Jacques OFFENBACH (1819-1880)
Musique symphonique et ballets d’Orphée aux Enfers (1874)
Ouverture [9:33]
Le Royaume de Neptune (L’Atlantide) [31:56]
Ballet pastoral [10:11]
Divertissement des Songes et des Heures [8:55]
Orphée aux enfers overture (arr. Carl Binder, 1860) [9:21]
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Howard Griffiths
rec. 2019, RBB Grosser Sendesaal, Berlin
CPO 555301-2 [60:25]
The title of this fascinating CD gives little clue to its contents. Those of us who well know Orpheus will realise that there are no suites of music within this opera bouffe. Wrong! The success of the original opera was phenomenal and it played in Paris from 1858. For a revival in 1874 Offenbach extended previous popularity by turning its original two Acts into four Acts, adding extra tableaux scenes, and redesigning Act I. The additional music from Act III, heard for the first time on this disc, is truly captivating in its appeal and makes the disc very special for the quality of the music is very good. The opera achieved its 1000th performance in 1878. Satirising the French elites of society through musical theatre was popular at this time, and continued over a hundred years later when in 1990 an English revival by ENO included a prologue of ‘Public opinion’ (with reference to Margaret Thatcher’s government) by Snoo Wilson & David Pountney.
The balletic tableaux — Ballet Pastorale, Divertissement des Songes et des Heures (Entertainment of Dreams and Hours) and Le Royaume de Neptune (The Kingdom of Neptune) are new interludes for Act I, Act II and Act III. Although they do not directly relate to the plot they are welcome additions. Offenbach must have felt highly of his Neptune interlude for he reused it in an operetta, A Trip to the Moon, released a year later. This operetta had a strong influence on Georges Méliès when in 1902 he conceived his famous film, Trip to the Moon.
Many of the pieces of these 1874 additions are set in ¾ waltz time yet are in no way monotonous and vary considerably in the charm of their melody and orchestration. The inspired compositions are clearly written with care and cannot be regarded as rushed or makeshift additions, quickly dashed off to fill a gap. In the recording the only thing I could quibble with is the sonority of the chime used in the Divertissement des Songes et des Heures, since the bell adopted has odd overtones.
Two overtures are included: the first is by Carl Binder (1816-1860) a Viennese conductor of the Carl Theatre in Vienna and composer of a few successful songs. He was well known to Offenbach, having orchestrated some of Offenbach’s early one Act works and made this brilliant orchestral arrangement of Orpheus when the production first played at his theatre in Vienna. It replaced a modest affair that Offenbach had originally provided in 1858 and became the version of the Orpheus overture generally known today and used as a concert overture. Offenbach wrote a fresh overture in 1874, which to me is superior to that provided by Binder.
The CD is captivating from start to finish with bubbles of champagne popping throughout the music. It doesn’t go unnoticed that 2019 is the 200th jubilee of the birth of Offenbach (and Suppé), hence the appropriateness of this issue. Crisp strings and warm-toned horns are coupled with delicately balanced brass to provide ideal listening that certainly extends Offenbach’s call to fame.
Raymond J Walker
