La descente d'Orphée aux enfers
| Work data | |
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| Title: | La descente d'Orphée aux enfers |
| Shape: | Opera in two acts |
| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Marc-Antoine Charpentier |
| Libretto : | unknown |
| Literary source: | Ovid : Metamorphoses |
| Premiere: | 1686/1687 |
| Place of premiere: | Salon of the Mlle. De Guise or the "Madame de Guise" |
| Playing time: | Around 1 hour |
| Place and time of the action: | Mythical time |
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La descente d'Orphée aux enfers is an opera (H. 488) by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (music) from 1686/1687 with a libretto by an unknown author based on the tenth book of Ovid's Metamorphoses . It is unclear whether the two surviving acts form the complete work , whether the opera was never completed, or whether a part has been lost.
action
first act
Scene 1. Daphné , Énone , Aréthuze , Euridice and other nymphs celebrate the marriage of Euridice and Orphées with comparisons from nature. Euridice asks her friends not to trample the spring flowers, but to tie a wreath out of them, which she wants to put on Orphée's head. The cheerful mood is suddenly interrupted when Euridice is bitten by a snake. At first, Énone believes that she has stung her thorns and still teases her. But Euridice sinks to the ground, dying.
Scene 2. Orphée, who is celebrating with a group of shepherds, rushes to her but can no longer do anything for her. The mourning shepherds and nymphs mourn their death. Orphée no longer wants to live without her.
Scene 3. The god Apollon persuades his son Orphée to commit suicide. He advises him to descend into the underworld and to induce the power there through his singing and his lyre to give him back his beloved.
Second act
Scene 1. In the underworld, the three “guilty shadows” Ixion , Tantale and Titye lament their fate of having to suffer the same torments forever.
Scene 2. Orphée appears and tells the three wailers to be silent. Their sufferings are nothing compared to his lot. His poignant singing actually makes them pause and forget their own torment. Orphée hopes he can impress Pluton in the same way. The spirits of the underworld beg him to use his music to ease their pain.
Scene 3. Angry about the disruption in his kingdom, Pluton appears with his wife Proserpine and a group of blissful spirits. Orphée assures him that he does not want to question his rule, but only to ask for the return of his beloved Euridice. Proserpine is touched by his "sweet complaints". She asks him to tell his story. Orphée reports on the death of Euridice. Pluton points out to him that none of the spirits subordinate to him will ever return from the realm of the dead. Proserpine and the spirits ask him to give Euridice a deadline because Parze has cut her “thread of life” prematurely. When Orphée assures him that sooner or later she will definitely return to him, Pluton feels compassionate. Orphée reminds him of his own love for Proserpine, which he once kidnapped into the underworld. Pluto then gives way. Orphée is allowed to take Euridice with him out of the realm of shadows on the condition that he never looks back at her on the way out.
Scene 4. The chorus of blessed and damned shadows, furies and spirits lament the departure of Orphée, who had offered a welcome relief from their torments. All you have left is the memory of the feelings aroused by his singing.
layout
The genre of opera cannot be clearly assigned. It is not a tragedy lyrique , as it has no prologue and significantly fewer than five acts. The dances included suggest a comedie ballet . But there are also - especially in the first act - clear characteristics of a pastoral opera .
In contrast to Ovid's original, Orphée noticed the misfortune that happened to Euridice by chance. The messenger is omitted. Instead, the librettist added a few nymphs and shepherds in the first act. As in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo , Orphée's father Apollon intervenes in the plot. He prevents his son from committing suicide and advises him to bring Euridice back from the underworld.
The works composed by Charpentier for Mlle. De Guise were usually performed as part of musical evening parties in private households and therefore have significantly smaller dimensions than the great operas of the genre Tragédie lyrique played in theaters . With 1366 bars, La descente d'Orphée aux enfers is the longest of these works and also has a comparatively large instrumental line-up. This consists of two flutes ( recorder and flute ), two violins or Tenorviolen and bass (Bass Viola and harpsichord ). Orphée and Euridice are assigned certain characterizing instruments, depending on the respective scene. The two flutes always play with Euridice's performances. In the upper world, Orphée is accompanied by two violins, the first of which is expressly referred to in the score as the violin of Orpheus - in the underworld by two viols.
Charpentier assigned the different keys to certain moods in his music, which he called “Énergie des modes” and which also play an important role here. The opera begins with a two-part overture in the "happy pastoral" A major - a march and a more agitated contrapuntal dance in three time, which are repeated in each case. After the snakebite the key changes to the "tenderly plaintive" A minor. For the lament of the choir (“Oh! Comble des malheurs!”) Charpentier uses a chord with a ninth, seventh and an excessive fifth. Euridice's farewell ("Orphée, adieu, je meurs") is marked by a falling minor third - an interval that the composer later also used in the death of Creuse in Médée and in David's lamentation of the death of Jonathas in David et Jonathas . After a clear turning point, Orphée reacts with his recitative “Ah! Bergers, c'en est fait ”above a bass line made up of four descending tones - a“ lamentation symbol ”popular at the time. This passage only differs in rhythm from the introduction to the Magnificat à 3 voix (H. 73). Orphée's grief at the end of this scene is striking because of its chromaticism . The appearance of Apollo in the following scene is accompanied by a "cheerful, warlike" C major.
The second act begins with a short instrumental introduction. After the lament of the three damned souls, a prelude for two viols announces the appearance of Orphées. From then on, the viols accompany his singing, which immediately alleviates the agony of the damned - marked by a change from the key of F major (“angry-heated”) to B flat major (“splendid-happy”). Encouraged by this, Orphée switches to the key of C major previously used by Apollon. After Pluton's appearance, the key scheme becomes the most important design feature of music. Cessac describes the sequence as follows:
- Orphée: "Eurydice n'est plus" - D minor (serious and pious)
- Pluton: “Le destin est contraire” - D minor
- Proserpine and choir: "Ah, puisque avant le temps" - A major (happy and rural)
- Orphée: "Tu ne la perdras point" - F major (angry and quick-tempered)
- Pluton: "Quel charme impérieux" - B flat major (splendid and happy)
- Proserpine and choir: “Courage, Orphée” - F major
- Orphée: "Souviens-toi du larcin" - G major (cautiously happy)
- Pluton: "Je cède, je me rends aimable" - D major (happy and very warlike)
- Orphée: “Amour, brûlant amour” - A major
The second act and possibly the whole opera conclude with a “ Sarabande légère” in D major (“joyful and very bellicose”).
Work history
Charpentier's opera La descente d'Orphée aux enfers (H 488) was written at the end of 1686 to the beginning of 1687 on behalf of the House of Guise , for which the composer worked at the time. It is based on Book 10 of Ovid's Metamorphoses . This is Charpentier's second occupation with this subject, since a few years earlier he had composed his cantata Orphée descendant aux enfers (H 471) for three male voices (Orpheus, Tantalus and Ixion), which is now regarded as the first French cantata. The librettist of his opera is not known. It is a chamber opera that was probably only performed once in concert form in the salon of the Mlle. De Guise or its younger relative, the “Madame de Guise”. The composition was not published as a print at the time. It is preserved as a manuscript in Volume XIII of Charpentier's Mélanges autographes .
The names of the performers are abbreviated in the manuscript: "Guy.", "Tal.", "Isab.", "Bri.", "Gd. M. "," Anth. "," Charp. "," Boss. "," Beaup. "," Carl. "," Anth. "," Pierot "," Loullié "[sic]. Accordingly, M. Anthoine sang the title role, while Charpentier himself took over the part of Ixion. The instrumentalists identifiable in the will of the Mlle. De Guise included Étienne Loulié , Toussaint Collin, Nicolas Montailly and Anne “Manon” Jacquet, a sister of the composer Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre who was employed as a chambermaid and “fille de la musique” . “Anth.” And “Pierot” are probably the flutist brothers Antoine and Pierre Pièche - musicians of the king who strengthened the de Guise ensemble if necessary. The different choirs of the opera were composed of the vocal soloists themselves, who possibly also appeared as dancers.
The end of the opera remains open. Since there is no evidence of a third act, it is conceivable that the opera was never completed. Modern research, however, usually assumes that the conclusion has been lost.
Recordings
- 1995 - William Christie (conductor), Les Arts Florissants .
Patricia Petibon (Daphné and Énone), Katalin Károlyi (Aréthuze), Sophie Daneman (Euridice), Paul Agnew (Orphée), Jean-Francois Gardeil (Apollon and Titye), François Piolino (Tantale), Steve Dugardin (Ixion), Fernand Bernard (Pluton), Monique Zanetti (Proserpine).
Studio shot.
Erato 0630-11913-2 (1 CD). - May 23, 1995 - Cast as in the 1995 studio recording.
Live from the Royal Versailles Opera . - 1-6 July 2013 - Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs (conductors), Boston Early Music Festival Vocal & Chamber Ensemble.
Teresa Wakim (Daphné and Aréthuze), Dorothee Mields (Énone and Proserpine), Amanda Forsythe (Euridice), Aaron Sheehan (Orphée), Jesse Blumberg (Apollon and Titye), Zachary Wilder (Tantale), Jason McStoots (Ixion), Douglas Williams (Pluton).
Studio recording from the Sendesaal Bremen , cooperation between Radio Bremen , the Boston Early Music Festival and the label cpo .
Awarded “Best Opera Recording” at the 2015 Grammy Awards .
Awarded the ECHO Klassik 2015 as “Opera recording of the year” in the category “Opera by 17./18. Century".
cpo 777 876-2. - 2014 - Hernán Schvartzman (conductor), Serge van Veggel (staging), Thom Stuart (choreography), Herbert Janse (stage design), Joost van Wijmen (costumes), Uri Rapaport (lighting), Baroque ensemble Opera2day, Vox Luminis , De Dutch Don 't Dance Division.
Zsuzsi Tóth (Daphné), Amélie Renglet (Énone), Victoria Cassano (Aréthuze), Sophie Junker (Euridice), Reinoud van Mechelen (Orphée), Lionel Meunier (Apollon), Geoffroy Buffière (Pluton), Stephanie True (Proserpine), Marine Friborg (mezzo-soprano), Raphael Höhn (alto), Robert Buckland (tenor).
Supplemented by other pieces by Charpentier; Overall title: La troupe d'Orphée.
Video from the Grote Kerk in The Hague.
Transmission within the Opera Platform. - 2016 - Sébastien Daucé (conductor), Ensemble Correspondances .
Violaine Le Chenadec (Daphné), Caroline Dangin-Bardot (Énone), Caroline Arud (Aréthuze), Caroline Weynants (Euridice), Robert Getchell (Orphée), Étienne Bazola (Apollon and Titye), Davy Cornillot (Tantale), Stephen Collardelle ( Ixion), Nicolas Brooymans (Pluton), Lucile Richardot (Proserpine).
Recording from the MC2 in Grénoble.
Harmonia Mundi HMM 902279. - 2017 - Ronan Khalil (conductor), Ensemble Desmarest.
Maïlys de Villoutreys (Daphné), Jeanne Crousaud (Énone), Dagmar Saskova (Aréthuze), Céline Scheen (Euridice), Cyril Auvity (Orphée), Virgile Ancely (Apollon and Titye), Guillaume Gutierrez (Tantale), Kevin Skelton (Ixion) , Etienne Bazola (Pluton), Floriane Hasler (Proserpine).
Glossa GCD 923602.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Clarissa Renner: La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers by Marc-Antoine Charpentier on musikwissenschaft-leipzig.com, accessed on January 4, 2018.
- ↑ a b c d e f Hugh Wiley Hitchcock , I. Trautmann (transl.): Work information in the supplement to the CD Erato 0630-11913-2, pp. 13-16.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Catherine Cessac : Marc-Antoine Charpentier. English translation: E. Thomas Glasow. Amadeus Press, Portland 1995, ISBN 0-931340-80-2 (Original: Librairie Arthème Fayard, Paris 1988).
- ↑ a b Marc-Antoine Charpentier. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all complete opera recordings (= Zeno.org . Volume 20). Directmedia, Berlin 2005.
- ^ Marc-Antoine Charpentier: La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers; La Couronne de Fluers - Boston Early Music Festival Vocal Ensemble, Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble. CD information from Allmusic , accessed January 4, 2017.
- ↑ La troupe d'Orphée on the Opera Platform website (video no longer available) ( Memento of July 4, 2017 in the Internet Archive ).
- ^ Charpentier: La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers - Sébastien Daucé, Ensemble Correspondances. CD information from Allmusic , accessed on December 16, 2016.
- ↑ Bernard Postiau: Charpentier: Orphée aux Enfers descend. Review of the recording by Ronan Khalil (French) . In: Crescendo Magazine, September 21, 2018, accessed May 1, 2019.