Julien (opera)
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| Title: | Julien or The Poet's Life |
| Original title: | Julien ou La vie du poète |
Enrico Caruso (Julien) and Geraldine Farrar , |
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| Shape: | Poème lyrique in a prologue and four acts |
| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Gustave Charpentier |
| Libretto : | Gustave Charpentier |
| Premiere: | June 4, 1913 |
| Place of premiere: | Paris, Opéra-Comique , Salle Favart |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ¾ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | France, Italy, Slavic lands, late 19th century |
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Julien ou La vie du poète (Eng .: poet's fate or Julien or the life of the poet ) is an opera (original name: "Poème lyrique") in a prologue, four acts and eight pictures by Gustave Charpentier (music) with its own libretto . The first performance was on June 4, 1913 in the Salle Favart of the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
action
The artist Julien has won the “ Prix de Rome ” and is working on his first novel. But he has become estranged from his lover Louise. She only feels like his muse. Together they visit the Temple of Beauty in Dreamland, where Julien learns from the high priest that love and fame cannot be obtained without suffering. In fact, Louise dies shortly afterwards. Julien sets out on a journey to preach about love and beauty, but soon realizes the uselessness of what he is doing. For a while he finds peace in a Slavic country, where another girl reminds him of Louise. He visits his grandmother in Brittany. She warns him of his arrogance, but Julien curses the futility of human suffering. He goes to Paris to indulge in pleasures. There he succumbs to alcohol and madness. A cabaret reminds him of the temple of beauty, a street girl of Louise. He collapses.
Prolog. enthusiasm
Artist room of the Villa Medici in Rome
An initially empty artist's room. Through the open window you can see the city panorama and the starry sky in spring. A young woman rests in an alcove on the bed. On the floor in the background and on a small desk there is written paper, illuminated by a floor lamp.
First Scene. During his scholarship after winning the “Prix de Rome” Julien dreams of his first novel.
Second scene. Louise notices that Julien's love is now more his work than hers. She fears that as his muse she might only be a casual acquaintance.
First act. In dreamland
First picture. The holy mountain
An overgrown path leads up the mountain, on the top of which stands the Temple of Beauty, gilded by the morning sun.
Scene 1. The choir and the "Daughters of Dreams" await the arrival of "Beauty".
Scene 2. On their pilgrimage to the temple, the high priests, fortune tellers, sages, muses and poets, including Louise and Julien, enjoy the splendor of nature as a symbol of their own longings. Distant voices praise the poet and the lovers. A voice from the abyss admonishes the “dream” not to break its promise.
Second picture. The cursed valley
On the same mountain, a byway to the temple, nearby a dark grotto, in the abyss the cursed poets. On an ascending path, chimeras weave wisps of fog and colorful clouds on which the poets ascend to the temple.
Scene 1. The accursed poets long for their past successes. They seduce illusions.
Scene 2. Julien and Louise discover love as a purpose in life.
Third picture. Choir in the Temple of Beauty
Scene 1. Arriving at the temple, Louise and Julien, together with the daughters of dreams, priests, servants of beauty, augurs and sages, conjure the “infinite flame” to destroy them so that their “hope may triumph”.
Scene 2. The initiation. Julien enthusiastically assures that his heart is as pure as the flame. He wants to love everyone and adore beauty. A bell ringer and his assistant blaspheme about the events and the head priest's cold. For them the ceremony is just a comedy. The high priest warns Julien about the dark side of love and fame: once you've tasted it, life appears all the more gloomy afterwards. Although the fallen poets make themselves felt again, Julien does not let himself be deterred: “Praise be to the lover who weeps, because he has loved!” Now the high priest accepts Julien's wish. His path of suffering should begin.
Scene 3. A celebrant, priests and augurs conjure up “beauty”.
Scene 4. The daughters of dreams, servants of beauty and wise men, and the high priest join in the hymn of praise.
Scene 5. Julien asks the "beauty" to watch over him like a mother over her child. The "Beauty" / Louise admonishes him to beware of pride and to love forever.
Act two. The doubt
A Slavic landscape
On the right a straw hut, on the left a grassy mound and a well. A small bench in front of the hut. A street leads across the stage. Summer afternoon.
Scene 1. After Louise's death, Julien travels alone through the country preaching love and alleviating the suffering of the people. But under the burden of everyday life, nobody wants to listen to him. He was ridiculed and driven out. Disaffected, he is only looking for a place where there is neither hatred nor selfishness. Now he has found shelter in a Slavic country with poor people who groan under the burden of their work. Workers, woodcutters, stone knockers, farmers and a young girl have their say. A farmer advises Julien not to strive for the impossible. He cannot succeed what even God's Son did not succeed. Instead, he should stay with them to find his peace. Julien doesn't think he can regain happiness.
Scene 2. Voices of the night encourage Julien. A young girl tries in vain to comfort him. Her name is also Louise and offers him her friendship and love. Julien refuses because he doesn't want to be disappointed again.
Scene 3. The farmer renews his invitation, but points out that he will not tolerate any affairs in front of his door.
Scene 4. Julien wonders what the future will bring him.
Third act. Impotence
Wild area in Brittany not far from the sea
On the left is a derelict house with a large terrace. Icy fog. Nearby is a way of the cross. A winding road leads to an abyss. Cloudy sky. Autumn.
Scene 1. Julien has returned to his homeland in France. Breton women pray to the Virgin Mary. Julien is desperate.
Scene 2. Julien's grandmother advises him to pray. She reminds him of his late mother. In the background, a chorus of desperate people curses fate. The grandmother accuses her of pride and warns Julien against pride. Julien wonders where she got her wisdom from since she can't even read. He's torn.
Scene 3. Julien ignores his grandmother's advice and curses the futility of human suffering.
Fourth act. Drunkenness
First picture. Secluded nook on the boulevard. A festival nearby
Scene 1. While Julien is looking for oblivion, the celebrating people blaspheme God.
Scene 2. A street girl claims to be a muse and knows a potion that cures all pain. She wants to spend the night outdoors with Julien. Julien turns away from her in disgust.
Scene 3. The girl's resemblance to Louise reminded Julien of his childhood dreams. He regrets wasting so much time on illusions.
Scene 4. Street boys sing a song about the late girl Nina who claimed to have attended mass but instead took an hour of love lessons.
Scene 5. Julien decides to indulge in pleasure and wine from now on.
Scene 6. The bell ringer and his assistant from the first act meet three street girls.
Second picture. Place Blanche on Montmartre
Carnival evening and fair. On the left a cabaret with a large terrace on the street. A sledge is on the square. Front left is the corner of a barrack. In the middle the theater of ideals with the faded fairytale backdrops of the fair. In the background a dance event. The illuminated wings of the Moulin Rouge dominate the scene. Festival and carnival guests. Ten p.m.
Scene 1. A magician praises his performance in which he wants to present the “rarest beauty”. Models and painters' apprentices, clerks, street boys, prostitutes, students, fairies and nymphs celebrate and sing. The voice of a waiter can also be heard. The street girl presents herself as the "beauty", but for Julien beauty has turned out to be a lie. Now completely drunk, he exclaims that there is neither good nor bad and that man is nothing more than a beast of burden.
Scene 2. The magicians, fairies and nymphs watch the frenzy of the crowd that took in Julien's words.
Scene 3. The girl trills.
Scene 4. The chants remind Julien of his youth and the temple of beauty. The daughters of dreams reappear. Julien collapses, exhausted.
layout
In Julien, Charpentier continues the ideas he had already presented in the previous opera Louise . Both operas have the same main characters and contain autobiographical elements - in the case of Julien, the stay in the Villa Medici described in the prologue after winning the “ Prix de Rome ” and the big city life on Montmartre. Both works also have in common the large number of supporting roles.
In contrast to the realistically portrayed opera Louise , Julien mainly consists of imaginary scenes. According to Charpentier, except in the prologue, "Louise and the various characters who surround Julien are less real people than the outward appearances of their inner souls". Julien behaves as a "dark night piece" contrary to the melodramatic Louise . The main theme here is the artist's self-discovery. Models are the station drama such as Strindberg's dream play and the educational and travel novel. Julien's journey, however, only reveals to him his own immaturity.
Instrumentation
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : piccolo (also flute ), two flutes, two oboes , English horn (also oboe), three clarinets , bass clarinet , four bassoons , sarrusophone
- Brass : four horns , four pistons , two trumpets , four trombones , tuba
- Timpani , drums : bass drum , castanets cymbals , triangle , tambourine , tam-tam , glockenspiel , bells in C sharp, E u. A.
- organ
- two harps
- Strings
- Stage music group I: flute piccolo, two pistons, two alto saxophones in E flat , bass saxophone in C.
- Incidental music group II: four trombones, two bass saxophones in Bb, double bass saxophone in Bb, percussion (snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, whistles, mirlitons ), barrel organ
Work history
Charpentier's Julien is a continuation of his thirteen years earlier hit Louise . He integrated his symphonic drama La vie du poète, composed in 1889/99 .
Charles Rousselière (Julien), Marguerite Guiraud-Carré (Louise) and Raymond Boulogne (high priest) sang at the premiere on June 4, 1913 in the Salle Favart of the Opéra-Comique in Paris . Albert Wolff was the musical director, Albert Carré directed, and Lucien Jusseaume was responsible for the set.
The opera could not come close to building on the success of Louise . It was only played 20 times at the Opéra-Comique. In 1914 there were two more productions at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (in French with Geraldine Farrar and Enrico Caruso ) and in Prague in a Czech translation. It was only performed again in 2001 at the Dortmund Theater.
Recordings
- 2001 (live from Dortmund, shortened): Axel Kober (conductor), John Dew (staging), Philharmonic Orchestra Dortmund , choir and extra choir of the Dortmund Theater . Norbert Schmittberg (Julien), Barbara Dobrzanska (Louise / beauty / young girl / Julien's grandmother, hooker), Karl-Heinz Lehner (father of Louise / high priest / farmer / magician), Sonja Borowski-Tudor (mother of Louise / farmer's wife), Jeff Martin (assistant / worker / student / celebrant / voice from the abyss), Hannes Brock (bell ringer / lumberjack / artist / stone knocker / gravedigger / voice from the abyss), Diane Blais (easy girl).
Web links
- Julien : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Theo Hirsbrunner : Julien. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater. Volume 1: Works. Abbatini - Donizetti. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-492-02411-4 , pp. 547-548.
- ↑ a b Richard Langham Smith: Julien. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
- ^ Sebastian Stauss: Between narcissism and self-hatred: the image of the aestheticist artist in the theater of the turn of the century and the interwar period. Walter de Gruyter, 2010, ISBN 978-3-11-023310-0 , p. 61 f. ( online in Google Book Search).
- ↑ Louise. In: Reclam's Opernlexikon. Philipp Reclam jun., 2001. Digital Library, Volume 52, p. 1511.
- ↑ June 4, 1913: “Julien”. In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
- ↑ Gustave Charpentier. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all opera complete recordings. Zeno.org , volume 20.