PRE-BEETHOVEN FIDELIO

Jean-Michel Richer as Florestan in Opera Lafayette's production of Pierre Gaveaux' Leonore

When an opera arrives at legendary status, other iterations of the same story generally fade away. Paisiello's Barber of Seville (produced by On Site Opera) and Salieri's Falstaff (produced by Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble) are cases in point. That a libretto for Beethoven's Fidelio was set before was not known to us, but what a revelation it was, in a production by the intrepid Opera Lafayette performed at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College.

Opera Lafayette has the perfect niche, specializing in the French repertoire and performing on period instruments. This production of Pierre Gaveaux's 1798 work Leonore ou L'Amour conjugal is the first in modern times. What a delight to hear a work that has lain dormant for over two centuries, a veritable "sleeping beauty", awakened by the Opera Lafayette kiss. Fear not if you missed it because it has been filmed.

You already know the story--Leonore (soprano Kimy McLaren) has been working at a prison where she believes her innocent husband has been incarcerated after having exposed a tyrant. She has ingratiated herself to Roc, the prison warden (bass Tomislav Lavoie), gaining his trust.

Roc has approved a marriage between his daughter Marceline (Pascale Beaudin)  and Leonore, the former having fallen in love with the cross-dressed Leonore who calls herself Fidelio. Marceline's suitor Jacquino (tenor Keven Geddes) is unhappy about Marceline's rejection of his advances but, not to worry, the story has a happy ending.

After two years of terrible suffering in prison, Florestan (tenor Jean-Michel Richer) is finally liberated by his faithful wife, although his death has been commanded by the evil Pizare (baritone Dominique Cote). The deus ex machina arrives at the last minute in the person of Dom Fernand (bass baritone Alexandre Sylvestre).

There are two important themes to be considered. The first is the fidelity of Leonore who has never given up on finding and freeing her husband and is ready to die with him if she fails.

The second theme is that of unjust and arbitrary imprisonment and the need for liberation. When Jean-Nicolas Bouilly wrote the libretto, France was reeling from Robespierre's Reign of Terror and this theme was a common one in opera of that epoch.   So called "rescue dramas" were familiar to audiences.

By the time Beethoven acquired the libretto in German translation, there were other tyrants and the work transmogrified from the historical to the personal. It is unknown whether Beethoven ever heard Gavreau's score but it was found in his home after his death.

In any case, much about his Fidelio is anticipated in Gavreau's work, which was produced for the Opera Comique and therefore has substantial spoken dialogue and an altogether lighter touch. The opera opens with a comic scene between Marceline and Jacquino in which director Oriol Tomas has provided them with clever stage business that limns their homely existence--folding laundry.

The strophic music is delightfully tuneful and more than usually memorable. (Small wonder that popular music is written strophically!)  Duets were uncommonly beautiful.

When the prisoners are released for a few moments of daylight, they sing a stirring chorus, ending Act I on a hopeful note.

Act II begins on a tragic note with the suffering Florestan pouring out his despair. On a personal note, we were quite moved by his aria which the singer delivered with as dark a color as was a propos.

There was not a weak link in the vocalism; all the singers are Canadian and the French was mostly understandable, a good thing because the stage lighting often faded out the surtitles. We could not have asked for a better cast; they delivered dramatically as well as vocally.

We liked the direction and the opera moved along swiftly, leaving us wishing there were a bit more!

Laurence Mongeau's sets and costumes worked well. The set comprised a series of rectangular forms and pillars which folded into each other and could readily be moved to suggest a different place. The costumes suggested late 18th c. Europe but were less fussy. Everything worked well together and was enhanced by Julie Basse's effective lighting.

Ryan Brown, Founder and Director of Opera Lafayette conducted the sizable orchestra which was at the same level as the first row of the raked orchestra, giving us a welcome view of his balletic style of conducting. We also enjoyed the opportunity to see the individual instrumentalists, including some wooden flutes and oboes. The playing was beautifully integrated with the singing and performed in fine French style.

Given the choice of enduring another jagged-edge modern opera or thrilling to the discovery of a forgotten masterpiece, we will not hesitate to choose the latter and are happy to give credit to Opera Lafayette for another night of pleasure and illumination. We can't help wondering how many more worthy pieces are awaiting discovery. Opera Lafayette remains the Christopher Columbus of the opera world.

(c) meche kroop

OPERA LAFAYETTE DELIVERS

Sophie Junker and Amel Brahim-Djelloul (photo by Louis Forget)

Count on the highly regarded Opera Lafayette to deliver an early Valentine to the people of New York. Better than a dozen red roses and one of the sweetest confections imaginable, their production of Emmanuel Chabrier's Une Éducation Manquée delighted both eye and ear. Not quite an opera but reminiscent of a German singspiel or a Spanish zarzuela, the work is a slim 35 minute work, barely more than a skit.  But oh what a skit it is! And it found the perfect home in the comfortable theater of the French Institute Alliance Francaise, always willing to foster French culture.

You may be wondering how one gets an audience member to fork over the considerable cost of a ticket for such a brief entertainment. Wonder no longer. The astute direction of Bernard Deletré (also a singer and actor) expanded the tale of two naïfs unable to consummate their marriage by means of a prologue showing their earlier education, the education that was so incomplete.

On one side of the stage we had Hélène de la Cerisale (played by various female children) being sung and read to by her maiden aunt (played by Sophie Junker who would later take the role of the 16-year-old bride). On the other side of the stage we had Gontran de Boismassif (portrayed by various male children) being instructed by his cleric/tutor Maitre Pausanias (sung by Dominique Côté). The children are shown sequentially at 6 months of age, 6 years, and 12 years.

These brief scenes told us all we need to know about childhood education in France when the Royalists of the Second Empire were in charge.  It wasn't too far from the goals of the present day Republican Religious Right--obedience and traditionalism.  Au contraire, the Republicans of the late 19th c. (the Third Republic) were fighting for free public education for both genders and for removing public instruction from the hands of the Catholic Church. Sounds like the secular Democratic agenda of today!

It was in this contentious environment that Chabrier's librettists (Eugène Letterier and Albert Vanloo) wrote this seeming piece of fluff, demonstrating their progressive position by satirizing their opponents. Sometimes the best way to get one's point across is with humor. The satire is pointed but never nasty.

For the story, Chabrier wrote the most delicious melodies that are instantly accessible without being at all trite. The work is within the tradition of opéra bouffe and was presented in 1879 at the Cercle International, a club where illegal gambling was tolerated. The songs that were used by Opera Lafayette to pad out the opera are settings of texts by one Edmond Rostand. They are about animals (ducks, pigs, cicadas, chickens, and a tortoise)--Chabrier's very own "Carnival of the Animals". To these songs he brought interesting harmonies and lavishly applied coloring. The song about the rooster and the hen was particularly entertaining.

As to the story of the work itself, it is a simple one. Gontran and Hélène are newlyweds and totally ignorant about sex. They are simply at loose ends. Gontran would consult his tutor Pausanias but the tipsy cleric knows nothing. A letter from Gontran's grandfather is likewise unhelpful.  Hélène's maiden aunt similarly knows nothing.  She just advises her niece to be kind and obedient.

It is only a thunderstorm that drives the bride into the arms of the groom where nature can take her dependable course!

Chabrier made sure that his performers were as skilled at acting as they were at singing; Opera Lafayette has done the same. Ms. Junker and Ms. Brahim-Djelloul, in addition to having fine voices and musical instincts, are brilliant comic actors, making the innocence of their characters appealing rather than appalling. Baritone Dominique Cöté was the perfect representation of a bibulous tutor.

Artistic Director Ryan Brown conducted the work with panache and Jeffery Watson tickled our ears with his piano. Costumes by Patricia Forelle were original and colorful. She chose to make them amusing and stylish, rather than scrupulous to the period. Lighting was by Colin K. Bills.

Elaborate sets would have been a distraction.  Instead we had table and chairs and tons of books representing Gontran's extensive book learning. The patter song in which Pausanias lists all the disciplines he has inculcated into his student's brain was particularly fine.

We can scarcely wait for Opera Lafayette's return on May 1st when they will present three dramatic scenes referencing the French Revolution. Their work is always intertaining and impeccably done.

(c) meche kroop