Jean-Jacques ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)
Le Devin du Village
Caroline Mutel (soprano)
Cyrille Dubois (tenor)
Frédérick Caton (bass)
Les Nouveaux Caractères/Sébastien d’Hérin
rec. 2017, Théâtre Royal de la Reine du Château de Versailles
CHÂTEAU DE VERSAILLES CVS004 [CD: 67:59 & DVD:
71:13]
Most people will know Jean-Jacques Rousseau as philosopher
and man who played a prominent part in enlightening the whole of Europe.
But music? Surely his endeavours as amateur composer were obscured by
time for a reason? Well, we shall see.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva in 1712, the son of a watchmaker.
During his youth he developed a keen interest in music and later gave
lessons. Becoming familiar with Italian music in Venice, he composed
his first ballet, Les Muses Galantes, in 1742, at the age of thirty.
When moving to Paris in 1850 he even tried to make a living as composer.
Two years later he composed what was to become his most famous work,
the one featured on this recording: Le Devin du Village. Its
highly popular duet ‘Non, Colette n’est point trompeuse’
was even rearranged by Ludwig van Beethoven. Thanks to the popularity
of the opera Rousseau was able to secure a position at the Encyclopedie:
the Lettre sur la Musique Francaise, where he published music
articles. But Rousseau did not confine himself to composing and writing
about music. At the time he wrote his ballet he had already developed
his own system of musical notation which featured numbering so that
it would be compatible with typography. However, it was rejected by
the Academie Des Sciences. Had not philosophy largely taken over for
Rousseau and the big success of Emile (published in 1762) proven
him right in this endeavour, he might indeed have become a well-known
composer.
The present performance and the recording were made possible by Château
de Versailles Spectacles, who are devoted to breathing new life
into neglected music and plays that once formed an intrinsic part of
the cultural life at the palace. They have realized three other opera
projects so far, and I am sure more are to follow. Produced to the highest
standards, this is a marvellous series and deserves to be supported.
There is even the opportunity of witnessing a production at the Théâtre
Royal de la Reine du Château de Versailles in person – a very
tempting idea! The CD is accompanied by a DVD of the performance at
the theatre at Versailles, which is a visual treat in itself. But then
I am an aficionado of baroque theatres with their splendid scenery,
and the soffits that come descending as clouds for those obligatory
deus-ex-machina moments… The disks come in a very elegant
design and are accompanied by a well-composed booklet in French and
English.
The story of the two lovers Colette and Colin, who finally find to each
other with the help of the village’s soothsayer, is pretty simple.
The music, too, is of a plain, pastoral character. Rather than (only)
assigning this to Rousseau’s lack of musical talent, this was
also due to the fact that he was hugely opposed to the heavily harmonized
French music tradition and believed that the French language was not
made for melodic song. Astonishingly, Le Devin du Village remained
in the repertoire for more than 70 years, and was even performed in
this, the queen’s very own theatre at Versailles, with Marie Antoinette
as Colette! The present recording, however, sees the soprano Caroline
Mutel sing Colette’s part, which can only benefit the recording
especially in regards to her headier note – it is a joy to listen
to her rendering of the role. With Scylla et Glaucus and L’Europe
Galante, she has also experience in singing in previous performances
at the Opéra Royal de Versailles. Cyrille Dubois (tenor) convinces
as Colin. Opera engagements have so far brought him to Glyndebourne,
La Scala and l’Opéra de Paris. The bass Frédérick Caton takes
the role of Le Devin (the soothsayer). He is a former member of the
Atelier Lyrique and of the ensemble of the Opéra national de
Lyon. As all three roles in Rousseau’s opera are not very musically
demanding, there might have been the possibility of poor and superficial
rendering. Fortunately, all three singers have avoided falling into
this pit and, rather, turned that plainness into something beautifully
expressive. Harpsichordist and acclaimed conductor Sébastien d'Hérin
has gained experience as conductor of many leading orchestras across
France, before founding – together with Caroline Mutel –
Les Nouveaux Caractères in 2006. They play on historic instruments
and are especially versatile in exploring baroque repertoire. A previous
engagement at the Opéra Royal de Versailles saw them perform Monteverdi’s
Orfeo. This recording profits from their skilled experience
and their thoroughly trained conductor.
Le Devin du Village is quite a jolly, entertaining piece and
the music suits nicely, but most of it might (again) soon be forgotten
due its lack of a distinctive compositional language. It is much more
interesting in a historical context as a piece of its time that was
designed to create nothing less than a new French school of opera –
something which it would have never been able to achieve, both story-
and music-wise. This task was left for Christoph Willibald Glück, whose
Iphigénie en Tauride and Alceste were hugely admired
by Rousseau, and it must have given him enormous satisfaction to see
the task he set out on being successful taken up by Glück shortly before
he died.
Being able to explore Rousseau’s music and see the piece performed
on a baroque stage is marvellous in its own right. Composing this opera
before becoming one of the most influential philosophers of the enlightenment
was, after all, a very worthy and admirable venture for a music lover
such as Rousseau.
Maximilian Burgdörfer
see
also article on JJ Rouseau's Julie : the new Heloise: letters from two
lovers, living in a small town at the foot of the Alps) Paris 1813 by
Len Mullenger
