Joseph Martin KRAUS (1756-1792)
Aeneas in Carthage (Instrumental Music) (1791)
Prologue, Overture [8:13]
Prologue, No. 10 Ballet of Zephyrs [3:17]
Prologue, No. 11 Dance of the Naiads and Tritons [3:56]
Act I, Overture [7:32]
Act I, No. 4a March of the Carthaginians [2:04]
Act I, No. 5a Gavotte [1:32]
Act II, No. 8 Hunting Call [0:30]
Act II, No. 9 The Chase [1:23]
Act II, No. 10 Brotta’s Air [2:36]
Act II, No. 11 Archery Contest [3:04]
Act II, No. 16 Storm [2:56]
Act III, No. 4a March of the Carthaginians [1:22]
Act III, No. 5 March of the Numidians [1:57]
Act III, No. 15a Dance of the Carthaginian Maidens [4:45]
Act III, No. 18 March of the Priests [1:27]
Act IV, No. 8 March of the Roman Soldiers / No. 9 Interlude [2:36]
Act V, No. 1 Introduction [4:18]
Act V, No. 9a Ballet [2:48]
Act V, No. 14 Minuets I and II [2:35]
Act V, No. 15 Chaconne [10:25]
Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä / Patrick Gallois
rec. 20-23 May and 28 May-3 June 2007, Laukaa Church, Jyväskylä, Finland
NAXOS 8.570585 [69:49]
As a number of recent recordings - quite a few of them on Naxos - have evidenced,
Kraus was a considerable composer, a man of real talent, perhaps even of genius.
Haydn’s observation that Kraus was the first man of genius that he met has
often been quoted. Nor was he the only one of Kraus’s contemporaries to recognise
his abilities - Gluck praised him highly too. Frederik Samuel Silverstolpe,
Swedish chargé d’affaires in Vienna and no mean judge in musical matters observed
of the work extracted on this CD (in a letter of 1799) that “if it were translated
and played in other countries, it would make époque in the musical
world”. The late H.C. Robbins Landon wrote in his magisterial Haydn: Chronicle
and Works that “like everything else of Kraus, this opera is of a very
high standard”.
Aeneas in Carthage was first commissioned in 1781, to mark the opening
of the new Royal Opera House in Stockholm. Repeated delays, for reasons beyond
the composer’s control, prevented that and some other planned performances.
Kraus returned to work on the opera more than once during the 1780s and the
last revision appears to have been completed in 1791, the year before his
sadly early death. The composer never saw this magnum opus on the stage –
it was finally premiered on 18 November 1799 at the Royal Opera in Stockholm.
Aeneas in Carthage is a huge work – in a Prologue and Five Acts – which
received eight performances during the two years after its premiere, but never
established itself as part of the operatic canon, more, one suspects, for
the demands it makes on resources than for any intrinsic musical weaknesses.
This valuable CD from Naxos presents the extensive instrumental music which
the work contains. Naturally there is some loss involved in this exercise
– Kraus’s instrumental music is an integral part of a considerably larger
work and all of it takes some of its meaning, at least, from its context(s)
in that work. Excellent booklet notes by Bertil van Boer go a good way – but
necessarily cannot go all the way – towards repairing the inevitable loss.
An English listener encountering an opera devoted to this subject will perhaps
think first of Purcell; he or she would do better, in this case, to think
of Berlioz. It is clear, even from hearing only the instrumental episodes
from the work - and from reading plot summaries of it - that Kraus’s Aeneas
in Carthage is characterised more by the kind of epic scale one associates
with Les Troyens than the relative intimacy of Dido and Aeneas.
The grandness of the whole is evident in much of what can be heard on this
disc - though, there are also some relatively slight pieces which no doubt
perform useful theatrical functions in context. The more than ten minutes
of the finale, a remarkable Chaconne, are a prime instance. This is beautifully
constructed, richly and subtly orchestrated, a powerfully expressive piece
and thoroughly individual. Though one can imagine something of its effect
when heard at the end of so huge an opera, it packs a considerable musical
punch even when heard divorced from its dramatic role - it would make a fine
concert piece. Much the same might be said of the work’s two overtures – one
for the Prologue, one for Act I and the opera proper – full as they are of
vividly dramatic, and eminently theatrical, music, but also rewarding when
listened to on their own.
A few of the pieces, such as the March and the Gavotte from Act I, are pretty
insubstantial, when heard as ‘absolute’ music. But such items are much outweighed
by the fascinating and satisfying music to be heard in, say, the Storm music
from Act II - which invites comparison with other more famous representations
of the same episode - or the intriguing tripartite Dance of the Carthaginian
Maidens in Act III. Most of the slighter pieces are not without their attractions,
either; there is much pleasure to be had, for example, from the contrast between
Act III’s March of the Carthaginians, composed of dignified and solemn string
writing, and the March of the Numidians which follows it, full of cymbals
and assorted percussion, trumpets, piccolos and a general air of the quasi-‘Turkish’
exotic.
Inevitably this is in some ways a frustrating disc – one longs to hear (see?)
the whole work. But there is plenty here to be going on with. The Sinfonia
Finlandia Jyväskylä, conducted by Patrick Gallois play with vivacity and discipline
and Kraus’s wide palette of orchestral sound and effect is captured in a first
class recording. A joy from beginning to end - several times over!
Glyn Pursglove