Victor MASSÉ (1822-1884)
Galathée (1852)
Pygmalion — Andrei Gresse (bass)
Midas — Alex Jouvin (tenor)
Ganymède — Albert Vauguet (tenor)
Galathée — Jane Morlet (soprano)
Orchestra and chorus of the Opéra-Comique, Paris/Émile Archainbaud
rec. c.1912, Paris
Les noces de Jeannette (1853)
Jeanette — Ninon Vallin (soprano)
Jean — Léon Ponzio (baritone)
Thomas — M. Laurent
Pierre — Mme de. Busson
Orchestra and chorus of the Opéra-Comique, Paris/Laurent Halet
rec. 1922, Paris
Appendix
Galathée
Tristes amours! -Marie Charbonnel (con) as Pygmalion; ca. 1910; TRIANON (7411) 7411O Vénus - Suzanne Brohly (ms) as Pygmalion; 8 February 1922; GRAMOPHONE (CE238-1) 033225
Aimons! Il faut aimer - Rose Heilbronner (so) as Galathée and Joachim Cerdan (bs) as Pygmalion; 17 December 1912; GRAMOPHONE
Ah! Qu’il est doux de ne rien faire - Georges Régis (te) as Ganymède; 27 December 1910; GRAMOPHONE (16197u) 4-32224
Mais quels transports nouveaux? - Lise Landouzy (so) as Galathée; ca. 1911; ODÉON (XP5527) X56227
Ah! Qu’il est doux de ne rien faire - Georges Régis (te) as Ganymède; 27 December 1910; GRAMOPHONE (16197u) 4-32224
Enfin me voilà seul - André Baugé (ba) as Jean; 19 May 1921; GRAMOPHONE (03446v/03447v) W411
Les noces de Jeannette
Enfin me voilà seul - Gabriel Soulacroix (ba) as Jean; July 1900; GRAMOPHONE
(1020G) 32879
Enfin me voilà seul - André Baugé (ba) as Jean; 19 May 1921; GRAMOPHONE (03446v/03447v)
W411
Parmi tant d’amoureux - Lise Landouzy (so) as Jeannette; ca. 1905; PHRYNIS
2-MINUTE CYLINDER (10401)
Margot, Margot, lève ton sabot - Alexis Ghasne (ba) as Jean; 1907; APGA (1736)
1736 Halte-là, s’il vous plaît!- Yvonne Brothier (so) as Jeannette and André
Baugé (ba) as Jean; 24 May 1921; GRAMOPHONE (03451v/0345
Ah! Vous ne savez pas, ma chère - Berthe César (so) as Jeanette and Louis
Dupouy (ba) as Jean; 5 September 1912; GRAMOPHONE (17306u)
Cours, mon aiguille, dans la laine [Romance de l’aiguille] - Jeanne Daffetye
(so) as Jeannette; June 1907; GRAMOPHONE (6759o) 33820
Au bord du chemin [Air du rossignol, part 1 only] - Jeanne Leclerc (so) as
Jeannette; 1905; ODÉON (XP1623) 36126
Au bord du chemin ... Pour entendre mieux [Air du rossignol] - Georgette Bréjean-Silver
(so) as Jeannette; ca. 1907; ODÉON (XP3267/3268) X56071/56073
Allons, je veux qu’on s’assoie - Nelly Martyl (so) as Jeannette and Louis
Dupouy (ba) as Jean; 23 November 1911; GRAMOPHONE (02228v)
No texts.
MARSTON 53010-2 [3 CDs: 76:43 + 75:56 + 77:10] 
Marston is making its inexorable way through Pathé’s remarkable, acoustically
recorded opera series. The recording began with Carmen in 1911 and
ended with Massenet’s Manon in 1923. In between there was a series
of outstanding complete sets, mostly of canonic works, but also including
three that are little known today. One was Nouguès’ Les Frères Danilo,
recorded in 1912-13, and the other two are contained in this exquisitely produced
three CD set. Both are by the once exceptionally popular Victor Massé. Galathée
was composed in 1852 and was recorded in around 1912, whereas Les noces
de Jeannette is the product of sessions in 1922. Both are exceedingly
rare now, and their appearance here is not simply logical but is made even
more valuable by virtue of the appendix, which contains other performances
of the music from both operas. It’s an index of the popularity of both works
that not only were complete opera sets made, but that so many other isolated
extracts exist of music from them too.
Both works were acclaimed at the Opéra-Comique. They need singers immersed
in the style, singers able to give life, and idiomatic life at that, to the
numerous spoken passages. Galathée is the less well known of the two,
whereas Les noces de Jeannette was an immense hit for the composer,
but listening to them side by side, as it were, gives one an opportunity to
acknowledge Massé’s sheer consistency of invention, and to admire the singers
who undertook these two pioneering recordings.
The reinforcement of brass basses is most apparent in Galathée but
it’s also notable just how well balanced is the solo harp, for instance, and
the balance between voice and orchestra is good — albeit Pathé was maddeningly
inconsistent in recording quality. There is minimal stage craft but there
is some — there’s a door knocking scene leading to the first spoken text near
the beginning of the first Act. As an investigation into prevailing spoken
style, into the contemporary Opéra-Comique approach, this is a fascinating
document. All four singers are personable. Albert Vaguet is the best known,
a much recorded tenor. Alex Jouvin’s articulation is a touch eccentric, so
too his divisions and stage laugh but he makes a strong aural impression.
André Gresse had been recording for a decade by this time, and his confident,
authoritative presence is cemented by an equally attractive and theatrically
convincing spoken style. Whereas in years to come, much nearer our own time
and on LP, actors were employed in scenes such as this, here we have no such
mismatch between song and speech. In the title role is Jane Morlet, whose
first appearance is teasingly delayed — the story incidentally is effectively
that of Pygmalion — and who demonstrates real stylistic assurance and textual
nuance. Ensembles exude fun and wit, the texts are taken crisply and with
buoyant internal rhythm.
Ninon Vallin is the star of Les noces de Jeanette, but on no account
overlook León Ponzio, her Jean, who brings élan, style, and immense vocal
charisma to his role. She, meanwhile, sings with clarity and directness, though
genuine badinage and wit is not really her province, splendidly though she
sings as such. Once again the spoken scenes are excellent, ensembles too,
though I miss in Vallin a little of what Morlet brought a decade earlier.
The two smaller parts are well taken, though the Thomas, one M. Laurent, seems
to have escaped biographers to such an extent that his Christian name is unknown.
The quality of the recording had necessarily improved and Pathé seems to have
become a touch more consistent by this time, unless that’s an aural illusion
provided by Ward Marston’s tremendous transfers. Still, the pealing bell effect
in Act II registers clearly and the clarity of articulation in sung and spoken
scenes is high indeed.
The Appendix gives us 17 separate songs from both operas in recordings dating
from 1900-22. Some of the greatest names in French singing are here in rare
discs. Marie Charbonnel survives a rough sounding c.1910 Trianon whilst Suzanne
Brohly reminds us in her 1922 disc that the role of Pygmalion in Galathée
was originally to have been that of a mezzo. Rose Heilbronner’s French
Gramophone disc was pretty much contemporary with the 1912 Pathé set, but
her disc is immeasurably better recorded, though neither she nor Joachim Cerdan
can match the Pathé singers for personality. It’s very valuable to find the
little known soprano Marie-Louise Martini in her 1909 APGA, but it’s also
good to find so eminent a soprano as Lise Landouzy too in her c.1911 Odéon.
Jane Marignan’s 1905 Pathé has one of those rinky-dink Parisian piano recordings
— could it have been pitch stabilised? — whereas the great Gabriel Soulacroix,
recorded in 1900, five years before his death, suffers no such trouble in
his extract from Les noces de Jeanette. Others to impress include the
imaginative and exciting Louis Dupouy, and the similarly talented Alexis Ghasne.
Georgette Bréjean-Silver is rather weak-toned in her extract.
This three disc set is aimed squarely at specialists in French opera on disc.
As such it is a niche set, but that’s pretty much a given, since almost all
Marston discs appeal to the specialist collector of one sort or another. The
project has been realised with outstanding intelligence and application, and
is recommendable in every respect.
Jonathan Woolf
Aimed squarely at specialists in French opera on disc. Realised with outstanding
intelligence and application.