Jean-Baptiste LULLY (1632-1687)
Persée 1770 (Collection "Château de Versailles")
Mathias Vidal - Persée
Hélène Guilmette - Andromède
Katherine Watson - Mérope
Tassis Christoyannis - Phinée
Jean Teitgen - Céphée, une Divinité Infernale
Chantal Santon-Jeffery - Un Éthiopien, Une Nymphe Guerrière, Vénus
Marie Lenormand - Cassiope
Cyrille Dubois - Un Éthiopien, Mercure
Marie Kalinine - Méduse
Thomas Dolié - Un Éthiopien, Un Cyclope, Sténone, Un Triton
Zachary Wilder - Euryale
Chorus and Orchestra of Le Concert Spirituel/Hervé Niquet
rec. Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles, France, 15 & 16 April, 2016
ALPHA 967 [54:05 + 53:39]
I have seven or eight operatic works by Jean-Baptiste.
Ever since I first heard Christophe Rousset’s wonderful recording
of Persée on Astrée Naïve (E 8874), it has always been one
of my favourites, so I was intrigued by a version of this masterpiece
conceived some eighty three years after the composer’s death.
I enjoyed the performance of this later version, but I feel that the
tinkering with this work has actually detracted from the original rather
than enhanced it.
The original vision of this work, as it was first performed in 1682,
was based upon the Metamorphoses of Ovid. By all accounts,
the performance greatly amused the King, Louis XIV. The depiction of
Medusa and her two sisters especially reminded him of the triple alliance
of the United Provinces of Holland, Sweden and the Holy Roman Emperor
who had conspired against him. Louis XIV having moved into Versailles
that year, but there was as yet no theatre large enough at the palace
for opera or ballet productions. Persée was therefore shown
at the Académie Royale de Musique. This was an incredibly successful
production, one which earned many repeat performances and a special
place in the hearts of those who saw it. It was this popularity that
led to its revival in 1770 for the occasion of the marriage of the future
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette of Austria. This would also be the first
production in the newly completed opera house in the Palace of Versailles.
For that production, the original libretto by Quinault was to receive
some savage cuts at the hand of Nicolas-Renè Joliveau, most notably
the complete loss of the opening prologue. In most French baroque operas
prologues play no real part in the story, but here in essence it acted
as a sort of opera within an opera. I do miss it, as it did add to the
work as a whole. This is not the only occasion where the text is cut,
but thankfully not as drastically. The story can still be followed,
despite the sections inserted to reference the nuptials of the royal
couple.
The tinkering does not only apply to the words. Lully’s wonderful
music was also affected. For this production, Antoine Dauvergne (1713-1797),
Bernard de Bury (1720-1785) and François Rebel (1701-1775) were employed
not only to re-orchestrate Lully’s original, adding instruments
which were now popular or which were not originally available, but on
occasion to replace the original music all together. This for me is
a real shame. It gives the work a totally different status, if you like
a baroque opera with pretentions of being a classical opera whilst not
really fitting in either stable.
Despite my misgivings about the reworking of the opera as a whole, I
really enjoyed the performance. I thought that the singing was excellent
throughout, although I do prefer Paul Agnew in the title role in Rousset’s
recording. On the other hand, Katherine Watson here gives a performance
that wrings out every ounce of jealousy in the role of Mérope—better
than Salomé Haller for Rousset. Both the chorus and orchestra of Le
Concert Spirituel are on excellent form under Hervé Niquet’s excellent
and spirited direction.
The recorded sound is vibrant and suits the music well. The two CDs
are presented in the form of a hardback book, one in a pocket inside
each cover. The book itself is lavishly illustrated with original set
designs, facsimile pages of the score and photographs of the theatre.
The text is in French, English and German, and a synopsis and full libretto
in French and English only is included—here the presentation is
a clear winner.
If I had to choose, I would take the recording of Christophe Rousset’s
performance, purely because it offers the listener the opera as the
composer envisaged it. However, if it is a hybrid performance that you
want, well, you cannot go wrong with this recording. It is a clear,
bright and exhilarating performance, just one which is an adaptation
of the original in order to fit different circumstances. Both these
recordings deserve a place on the shelf of any self-respecting musical
Francophile and especially a lover of French baroque.
Stuart Sillitoe
