Padmâvatî (opera)
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| Title: | Padmâvatî |
Poster of the premiere from 1923 |
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| Shape: | Opéra-ballet in two acts |
| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Albert Roussel |
| Libretto : | Louis Laloy |
| Literary source: | Théodore Marie Pavie: La légende de Padmanî |
| Premiere: | June 1, 1923 |
| Place of premiere: | Salle Garnier of the Paris Opera |
| Playing time: | approx. 1 ½ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Chittor ( Rajasthan ), around 1300 |
| people | |
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Padmâvatî is a ballet opera (Op. 18; original name: "Opéra-ballet") in two acts by Albert Roussel (music) with a libretto by Louis Laloy . The premiere took place on June 1, 1923 in the Salle Garnier of the Paris Opera .
action
The plot of the opera is based on the true story of Padmâvatî, the Queen of Chittor , who ruled around 1300.
first act
A place in Chittor; back left the royal palace with a terrace
Scene 1. After weeks of siege of the city of Chittor by the Mongolian Sultan Alaouddin, there is finally a prospect of peace. Alaouddin and his entourage come to the city to negotiate with the Maharajah Ratan-Sen. At first the population reacted in panic at the sight of the enemy. The palace steward Goro and a security guard restore calm by explaining the situation. A merchant and a woman commemorate the atrocities committed by the Mongols. Badal, the Maharaja's envoy, reported that Mongolian troops and war elephants were sighted in the vicinity of the city. He and Goro want to warn the Maharajah of a possible betrayal.
Scene 2. Alaouddin and his entourage, including a Brahmin, are solemnly received by the Maharajah and Badal. Ratan-Sen offers his guest an alliance drink. Alaouddin defends himself against what he believes is unnecessary rush. He asks to be introduced to the beauties of the palace. Ratan-Sen then has various dances performed. Alaouddin comments on a dance by warriors that they did not seem dangerous. At the subsequent appearance of the slaves, he criticized that they were not locals. When Ratan-Sen replies that their own wives are not allowed to show themselves to unbelievers in this way, Alaouddin says that, as his brahmin confirms, he is no longer an unbeliever. The ladies-in-waiting now also perform a dance. However, Alaouddin is still not satisfied as the famous Padmâvatî is not among them - the wife Ratan-Sens. While the Brahmin extols her beauty in the highest tones, Ratan-Sen Badal signals to be fetched from the palace.
Scene 3. When Padmâvatî appears on a balcony of the palace, she is praised by the young Nakamti and a voice from the crowd. Alaouddin asks her to drop her veil, which she does after a wink from Ratan-Sens. Alaouddin is so overwhelmed by her beauty that the Brahmin sees no more possibility of continuing the negotiations. Alaouddin promises to come back the next day. He leaves with his entourage; only the Brahmin remains. A warrior, a craftsman and a merchant recognize the Brahmin: he was once arrested under the queen's window and chased out of the city. The Brahmin tells Badal that he still has a message to deliver from the Sultan: If Padmâvatî is not extradited, the Mongols will destroy the city. Ratan-Sen and Gora call for the guards immediately. The brahmin curses the city and the queen. He is stoned to death by the angry crowd.
Scene 4. While the people rush to arms, Padmâvatî appears on the terrace. She regrets that she could not save the Brahmin and fears that after this first death a storm of violence will break out. She would rather die than be separated from her husband.
Second act
The shady interior of the Shiva temple
In the background the huge statue of the god; in the base there is access to a crypt; Doors left, right and rear; front left a bloody stone slab; front right a white marble seat
Scene 1. Chittor's troops are threatened with defeat in battle. Padmâvatî and the priests took refuge in the temple of Lord Shiva . While the priests pray in the underground crypt and light a sacrificial fire, Padmâvatî pleads for rescue in the upper area. The priests come out. You interviewed Shiva's white and black girls. A priest reports that they were promised a "supreme sacrifice" at daybreak. Padmâvatî believes that she herself is meant. She is ready to die, but the priest replies that there will be more than one sacrifice.
Scene 2. Ratan-Sen comes in badly wounded and reports that the last fortification has fallen. Alaouddin had granted a truce until morning. If his condition is not met by then, he will destroy the entire city. Ratan-Sen has sworn to Shiva to save his people. He therefore asks his wife to surrender herself to the enemy. However, Padmâvatî does not want to be separated from her husband under any circumstances. She draws her dagger and stabs Ratan-sen with the words that they will be united in death. Then she calls the priests to make the final sacrifice: According to Hindu beliefs, she must be cremated after her husband's death .
Scene 3. Priests and court ladies appear for the sacrificial ceremony. Ratan-Sens's body is carried in. The women gather around Padmâvatî. She asks her faithful sisters not to cry for them. The priests begin with ceremonial chants. A sequence of pantomimes and dances follows. The sacrificial fire is lit. Smoke rises. The priests summon the six “ambassadors of Shiva”: the four white girls, Prithivi , Parvati , Ouma and Gaouri, who are reminiscent of vampires, and the two black girls Kâli and Dourga . The white girls approach the dead, but are initially driven away by the priests. The two black circles dance closer and closer to Padmâvatî until she jumps aside in terror and the girls disappear. The priests summon the deities again, who now lead Padmâvatî to the stake. When Sultan Alaouddin enters the temple at dawn, all he sees is smoke rising from the crypt.
layout
In contrast to many other operas about exotic subjects (examples are Meyerbeer's L'Africaine , Gomes' Il Guarany or Puccini's Madama Butterfly ), there is no conflict between locals and western culture, but deals with a purely local story. The maharaja's two wives, who are burned as widows in the original, are here reduced to a single maharani. Unlike in Louis Spohr's opera Jessonda, the ritual of widow burning is not criticized from a European enlightenment point of view.
Roussel had a preference for mixed forms. His works have names like "Opéra-ballet", "Conte-lyrique" or "Ballet-pantomime". The focus of this opera is not the “development of characters or the depth of expression”, but the exotic and the diversity of the means used. The authors consciously distanced themselves from Richard Wagner's musical drama or Meyerbeer's Grand opéra . Exotic fabrics also enjoyed great popularity in France at the beginning of the 20th century and inspired most of the French composers of the time. Padmâvatî is closer to ballet than to opera. The plot continues to develop in the dance scenes. Examples of this are the dance performances in the second scene of the first act. The design of the death by fire in the final scene is reminiscent of the Didon death scene in Hector Berlioz's opera Les Troyens . In both works the solo scene is accompanied by the choir - in Les Troyens by Vok Karthagos, who swore vengeance, in Roussel by the ritual chants of the priests.
On February 7, 1928, Roussel wrote the musicologist and composer Maurice Emmanuel that he had used exotic modes in music . Brahmin singing, for example, uses a minor- based scale with a raised subdominant and two closing semitone steps (d – e – f – gis – a – his – cis – d). In many places Roussel used oriental music that he had sketched on his travels. The dance of the female slaves in the first act goes back to an Arabic song that Roussel got to know in Algeria. Individual intervals serve to characterize certain thematic motifs: a falling fourth stands for the city of Chittor, a rising fourth for the love of the heroine. The choral treatment is highly original: some passages do not use words at all or use incantations and mantras from the original language.
orchestra
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : four flutes (3rd and 4th also Piccolo ), three oboes , English horn , small clarinet , two clarinets , bass clarinet , three bassoons
- Brass : four horns , four trumpets , three trombones , tuba
- three timpani , percussion : bass drum , Basque drum, cymbals , triangle , tambourine , tam-tam
- Celesta
- two harps
- Strings ( double basses five strings )
- Incidental music : trumpet
Work history
Albert Roussel was particularly fond of Asian subjects. In the years 1909/1910 he went on a long journey with his wife through India and Southeast Asia, during which he sketched the local music. He used this material in his subsequent works such as the orchestral suite Évocations from 1911 and in his ballet opera Padmâvatî. Even before his travels, Roussel had felt drawn to mixed forms of dance and singing, as he revealed after a visit to Édouard Lalo's ballet Namouna . The impetus for the composition of Padmâvatî was provided by the then director of the Paris Opera, Jacques Rouché , who asked Roussel for a major stage work after the enormous success of his ballet pantomime Le festin de l'araignée, which he performed in 1913 . Roussel recommended the story of the Padmâvatî, whom he had met in Chittor. He started working on the work in December 1913.
The libretto is by Louis Laloy . It is based on Théodore Marie Pavie's La légende de Padmanî, reine de Chittor, d'après les textes hindis et hindouis from 1856. Its originals are in turn the epic poetry Padmavat, histoire de Padmavat, reine de Chittor, en vers hindoustan (around 1540) by Jayasi Malik-Mohammad and the Legend of the Padmanee Wife of the Ranal of Tchittor, Including the Attack on Tchittorgurh by Allauddin on Her Account and the Actions of Gorah and Badul on Her Defense (um 1620) by Djatmal. During the First World War, Roussel was used as a driver and had to pause composing. At this point the particell was almost finished. In 1918 he was discharged from military service due to illness. He completed the score on November 28, 1918. However, due to the poor financial situation of the opera house and its director, it took several years until the premiere.
The premiere took place on June 1, 1923 in the Salle Garnier of the Paris Opera in a production by Pierre Chéreau with a stage design by Louis Valdo-Barbey . The choreography came from Léo Staats . Philippe Gaubert was the musical director . Ketty Lapeyrette (Padmâvatî), Paul Franz (Ratan-Sen), Édouard Roux “Rouard” (Alaouddin), Henri Fabert (Brahmin), Dalerant (Gora), Mario Podestà (Badal), Jeanne Laval (Nakamti), Soria ( Guardian), Armand-Émile Narçon (priest), Andrée Marilliet (1st lady-in-waiting), Madeleine Lalande (2nd lady-in-waiting), Dagnelly (1st slave and woman from the people), Marcelle Denya (2nd slave and young girl), Gaston Dubois (warrior), Georges Regis (merchant) and Peyre (craftsman). Anna Johnsson (lady-in-waiting), Alice Bourgat (Dourga), Suzanne Lorcia (Kâli), Jeanne Schwarz (slave) and Gustave Ricaux (warrior) are known by name of the dancers.
The performance was received with enthusiasm by both the audience and the critics, although the Parisian taste in music had already changed in the ten years since the beginning of the composition. However, concerns have been expressed about the hybrid form between opera and ballet. There were revivals at the Paris Opera in 1925, 1927, 1931 and 1946. Ketty Lapeyrette sang the title role until 1931. In 1946 this was taken over by Hélène Bouvier . Bouvier also sang the role in Buenos Aires in 1949. This was followed by productions in Naples (1952, conductor: André Cluytens , choreography: Bianca Gallizia, stage: Erté , Padmâvatî: Solange Michel), in Strasbourg (1967 and 1978) and at the Coliseum London (1969, conductor: Jean Martinon , Padmâvatî: Rita Gorr , Alaouddin: Gérard Souzay ). In 1982/83 a CD was produced under the musical direction of Michel Plasson with Marilyn Horne in the title role, Nicolai Gedda as Ratan-Sen and José van Dam as Alaouddin. In 1997 the work was staged by John Dew with a choreography by Mei Hong Lin at the Dortmund Opera (conductor: Anton Marik ; stage: Thomas Gruber, costumes: José Manuel Vazques).
Recordings
- 1949 - Ferruccio Calusio (conductor), orchestra and choir of the Teatro Colón Buenos Aires.
Hélène Bouvier (Padmâvatî), Tyge Tygesen (Ratan-Sen), Felipe Romito (Alaouddin), Humberto di Toto (Badal), Zaira Negroni (Nakamti).
Live from Buonos Aires.
OOA 4121 (2 CDs). - Jul. 23, 1968 - Georges Pretre (conductor), orchestra and choir of the Teatro Colón Buenos Aires.
Lyne Dourian (Padmâvatî), Jon Vickers (Ratan-Sen), Angelo Mattiello (Alaouddin), Eugenio Valori (Brahmin), Guy Gallardo (Gora), Eduardo Sarramida (Badal), Noemi Souza (Nakamti), Orazio Mastrango (Guardian), Juan Zanin (priest), María Altamura and Tatiana Zlatar (court ladies), Margot Arrillaga and Tota de Igarzábal (women from the people), Per Drewsen (warrior), Enzo Espósito (merchant), Osvaldo Cesari (craftsman).
Live from Buonos Aires.
Charles Handelman - Live Opera 04006. - Jul. 06 , 1969 - Jean Martinon (conductor), London Symphony Orchestra , BBC Symphony Chorus.
Rita Gorr (Padmâvatî), Albert Lance (Ratan-Sen), Gérard Souzay (Alaouddin), Gérard Dunan (Brahmin), Neilson Taylor (Gora), Philip Langridge (Badal), Jane Berbié (Nakamti), Edward Byles (Guardian), Franklyn Whiteley (priests), Meriel Dickinson and Marion Dodd (ladies-in-waiting), Leslie Fry (warrior), Cyril Somers (merchant), Gordon Farral (craftsman).
Live, in concert from the London Coliseum .
MRF LP: MRF 141-S (2 LPs), Gala GL 100.573 (2 CDs). - 1982/1983 - Michel Plasson (conductor), Orchester National du Capitole de Toulouse , Orfeon Donostiarra.
Marilyn Horne (Padmâvatî), Nicolai Gedda (Ratan-Sen), José van Dam (Alaouddin), Charles Burles (Brahmin), Marc Vento (Gora), Laurence Dale (Badal), Jane Berbié (Nakamti), Thierry Dran (Guardian) , Jean-Jacques Cubaynes (priest), Martine Mahé and Elena Perez (ladies-in-waiting), Henry Amiel (warrior), Hugues Branbilla (merchant), Gerard Blatt (craftsman).
Studio shot.
EMI Pathé CD: NA, EMI Pathé LP: 1731773, EMI CLASSICS 3 81867 2 (2 CDs).
Web links
- Padmâvatî, Op.18 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Piano reduction, 1919. Digitized in the Internet archive
- Libretto (French) on indereunion.net
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b 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. 449–452.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Michael Stegemann: Padmâvatî. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 5: Works. Piccinni - Spontini. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1994, ISBN 3-492-02415-7 , pp. 465-467.
- ↑ a b Padmâvatî program . Theater Dortmund, season 1996/1997.
- ↑ a b c d Richard Langham Smith : Padmâvatî. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
- ↑ a b c Christoph Schlüren: Foreword to the edition of the study score ( online ).
- ↑ June 1, 1923: "Roussel". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
- ↑ Karsten Steiger: Opera discography. Directory of all audio and video recordings. 2nd, fully updated and expanded task. KG Sauer, Munich 2008/2011, ISBN 978-3-598-11784-8 , p. 418.
- ↑ a b c Charles Roussel. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all complete opera recordings (= Zeno.org . Volume 20). Directmedia, Berlin 2005.