchestra , Choir of the Osnabrück Theater.
Rhys Jenkins (Guercœur), Lina Liu (Vérité), Katarina Morfa (Bonté and L'ombre d'une femme), Erika Simons (Beauté and L'ombre d'une vierge), Nana Dzidziguri (Souffrance), Daniel Wagner (L 'ombre d'un poète), Susann Vent-Wunderlich (Giselle), Costa Latsos (Heurtal).
Live from the Osnabrück Theater .
Radio broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur .
Web links
- Guercœur, Op.12 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Score manuscript of the second act at Gallica
- Thread with detailed table of contents and further information in the Capriccio-Kulturforum
Remarks
- ↑ In the piano reduction a small town in medieval Flanders or Italy is named as an example.
- ↑ The name means "warrior heart".
- ↑ “La fusion des races, des langages, lui donnera le culte de la paix. Par le travail il vaincra la misère. Par la science il vaincra la douleur et pour monter à moi dans un élan suprème, il unira la raison à la Foi. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Michael Stegemann: Guercœur. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 3: Works. Henze - Massine. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-492-02413-0 , pp. 632-633.
- ↑ Information in the piano reduction from 1904.
- ↑ Piano reduction p. 219 f.
- ↑ a b c d Malcolm MacDonald: Guercœur. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
- ↑ a b Jens Malte Fischer: In the shadow of Wagner. In: Udo Bermbach (Ed.): Opera in the 20th century. Development tendencies and composers. Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-01733-8 , pp. 47-48.
- ^ Ulrich Schreiber : Opera guide for advanced learners. 20th Century II. German and Italian Opera after 1945, France, Great Britain. Bärenreiter, Kassel 2005, ISBN 3-7618-1437-2 , pp. 402-403.
- ↑ a b c German premiere of the opera "Guercœur" - Resurrection pointless in the program of Deutschlandfunk Kultur , June 22, 2019, accessed on December 5, 2019.
- ↑ April 24, 1931: “Magnard”. In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
- ↑ Reclam's Opernlexikon (= digital library . Volume 52). Philipp Reclam jun. at Directmedia, Berlin 2001, p. 1099.
- ↑ a b Stephan Mösch : The luminosity of truth. In: Opernwelt Jahrbuch 2019, p. 44.
- ↑ a b Guercœur. Schedule detail of the Osnabrück Theater , accessed on December 5, 2019.
- ↑ Uwe Schweikert : The second life. Review of the performance in Osnabrück 2019. In: Opernwelt , August 2019, p. 10.
- ↑ Manuel Brug: Heaven can wait: the rebirth of a masterpiece - the Osnabrück Theater is superbly handling Albéric Magnard's “Guercœur”, for the first time and 88 years after its premiere. In: Die Welt , June 20, 2019.
- ↑ a b discography on albericmagnard.fr, accessed on December 11, 2019.
- ↑ a b Albéric (Lucien Denis Gabriel) Magnard. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all complete opera recordings (= Zeno.org . Volume 20). Directmedia, Berlin 2005.