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Les Huguenots

Les Huguenots (French pronunciation: [le ˈyg(ə)no])[1] is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera. In five acts, to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, it premiered in Paris on 29 February 1836.

Les Huguenots
Grand opéra by Giacomo Meyerbeer
Set design by Philippe Chaperon for Act 1 of the 1897 production at the Palais Garnier
Librettist
LanguageFrench
Premiere
29 February 1836 (1836-02-29)

Composition history edit

 
Giacomo Meyerbeer, portrayed in 1839

Les Huguenots was some five years in creation. Meyerbeer prepared carefully for this opera after the sensational success of Robert le diable, recognising the need to continue to present lavish staging, a highly dramatic storyline, impressive orchestration and virtuoso parts for the soloists – the essential elements of the new genre of Grand Opera. Meyerbeer and his librettist for Robert le Diable, Eugène Scribe, had agreed to collaborate on an epic work concerning the French Wars of Religion, with a drama partly based on Prosper Mérimée's 1829 novel Chronique du règne de Charles IX.[2] Coming from a wealthy family, Meyerbeer could afford to take his time, dictate his own terms, and to be a perfectionist. The very detailed contract which Meyerbeer arranged with Louis-Désiré Véron, director of the Opéra, for Les Huguenots (and which was drawn up for him by the lawyer Adolphe Crémieux) is a testament to this.[3] While Meyerbeer was writing the opera, another opera with a similar setting and theme (Le pré aux clercs by Ferdinand Hérold) was also produced in Paris (1832). Like Meyerbeer's, Hérold's work was extremely popular in its time, although it is now only seldom performed.

Meyerbeer decided that he wanted more historical details of the period and a greater psychological depth to the characters than Scribe's text was supplying so he obtained Scribe's approval to invite a second librettist, Émile Deschamps, to collaborate on the text in order to furnish these elements.[2] Meyerbeer was recommended to take his wife to a warmer climate for her health, and while in Italy for that purpose he consulted with the librettist of his earlier Italian operas, Gaetano Rossi. With his advice Meyerbeer himself re-wrote the part of Marcel, one of the most striking and original characters in the piece.[2] Meyerbeer also accepted the advice of star tenor Adolphe Nourrit, chosen to create the part of Raoul, to expand the love duet in Act 4, which became one of the most famous numbers in the opera.[2]

Performance history edit

 
Pol Plançon as the Comte de St. Bris in 1894 at the Metropolitan Opera house

Les Huguenots was premiered by the Paris Opera at the Salle Le Peletier on 29 February 1836 (conductor: François Habeneck), and was an immediate success. Both Adolphe Nourrit and Cornélie Falcon were particularly praised by the critics for their singing and performances. It was indeed Falcon's last important creation before her voice so tragically failed in April of the following year.[4] Hector Berlioz called the score "a musical encyclopedia". Les Huguenots was the first opera to be performed at the Opéra more than 1,000 times (the 1,000th performance being on 16 May 1906)[5] and continued to be produced regularly up to 1936, more than a century after its premiere.[6](The Paris Opera opened a new production of Les Huguenots in September 2018, the first time since 1936 for the opera to be performed there).[7] Its many performances in all other of the world's major opera houses give it a claim to being the most successful opera of the 19th century.

Other first performances included London (Covent Garden Theatre), 20 June 1842, and New Orleans (Théâtre d'Orléans) on 29 April 1839. Due to its subject matter it was sometimes staged under different titles such as The Guelfs and the Ghibellines (in Vienna before 1848), Renato di Croenwald in Rome, or The Anglicans and the Puritans (in Munich), to avoid inflaming religious tensions among its audiences.[8]

Les Huguenots was chosen to open the present building of the Covent Garden Theatre in 1858. During the 1890s, when it was performed at the Metropolitan Opera, it was often called 'the night of the seven stars', as the cast would include Lillian Nordica, Nellie Melba, Sofia Scalchi, Jean de Reszke, Édouard de Reszke, Victor Maurel and Pol Plançon. The opera was performed in Italian at the Met in the 19th century as Gli Ugonotti.[9]

Soviet adaptation edit

In the Soviet Union, the opera was given a new libretto as Dekabristy, about the historical Decembrists.[10]

Modern revivals edit

As with Meyerbeer's other operas, Les Huguenots lost favor in the early part of the twentieth century and it fell out of the operatic repertoire worldwide, except for very occasional revivals. Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge were the major force in the opera's revival during the second half of the 20th century. Sutherland chose the opera for her final performance at the Sydney Opera House on 2 October 1990, Bonynge conducting the Opera Australia Orchestra.

Amongst reasons often adduced for the dearth of productions in the 20th century were the scale of the work and the cost of mounting it, as well as the alleged lack of virtuoso singers capable of doing justice to Meyerbeer's demanding music. However, recent successful productions of the opera at relatively small centres such as Metz (2004) show that this conventional wisdom can be challenged. Since then, there have been highly successful new productions of Les Huguenots at major opera houses in France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.[11][12][13][14] Performances of Les Huguenots are no longer rare in Europe.[15][16][17]

Roles edit

 
Prosper Dérivis as Nevers
 
Valentine (soprano), costume design for Gli Ugonotti (undated).
Roles, voice types, and premiere cast
Role[18] Voice type[19] Premiere cast,[20] 29 February 1836
(Conductor: François Habeneck)[21]
Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre soprano Julie Dorus-Gras
Valentine, daughter of Count de Saint-Bris soprano Cornélie Falcon
Urbain, the Queen's page soprano[22] Maria Flécheux
Raoul de Nangis, a Protestant gentleman tenor Adolphe Nourrit
Marcel, a Huguenot soldier, Raoul's servant bass Nicolas Levasseur
Le Comte de Nevers, a Catholic gentleman baritone Prosper Dérivis
Le Comte de Saint-Bris, a Catholic gentleman baritone Jean-Jacques-Émile Serda
Bois-Rosé, a Huguenot soldier tenor François Wartel
Maurevert, a Catholic gentleman baritone Bernadet
Tavannes, a Catholic gentleman tenor Alexis Dupont
Cossé, a Catholic gentleman tenor Jean-Étienne-Auguste Massol
Thoré, a Catholic gentleman tenor François Wartel
De Retz, a Catholic gentleman baritone Alexandre Prévost
Méru, a Catholic gentleman baritone Ferdinand Prévôt
Léonard, valet of the Comte de Nevers tenor Charpentier
Town crier bass Adolphe-Joseph-Louis Alizard
Two Maids-of-Honor soprano Gosselin and Laurent
Chorus: Catholic and Huguenot ladies and gentlemen of the court, soldiers, pages, citizens, and populace; monks, students
 
Costume designs by Eugène Du Faget for the 1836 première: Julie Dorus-Gras as Marguerite, Adolphe Nourrit as Raoul, and Cornélie Falcon as Valentine

Synopsis edit

The story culminates in the historical St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572 in which thousands of French Huguenots (Protestants) were slaughtered by Catholics in an effort to rid France of Protestant influence. Although the massacre was a historical event, the rest of the action, which primarily concerns the love between the Catholic Valentine and the Protestant Raoul, is wholly a creation of Scribe.

A short orchestral prelude, featuring Martin Luther's chorale "Ein feste Burg", replaces the extended overture Meyerbeer originally intended for the opera.

Act 1 edit

The stage represents the chateau of the Count of Nevers, in Touraine. In the background, large open windows show gardens and a lawn, on which several lords play ball; on the right, a door leading into the inner apartments; at left, a window closed by a curtain and which is supposed to lead to a prayer room; at the front of the stage, other lords are playing dice, cup and ball,etc. Nevers, Tavannes, Cossé, Retz, Thoré, Méru and other Catholic lords look at them and talk to each other

The Catholic Count of Nevers is entertaining his fellow noblemen. Their host informs them that before they can go to dinner, they must await the arrival of Raoul, a young Huguenot sent to them from the King in an effort to reconcile Protestant and Catholic. Raoul enters, very impressed with the surroundings and to be in the company of the noblemen. Lavish dishes of food and copious supplies of wine are brought in and the nobles encourage Raoul to drink ( L’orgie: "Bonheur de la table"). The Count of Nevers announces that he has just become engaged and that he must now give up his mistresses. However, he invites his guests to describe the ones they are in love with and asks the latest arrival, Raoul de Nangis. Raoul then tells how he rescued a girl from an attack on her in the street. Although he does not know her name or her origins, he immediately fell in love (Romance: "Plus blanche que la blanche hermine"). (With a daring and unusual stroke of orchestration, Meyerbeer accompanies this aria with a solo viola d'amore). Raoul's Protestant servant Marcel enters and the old man is shocked to see his master in such wicked company enjoying games, drinking and tales of love. Marcel sings a hearty Protestant prayer (to the tune of 'Ein feste Burg') while the Catholic lords toast their mistresses. One of the Catholics recognises the old man from a battle they fought and asks him to have a drink with him to bury any grudge. Marcel refuses, and then, at the Catholics' request,he sings a Huguenot battle song from the siege of La Rochelle, calling for the extermination of Catholics (Chanson huguenote: "Piff, paff, piff, paff"). The Catholics are merely amused by this.

A valet of the Count of Nevers informs his master that a mysterious woman wishes to speak to him. The count goes out to meet the stranger. Catholic lords wonder about the identity of the unknown woman and try to see her. They invite Raoul to do the same. Recognizing the young woman he saved and fell in love with, the young Huguenot, believing she is one of the mistresses of the Count of Nevers he has been boasting about, swears never to see her again. In fact she is Nevers' intended bride, Valentine (daughter of St. Bris), instructed by the Queen to break off her engagement. The page Urbain enters with a secret message for Raoul, daring him to come blindfolded to a secret rendezvous with an unnamed woman ( Cavatina: "Une dame noble et sage"). The Catholics recognize the seal on the letter as belonging to the Queen of Navarre and drink to Raoul's health as he is led away.

Act 2 edit

 
Press illustration of Act 2 of the 1836 premiere

The castle and gardens at the Château de Chenonceaux. The river meanders to the middle of the stage, disappearing from time to time behind clumps of green trees. On the right, a wide staircase by which we descend from the castle into the gardens.

Queen Marguerite looks into a mirror held by her enamoured page Urbain, and sings a virtuoso pastorale (O beau pays de la Touraine). She hopes to avoid the religious strife plaguing France by remaining in the beautiful countryside (Cabaletta: A ce mot seul s’anime et renaît la nature).Valentine enters and reports that Nevers has agreed to break the engagement, which delights Marguerite as, knowing that Valentine has fallen in love with Raoul de Nangis, she is sure that she will be able to persuade Valentine's father, the Catholic Saint-Bris, to allow his daughter to marry the young Protestant as a step towards ending sectarian strife. Marguerite's entourage of ladies enter dressed for bathing. This leads to a ballet during which the page Urbain attempts to spy on the scantily clad ladies as they frolic in the water. Urbain laughingly describes the journey of Raoul, blindfolded, to the castle (Rondeau: "Non, non, non, vous n’avez jamais, je gage") He enters and the Queen tells her ladies to leave him alone with her. With his sight restored, Raoul is amazed by the beauty of his surroundings as well as that of the young woman who stands before him, while she is tempted to try to keep the charming young man for herself rather than have him marry Valentine as she had planned (Duet: "Beauté divine enchanteresse").The lords and ladies of the court, including Nevers and Saint-Bris enter, and the Queen orders everyone to swear friendship and peace, which all aver, except for Marcel, who disapproves of his master mixing with Catholics (Oath:Par l’honneur, par le nom que portaient). The Queen presents Valentine to Raoul as the girl he loves and will marry to cement relations between the Protestant and Catholic factions. In a complex final ensemble, Raoul, who believes Valentine is the mistress of Nevers, refuses to comply with the Queen's command. The nobles then swear revenge, Valentine is devastated by this insult to her honour, the Queen does not understand Raoul's reason for rejecting the marriage and Marcel reproaches Raoul for consorting with Catholics.

Act 3 edit

 
Model for the set by Charles-Antoine Cambon for Act 3 Paris 1875

Paris, the 'Pré aux clercs' on the left bank of the Seine, at sunset. On the left, a tavern where Catholic students sit with girls; on the right, another tavern in front of which Huguenot soldiers drink and play dice. In the background, on the left, the entrance to a chapel. In the middle, a huge tree shading the meadow. At the front of the stage, clerics from La Basoche and grisettes sit on chairs and chat between themselves. Others are walking around. Workers, merchants,traveling musicians, monks, and middle-class townspeople. It is six o'clock in the evening, in the month of August.

Citizens enjoy a stroll on a beautiful Sunday evening (Entracte et chœur: C’est le jour de dimanche). The Huguenot soldiers sing a blood-thirsty war song in praise of the Protestant Admiral Coligny (Couplets militaires: "Prenant son sabre de bataille"). A procession of Catholic girls crosses the scene on the way to the chapel where Valentine and Nevers are about to be married, chanting praise to the Virgin (Litanies :" Vierge Marie, soyez bénie !") Marcel enters with a letter from Raoul to Saint-Bris and interrupts the procession, seeking to know Saint-Bris's whereabouts. The Catholics are outraged by Marcel's sacrilege but the Huguenot soldiers defend him. Tension is rising when a band of gypsies enter, dancing and telling fortunes, and calm things down (Ronde bohémienne: "Venez ! – Vous qui voulez savoir d’avance" and gypsy dance). Valentine has just married Nevers, but remains in the chapel to pray. Marcel delivers a challenge from Raoul. Saint-Bris decides to kill Raoul, but is overheard by Valentine. The town crier declares curfew (the scene anticipating a similar one in Wagner's Die Meistersinger) and the crowds disperse. Valentine, in disguise, tells Marcel of the plot by her father and others to murder Raoul (Duet:Dans la nuit où seul je veille). Valentine realises that despite the public humiliation inflicted on her by Raoul she still loves him and returns to the chapel. Raoul, Saint-Bris and their witnesses arrive for the duel, each confident of success (Septet: "En mon bon droit j’ai confiance"). Marcel calls for assistance from the Huguenot soldiers in the tavern on the right and Saint-Bris to the Catholic students in the tavern on the left and a near-riot ensues. Only the arrival of the Queen, on horseback, stems the chaos. Raoul realises that Valentine has saved him and that his suspicions of her were unfounded. However, now she is married to his enemy and indeed at that moment an illuminated barge appears on the river with wedding guests serenading the newly wedded couple (Wedding chorus:"Au banquet où le ciel leur apprête"). Nevers leads her away in a splendid procession as Catholics and Protestants loudly proclaim their murderous hatred of each other (Chorus of fighters:"Non, plus de paix ni trêve").

Act 4 edit

 
Painting of the Act 4 Raoul/ Valentine duet by Camille Roqueplan

A room in Nevers' Parisian town-house. Family portraits decorate the walls. In the background, a large door and a large Gothic cross. On the left, a door that leads to Valentine's bedroom. On the right, a big chimney, and near the chimney the entrance to a room closed by a tapestry. On the right, and in the foreground, a window overlooking the street.

Valentine, alone, expresses her sorrow at being married to Nevers when she is really in love with Raoul (Air: "Parmi les pleurs mon rêve se ranime"). She is surprised by Raoul who wishes to have one last meeting with her. The sound of approaching people leads Raoul to hide behind a curtain, where he hears the Catholic nobles pledge to murder the Huguenots. They are accompanied by three monks, who bless the swords and daggers to be used in the massacre, declaring it to be God's will that the heretics be killed. Only Nevers does not join in the oath (Conjuration:"Des troubles renaissants"). This scene is generally judged the most gripping in the opera, and is accompanied by some of its most dramatic music. When the nobles have departed, Raoul re-appears and is torn between warning his fellows and staying with Valentine (Duet:"Ô ciel! où courez-vous ?"). Valentine is desperate to prevent him from meeting death by going to the assistance of his fellow Protestants and admits she loves him, which sends Raoul into raptures. However they hear the bell of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois ringing, the signal for the massacre to begin, and Valentine faints as Raoul leaps out the window to join his co-religionists.

Act 5 edit

Scene 1: A beautifully lit ballroom in the Hôtel de Nesle

The Protestants are celebrating the marriage of the Queen to Henry of Navarre. The tolling of a bell interrupts the dancing and festivities, as does the entrance of Raoul, in torn clothing covered in blood, who informs the assembly that the second stroke was the signal for the Catholic massacre of the Huguenots. Admiral Coligny has been assassinated, Raoul tells them, and Protestant men, women and children are being slaughtered in the street by the thousands. The women flee, panic-stricken, as the Protestant men prepare to defend themselves.

Scene 2: A cemetery: in the background, a Protestant church whose stained glass windows are visible. On the left, a small door that leads into the interior of the church. On the right, a gate that overlooks a crossroads

 
Philippe Chaperon's set design for Act V, Scene 2

Under the leadership of Marcel, Protestant women take refuge with their children in the church. It is there that Raoul finds his old servant, who, resigned, prepares to die. Valentine arrives and tells Raoul that his life will be saved if he agrees to wear a white scarf around his arm, indicating that he is Catholic. She also informs the young man that she is now free, Nevers having been killed after having defended Protestants. Raoul seems to hesitate but finally refuses Valentine's proposal to pass as Catholic. She immediately decides to share the fate of the one she loves by abjuring the Catholic faith. She asks Marcel to bless her. Marcel does so and declares the couple married in the sight of God (Trio: "Savez-vous qu’en joignant vos mains"). Meanwhile, the Protestants who barricaded themselves in the church intone Luther's hymn "Ein feste Burg". Suddenly, the singing inside the church is interrupted. The Catholics have broken down the door of the church and threaten to kill all the Protestant women and children if they do not renounce their faith. After refusing, the Protestants resume their singing, interrupted several times by musket shots. Finally, the song is no longer heard: all were massacred. At the height of exaltation, Marcel thinks he hears the march of angels leading the martyrs to God. Valentine and Raoul share this vision of heaven 'with six harps'.[23] (Trio: "Ah ! voyez ! Le ciel s’ouvre et rayonne !"). Catholic soldiers enter the cemetery, seize Raoul, Valentine and Marcel and drag them away, wounding all three, after they refuse to abjure their faith.

Scene 3: A street in Paris, on the night of 23 to 24 August 1572

Wounded, they are finally murdered by St. Bris and his men, he realising only too late that he has killed his own daughter. (Cf. the closing scene of Fromental Halévy's opera, La Juive, libretto also by Scribe, produced a year earlier than Les Huguenots). It is at this moment that Marguerite's litter appears. She also recognizes Valentine and tries to stop the massacre, to no avail. A chorus of soldiers, hunting for more Protestants to murder and singing 'God wants blood!', brings the opera to a close.[24]

Analysis edit

Libretto edit

 
George Sand, who called Les Huguenots "an evangel of love"

In Les Huguenots, Scribe and Meyerbeer depicted religious fanaticism and sectarianism causing bloody civil division for the first time.[2] The composer Robert Schumann in a scathing review of the piece, objected to the use of the hymn "Ein feste Burg" as a musical theme recurring throughout the opera, and to the depiction of religious division, writing "I am not a moralist, but for a good Protestant it is offensive to hear his most cherished song being yelled on the stage and to see the bloodiest drama in the history of his faith degraded to the level of a fairground farce. Meyerbeer's highest ambition is to startle or titillate, and he certainly succeeds in that with the theatre-going rabble."[25] George Sand at first refused to attend a performance of the opera, saying that she did not want to watch Catholics and Protestants slit each other's throats to music written by a Jew.[26] When eventually she did see the piece, however, she was overwhelmed and wrote to Meyerbeer that "Though you are a musician, you are more a poet than any of us!"[27] and called the opera "an evangel of love".[2]

Franz Liszt observed of the libretto "If one continually reproaches the poet for striving after dramatic effects, it would be unjust not to acknowledge how thrilling these can often be"[2] while Hector Berlioz in his review of the premiere wrote "the new libretto by M. Scribe seems to us to be admirably arranged for music and full of situations of undoubted dramatic interest".[28]

Some writers have condemned as nothing more than "kitsch melodrama" the central and fictitious love story between Raoul and Valentine, dependent on Raoul's mistaken belief that she is Nevers' mistress, a misunderstanding that goes on for three acts when it could easily have been cleared up much sooner.[29] Other critics have praised the psychological realism of the characters, Ernest Newman, for instance, stating that "Meyerbeer gave his audiences the delighted feeling that they were being brought into touch with real life, and that the characters they saw on the boards were men and women such as they might meet any day themselves."[2] The character of Marcel, a creation both textually and musically of Meyerbeer, has met particular praise from critics, evolving as he does from the status of intolerant servant in the first act to that of visionary spiritual guide in the last.[30] Liszt wrote "The role of Marcel, the purest type of popular pride and religious sacrifice, seems to us to be the most complete and living character. The unmistakable solemnity of his airs, which expresses so eloquently the moral grandeur of this man of the people, as well as his simplicity, the noble nature of his thought, remains striking from the beginning to the end of the opera."[31]

Meyerbeer had intended a singing role for the character of Catherine de' Medici, Queen Mother at the time of the massacre, in the scene of the blessing of the daggers in Act 4, but the state censorship would not permit a royal personage to be depicted in such an unfavourable light.[32]

Victor Hugo, in his preface to Cromwell (1827), called for the introduction of local colour into historical dramas. For music critic Robert Letellier, this request is perfectly met by Act 3 of Les Huguenots, with its strolling promenaders of all classes setting the scene and its squabbles of Catholics and Protestants interrupted by gypsy dancers and fortune-tellers, reminiscent of episodes from Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris (1831).[2]

Letellier has also written of the masterly way Scribe's libretto moves from light to darkness. Act 1 is set in the daytime, in the hedonistic surroundings of a chateau belonging to a pleasure-loving Catholic noble (with one of the musical numbers even marked "The Orgy".) Act 2 is set in sparkling sunshine in the beautiful countryside. Act 3, with near riots between Catholic and Protestant factions, as dusk falls. Act 4, with the plotting to massacre the Protestants, at night, and Act 5, with the actual massacre, in the darkness of the early hours of the morning.[2]

In the assessment of music historian David Charlton, Scribe and Meyerbeer in Les Huguenots "created a masterpiece of romantic tragedy".[28]

Music edit

 
Hector Berlioz, who wrote that in its instrumentation Les Huguenots "surpasses everything previously attempted"

Reviewing the premiere of the opera, Hector Berlioz wrote "The dramatic expression is always true and profound, with fresh colours, warm movement, elegant forms; in instrumentation, in effects of vocal masses, this score surpasses all that has been attempted to this day."[33]

One of the most striking innovations is the treatment of Luther's chorale "Ein feste Burg" as a leitmotif developed and varied throughout the opera. The theme is present from the outset where it is subject to a series of variations that symbolize, according to Letellier, the feelings inspired by religion: recollection, love, consolation, exaltation, but also intolerance and fanaticism. In the song of Marcel in the first act, it corresponds to an expression of faith, full of conviction and aspiration to transcendence. In the finale of the second act, it is used as a cantus firmus to affirm the resolution and strength of Protestants in the face of danger. In the third act, it is a call to arms to escape traps and betrayals. Finally, in the last act, it becomes the stifled and distant prayer of the Protestants who seek to escape the massacre to become an ultimate cry of defiance against the Catholic executioners and is also sung in unison by Valentine, Raoul and Marcel as they have an ecstatic vision of heaven awaiting them upon their imminent deaths.[34][32]

Also very innovatory were the huge multiple choruses, as for instance in the Pré-aux-Clercs scene at the start of Act 3, when Protestant soldiers sing a "rataplan" chorus, Catholic girls cross the stage chanting praise to the Virgin with a third chorus of law clerks. These are all first heard separately, then combined and to this mix is then added the wives and girlfriends of the Catholic students and Protestant soldiers hurling abuse at each other. Berlioz marveled that "The richness of texture in the Pré-aux-Clercs scene [of act III] […] was extraordinary, yet the ear could follow it with such ease that every strand in the composer's complex thought was continually apparent—a marvel of dramatic counterpoint'.[35] and said the music in that act "dazzles the ear as bright light does the eye".

Both Liszt and Berlioz greatly admired the instrumentation of the opera. Liszt wrote that "the orchestral effects are so cleverly combined and diversified that we have never been able to attend a performance of the Huguenots without a new feeling of surprise and admiration for the art of the master who has managed to dye in a thousand shades, almost ungraspable in their delicacy, the rich fabric of his musical poem".[36]

Meyerbeer used a variety of novel and unusual orchestral effects in the opera. Marcel's utterances are usually accompanied by two cellos and a double bass. The composer revived an archaic instrument, the viola d'amore, which had fallen into complete disuse in the 19th century, for Raoul's aria "Plus blanche que la blanche hermine" and used the bass clarinet for the first time in an opera in the scene in the last act during which Marcel "marries" Valentine and Raoul just before they are murdered, creating an other-worldly, funereal effect.

Influence edit

 
John Everett Millais, A Huguenot, on St. Bartholomew's Day, Refusing to Shield Himself from Danger by Wearing the Roman Catholic Badge (1852)

Following five years after Meyerbeer's own Robert le diable and a year after Fromental Halévy's La Juive, Les Huguenots consolidated the genre of Grand Opera, in which the Paris Opéra would specialise for the next generation, and which became a major box-office attraction for opera houses all over the world. Hector Berlioz's contemporary account is full of praise, with 'Meyerbeer in command at the first desk [of violins] [...] from beginning to end I found [the orchestral playing] superb in its beauty and refinement [...] .[35]

The immense success of the opera encouraged many musicians, including Franz Liszt and Sigismond Thalberg, to create virtuosic piano works based on its themes.

A military slow march based on the prelude to Les Huguenots is played every year during the ceremony of Trooping the Colour at Horse Guards Parade in London.[37]

Selected recordings edit

Audio recordings edit

Les Huguenots discography, audio recordings
Year Cast
(Marguerite, Valentine,
Urbain, Raoul, Marcel,
Nevers, Saint-Bris)
Conductor,
Opera house and orchestra
Label[38][39]
1969 Joan Sutherland
Martina Arroyo
Huguette Tourangeau
Anastasios Vrenios
Nicola Ghiuselev
Dominic Cossa
Gabriel Bacquier
Richard Bonynge
Philharmonia Orchestra
Ambrosian Opera Chorus
CD: Decca
Cat: 430 549-2
1988 Ghyslaine Raphanel
Françoise Pollet
Danièle Borst
Richard Leech
Nicola Ghiuselev
Gilles Cachemaille
Boris Martinovich
Cyril Diederich
Orchestre national de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon
Opéra national de Montpellier chorus
CD: Erato
Cat: 2292-45027-2
2009 Erin Morley
Alexandra Deshorties
Marie Lenormand
Michael Spyres
Andrew Schroeder
Peter Volpe
Leon Botstein
American Symphony Orchestra
CD: American Symphony Orchestra
Cat:ASO093

Video recordings edit

Les Huguenots discography, video rexordings
Year Cast
(Marguerite, Valentine,
Urbain, Raoul, Marcel,
Nevers, Saint-Bris)
Conductor,
Opera house and orchestra
Label
1990 Joan Sutherland
Amanda Thane
Suzanne Johnston
Anson Austin
Clifford Grant
John Pringle
John Wegner
Richard Bonynge
Opera Australia orchestra & chorus
DVD: Opus Arte
Cat: OAF 4024D
1991 Angela Denning
Lucy Peacock
Camille Capasso
Richard Leech
Martin Blasius
Lenus Carlson
Hartmut Welker
Stefan Soltesz
Deutsche Oper Berlin orchestra & chorus
DVD: Arthaus Musik
Cat: 100 156 (sung in German)

Scores edit

References edit

Notes

  1. ^ "huguenot" at WordReference.com; the optional "(ə)" is not given in The Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary, 4th edition, 2007, however, it is sung (Meyerbeer c. 1900, p. 14).
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Letellier, Robert (2006). . cambridgescholars.com. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  3. ^ Kelly 2004, pp. 201–206.
  4. ^ Pitou 1990, pp. 451–452.
  5. ^ Brzoska 2003, p. 206.
  6. ^ Wolff 1962, pp. 116–117.
  7. ^ Woolfe, Zachary (2 October 2018). "After 350 Years, Paris Still Defines Opera". New York Times. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  8. ^ Brzoska 2003, p. 207.
  9. ^ "Les Huguenots". archives.metoperafamily.org. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  10. ^ This Dekabristi is not to be confused with the better-known Yuri Shaporin opera of the same name.
  11. ^ "Genf: Les Huguenots (Die Hugenotten) / Online Musik Magazin". www.omm.de. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  12. ^ Loomis, George (21 June 2011). "'Les Huguenots,' Making Operatic History Again". New York Times. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  13. ^ "Die HugenottenLes Huguenots". Staatstheater Nürnberg.com. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  14. ^ . shz.de. Archived from the original on 29 November 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  15. ^ "Les Huguenots". Budapest Opera. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  16. ^ Arden, Charles. "Rentrée 2017/2018 tonitruante annoncée à l'Opéra de Paris". Olyrix. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  17. ^ "Les Huguenots". semperoper.de. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  18. ^ The names, descriptions, and order of the roles are from Meyerbeer, Arsenty, and Letellier 2009, p. 2. Chorus roles are from Kobbé 1976, p. 726.
  19. ^ The role voice types are from the Benoit edition of the piano-vocal score (Meyerbeer, ca. 1900), except that "baritone" is used in place of basse chantante and "bass" in place of basse profonde. Additional roles include: Léonard (the valet), sung by Charpentier, a tenor; and the town crier sung by Alizard, a bass (see note for the Premiere cast). Sources sometimes differ with regard to role voice types. For example, Kobbé 1976, p. 726, lists Maurevert as a bass, while Huebner 1992, p. 765, lists Saint-Bris, De Retz, Méru, and Thoré as bass roles and omits Maurevert altogether.
  20. ^ Cast surnames are from the Benoit edition of the piano-vocal score (Meyerbeer, ca. 1900), and forenames, from Kutsch and Riemens 2003. There is some disagreement among the sources concerning the singers of the minor roles. Chouquet 1873, p. 399, lists Ferdinand Prevôt as de Retz, Alex. Dupont as Cossé, and Massol as Tavannes. Wolff 1962, pp. 115–116, lists Trévaux as Tavannes. Wolff also lists four minor roles not found in the other sources: Gosselin and Laurent as the two Maids-of-Honor, Charpentier [tenor] as Léonard (the valet), and [Adolphe-Joseph-Louis] Alizard [bass] as the town crier. These two singers voice types are given by Tamvaco 2000, pp. 1224 (Alizard), 1237 (Charpentier). Alizard was a student at the time and made his real house debut on 23 June 1837, when he took over the role of Saint-Bris (Kutsch and Riemens 2003, p. 61; Chouquet). Later in his career Alizard created the roles of Father Laurence in Berlioz's dramatic symphony Roméo et Juliette (1839) and Roger in Verdi's Jérusalem (1847) (Kutsch and Riemens).
  21. ^ Letellier 2006, p. 131.
  22. ^ Although the role of Urbain was originally designated for a soprano, Meyerbeer transposed it for contralto and added the aria "Non! – non, non, non, non, non! Vouz n'avez jamais, je gage" in 1848, when it was performed by Marietta Alboni at the Royal Italian Opera at Covent Garden (Jander, Owen/Steane, J.B./Forbes, Elisabeth, Contralto, in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, I, p. 934).
  23. ^ Kelly 2004, p. 191.
  24. ^ "Les Huguenots". opera-online.com. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  25. ^ "Giacomo Meyerbeer". en.tchaikovsky-research.net. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  26. ^ Schonberg, Harold C. (1997). The Lives of the Great Composers (Third ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0393038576.
  27. ^ Letellier, Robert (2014). Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots: An Evangel of Religion and Love. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1443856669.
  28. ^ a b Abraham, Gerald (1990). The New Oxford History of Music: Volume IX: Romanticism (1830-1890). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0193163096.
  29. ^ Brèque, Jean-Michel (1990). "Loin de Mérimée et du grand opéra historique". L'Avant-Scène Opéra (134): 9–19.
  30. ^ Becker, Heinz (1981). "Der Marcel von Meyerbeer. Anmerkungen zur Entstehungsgeschichte der Hugenotten". Jachbuch des Staatslichen Instituts für Musikforschung Preussischer Kulturbesitz 1979-1980 (79–100).
  31. ^ Letellier 2006.
  32. ^ a b Huebner, Stephen (2001). "Huguenots, Les". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.
  33. ^ Berlioz, Hector (6 March 1836). "Les Huguenots. Première représentation". Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris.
  34. ^ Letellier 2006
  35. ^ a b Berlioz 1969, pp. 396–397.
  36. ^ Liszt, Franz. "Revue musicale de l'année 1836". No. 8 January 1837. Le Monde.
  37. ^ Paget, p. 48
  38. ^ Recordings of Les Huguenots on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
  39. ^ . Archived from the original on 19 January 1998. Retrieved 29 January 2019.

Sources

External links edit

huguenots, french, pronunciation, ˈyg, opera, giacomo, meyerbeer, most, popular, spectacular, examples, grand, opera, five, acts, libretto, eugène, scribe, Émile, deschamps, premiered, paris, february, 1836, grand, opéra, giacomo, meyerbeerset, design, philipp. Les Huguenots French pronunciation le ˈyg e no 1 is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera In five acts to a libretto by Eugene Scribe and Emile Deschamps it premiered in Paris on 29 February 1836 Les HuguenotsGrand opera by Giacomo MeyerbeerSet design by Philippe Chaperon for Act 1 of the 1897 production at the Palais GarnierLibrettistEugene Scribe Emile DeschampsLanguageFrenchPremiere29 February 1836 1836 02 29 Paris Opera Contents 1 Composition history 2 Performance history 2 1 Soviet adaptation 2 2 Modern revivals 3 Roles 4 Synopsis 4 1 Act 1 4 2 Act 2 4 3 Act 3 4 4 Act 4 4 5 Act 5 5 Analysis 5 1 Libretto 5 2 Music 6 Influence 7 Selected recordings 7 1 Audio recordings 7 2 Video recordings 8 Scores 9 References 10 External linksComposition history edit nbsp Giacomo Meyerbeer portrayed in 1839Les Huguenots was some five years in creation Meyerbeer prepared carefully for this opera after the sensational success of Robert le diable recognising the need to continue to present lavish staging a highly dramatic storyline impressive orchestration and virtuoso parts for the soloists the essential elements of the new genre of Grand Opera Meyerbeer and his librettist for Robert le Diable Eugene Scribe had agreed to collaborate on an epic work concerning the French Wars of Religion with a drama partly based on Prosper Merimee s 1829 novel Chronique du regne de Charles IX 2 Coming from a wealthy family Meyerbeer could afford to take his time dictate his own terms and to be a perfectionist The very detailed contract which Meyerbeer arranged with Louis Desire Veron director of the Opera for Les Huguenots and which was drawn up for him by the lawyer Adolphe Cremieux is a testament to this 3 While Meyerbeer was writing the opera another opera with a similar setting and theme Le pre aux clercs by Ferdinand Herold was also produced in Paris 1832 Like Meyerbeer s Herold s work was extremely popular in its time although it is now only seldom performed Meyerbeer decided that he wanted more historical details of the period and a greater psychological depth to the characters than Scribe s text was supplying so he obtained Scribe s approval to invite a second librettist Emile Deschamps to collaborate on the text in order to furnish these elements 2 Meyerbeer was recommended to take his wife to a warmer climate for her health and while in Italy for that purpose he consulted with the librettist of his earlier Italian operas Gaetano Rossi With his advice Meyerbeer himself re wrote the part of Marcel one of the most striking and original characters in the piece 2 Meyerbeer also accepted the advice of star tenor Adolphe Nourrit chosen to create the part of Raoul to expand the love duet in Act 4 which became one of the most famous numbers in the opera 2 Performance history edit nbsp Pol Plancon as the Comte de St Bris in 1894 at the Metropolitan Opera houseLes Huguenots was premiered by the Paris Opera at the Salle Le Peletier on 29 February 1836 conductor Francois Habeneck and was an immediate success Both Adolphe Nourrit and Cornelie Falcon were particularly praised by the critics for their singing and performances It was indeed Falcon s last important creation before her voice so tragically failed in April of the following year 4 Hector Berlioz called the score a musical encyclopedia Les Huguenots was the first opera to be performed at the Opera more than 1 000 times the 1 000th performance being on 16 May 1906 5 and continued to be produced regularly up to 1936 more than a century after its premiere 6 The Paris Opera opened a new production of Les Huguenots in September 2018 the first time since 1936 for the opera to be performed there 7 Its many performances in all other of the world s major opera houses give it a claim to being the most successful opera of the 19th century Other first performances included London Covent Garden Theatre 20 June 1842 and New Orleans Theatre d Orleans on 29 April 1839 Due to its subject matter it was sometimes staged under different titles such as The Guelfs and the Ghibellines in Vienna before 1848 Renato di Croenwald in Rome or The Anglicans and the Puritans in Munich to avoid inflaming religious tensions among its audiences 8 Les Huguenots was chosen to open the present building of the Covent Garden Theatre in 1858 During the 1890s when it was performed at the Metropolitan Opera it was often called the night of the seven stars as the cast would include Lillian Nordica Nellie Melba Sofia Scalchi Jean de Reszke Edouard de Reszke Victor Maurel and Pol Plancon The opera was performed in Italian at the Met in the 19th century as Gli Ugonotti 9 Soviet adaptation edit In the Soviet Union the opera was given a new libretto as Dekabristy about the historical Decembrists 10 Modern revivals edit As with Meyerbeer s other operas Les Huguenots lost favor in the early part of the twentieth century and it fell out of the operatic repertoire worldwide except for very occasional revivals Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge were the major force in the opera s revival during the second half of the 20th century Sutherland chose the opera for her final performance at the Sydney Opera House on 2 October 1990 Bonynge conducting the Opera Australia Orchestra Amongst reasons often adduced for the dearth of productions in the 20th century were the scale of the work and the cost of mounting it as well as the alleged lack of virtuoso singers capable of doing justice to Meyerbeer s demanding music However recent successful productions of the opera at relatively small centres such as Metz 2004 show that this conventional wisdom can be challenged Since then there have been highly successful new productions of Les Huguenots at major opera houses in France Belgium Germany and Switzerland 11 12 13 14 Performances of Les Huguenots are no longer rare in Europe 15 16 17 Roles edit nbsp Prosper Derivis as Nevers nbsp Valentine soprano costume design for Gli Ugonotti undated Roles voice types and premiere cast Role 18 Voice type 19 Premiere cast 20 29 February 1836 Conductor Francois Habeneck 21 Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre soprano Julie Dorus GrasValentine daughter of Count de Saint Bris soprano Cornelie FalconUrbain the Queen s page soprano 22 Maria FlecheuxRaoul de Nangis a Protestant gentleman tenor Adolphe NourritMarcel a Huguenot soldier Raoul s servant bass Nicolas LevasseurLe Comte de Nevers a Catholic gentleman baritone Prosper DerivisLe Comte de Saint Bris a Catholic gentleman baritone Jean Jacques Emile SerdaBois Rose a Huguenot soldier tenor Francois WartelMaurevert a Catholic gentleman baritone BernadetTavannes a Catholic gentleman tenor Alexis DupontCosse a Catholic gentleman tenor Jean Etienne Auguste MassolThore a Catholic gentleman tenor Francois WartelDe Retz a Catholic gentleman baritone Alexandre PrevostMeru a Catholic gentleman baritone Ferdinand PrevotLeonard valet of the Comte de Nevers tenor CharpentierTown crier bass Adolphe Joseph Louis AlizardTwo Maids of Honor soprano Gosselin and LaurentChorus Catholic and Huguenot ladies and gentlemen of the court soldiers pages citizens and populace monks students nbsp Costume designs by Eugene Du Faget for the 1836 premiere Julie Dorus Gras as Marguerite Adolphe Nourrit as Raoul and Cornelie Falcon as ValentineSynopsis editThe story culminates in the historical St Bartholomew s Day Massacre in 1572 in which thousands of French Huguenots Protestants were slaughtered by Catholics in an effort to rid France of Protestant influence Although the massacre was a historical event the rest of the action which primarily concerns the love between the Catholic Valentine and the Protestant Raoul is wholly a creation of Scribe A short orchestral prelude featuring Martin Luther s chorale Ein feste Burg replaces the extended overture Meyerbeer originally intended for the opera Act 1 edit The stage represents the chateau of the Count of Nevers in Touraine In the background large open windows show gardens and a lawn on which several lords play ball on the right a door leading into the inner apartments at left a window closed by a curtain and which is supposed to lead to a prayer room at the front of the stage other lords are playing dice cup and ball etc Nevers Tavannes Cosse Retz Thore Meru and other Catholic lords look at them and talk to each otherThe Catholic Count of Nevers is entertaining his fellow noblemen Their host informs them that before they can go to dinner they must await the arrival of Raoul a young Huguenot sent to them from the King in an effort to reconcile Protestant and Catholic Raoul enters very impressed with the surroundings and to be in the company of the noblemen Lavish dishes of food and copious supplies of wine are brought in and the nobles encourage Raoul to drink L orgie Bonheur de la table The Count of Nevers announces that he has just become engaged and that he must now give up his mistresses However he invites his guests to describe the ones they are in love with and asks the latest arrival Raoul de Nangis Raoul then tells how he rescued a girl from an attack on her in the street Although he does not know her name or her origins he immediately fell in love Romance Plus blanche que la blanche hermine With a daring and unusual stroke of orchestration Meyerbeer accompanies this aria with a solo viola d amore Raoul s Protestant servant Marcel enters and the old man is shocked to see his master in such wicked company enjoying games drinking and tales of love Marcel sings a hearty Protestant prayer to the tune of Ein feste Burg while the Catholic lords toast their mistresses One of the Catholics recognises the old man from a battle they fought and asks him to have a drink with him to bury any grudge Marcel refuses and then at the Catholics request he sings a Huguenot battle song from the siege of La Rochelle calling for the extermination of Catholics Chanson huguenote Piff paff piff paff The Catholics are merely amused by this A valet of the Count of Nevers informs his master that a mysterious woman wishes to speak to him The count goes out to meet the stranger Catholic lords wonder about the identity of the unknown woman and try to see her They invite Raoul to do the same Recognizing the young woman he saved and fell in love with the young Huguenot believing she is one of the mistresses of the Count of Nevers he has been boasting about swears never to see her again In fact she is Nevers intended bride Valentine daughter of St Bris instructed by the Queen to break off her engagement The page Urbain enters with a secret message for Raoul daring him to come blindfolded to a secret rendezvous with an unnamed woman Cavatina Une dame noble et sage The Catholics recognize the seal on the letter as belonging to the Queen of Navarre and drink to Raoul s health as he is led away Act 2 edit nbsp Press illustration of Act 2 of the 1836 premiereThe castle and gardens at the Chateau de Chenonceaux The river meanders to the middle of the stage disappearing from time to time behind clumps of green trees On the right a wide staircase by which we descend from the castle into the gardens Queen Marguerite looks into a mirror held by her enamoured page Urbain and sings a virtuoso pastorale O beau pays de la Touraine She hopes to avoid the religious strife plaguing France by remaining in the beautiful countryside Cabaletta A ce mot seul s anime et renait la nature Valentine enters and reports that Nevers has agreed to break the engagement which delights Marguerite as knowing that Valentine has fallen in love with Raoul de Nangis she is sure that she will be able to persuade Valentine s father the Catholic Saint Bris to allow his daughter to marry the young Protestant as a step towards ending sectarian strife Marguerite s entourage of ladies enter dressed for bathing This leads to a ballet during which the page Urbain attempts to spy on the scantily clad ladies as they frolic in the water Urbain laughingly describes the journey of Raoul blindfolded to the castle Rondeau Non non non vous n avez jamais je gage He enters and the Queen tells her ladies to leave him alone with her With his sight restored Raoul is amazed by the beauty of his surroundings as well as that of the young woman who stands before him while she is tempted to try to keep the charming young man for herself rather than have him marry Valentine as she had planned Duet Beaute divine enchanteresse The lords and ladies of the court including Nevers and Saint Bris enter and the Queen orders everyone to swear friendship and peace which all aver except for Marcel who disapproves of his master mixing with Catholics Oath Par l honneur par le nom que portaient The Queen presents Valentine to Raoul as the girl he loves and will marry to cement relations between the Protestant and Catholic factions In a complex final ensemble Raoul who believes Valentine is the mistress of Nevers refuses to comply with the Queen s command The nobles then swear revenge Valentine is devastated by this insult to her honour the Queen does not understand Raoul s reason for rejecting the marriage and Marcel reproaches Raoul for consorting with Catholics Act 3 edit nbsp Model for the set by Charles Antoine Cambon for Act 3 Paris 1875Paris the Pre aux clercs on the left bank of the Seine at sunset On the left a tavern where Catholic students sit with girls on the right another tavern in front of which Huguenot soldiers drink and play dice In the background on the left the entrance to a chapel In the middle a huge tree shading the meadow At the front of the stage clerics from La Basoche and grisettes sit on chairs and chat between themselves Others are walking around Workers merchants traveling musicians monks and middle class townspeople It is six o clock in the evening in the month of August Citizens enjoy a stroll on a beautiful Sunday evening Entracte et chœur C est le jour de dimanche The Huguenot soldiers sing a blood thirsty war song in praise of the Protestant Admiral Coligny Couplets militaires Prenant son sabre de bataille A procession of Catholic girls crosses the scene on the way to the chapel where Valentine and Nevers are about to be married chanting praise to the Virgin Litanies Vierge Marie soyez benie Marcel enters with a letter from Raoul to Saint Bris and interrupts the procession seeking to know Saint Bris s whereabouts The Catholics are outraged by Marcel s sacrilege but the Huguenot soldiers defend him Tension is rising when a band of gypsies enter dancing and telling fortunes and calm things down Ronde bohemienne Venez Vous qui voulez savoir d avance and gypsy dance Valentine has just married Nevers but remains in the chapel to pray Marcel delivers a challenge from Raoul Saint Bris decides to kill Raoul but is overheard by Valentine The town crier declares curfew the scene anticipating a similar one in Wagner s Die Meistersinger and the crowds disperse Valentine in disguise tells Marcel of the plot by her father and others to murder Raoul Duet Dans la nuit ou seul je veille Valentine realises that despite the public humiliation inflicted on her by Raoul she still loves him and returns to the chapel Raoul Saint Bris and their witnesses arrive for the duel each confident of success Septet En mon bon droit j ai confiance Marcel calls for assistance from the Huguenot soldiers in the tavern on the right and Saint Bris to the Catholic students in the tavern on the left and a near riot ensues Only the arrival of the Queen on horseback stems the chaos Raoul realises that Valentine has saved him and that his suspicions of her were unfounded However now she is married to his enemy and indeed at that moment an illuminated barge appears on the river with wedding guests serenading the newly wedded couple Wedding chorus Au banquet ou le ciel leur apprete Nevers leads her away in a splendid procession as Catholics and Protestants loudly proclaim their murderous hatred of each other Chorus of fighters Non plus de paix ni treve Act 4 edit nbsp Painting of the Act 4 Raoul Valentine duet by Camille RoqueplanA room in Nevers Parisian town house Family portraits decorate the walls In the background a large door and a large Gothic cross On the left a door that leads to Valentine s bedroom On the right a big chimney and near the chimney the entrance to a room closed by a tapestry On the right and in the foreground a window overlooking the street Valentine alone expresses her sorrow at being married to Nevers when she is really in love with Raoul Air Parmi les pleurs mon reve se ranime She is surprised by Raoul who wishes to have one last meeting with her The sound of approaching people leads Raoul to hide behind a curtain where he hears the Catholic nobles pledge to murder the Huguenots They are accompanied by three monks who bless the swords and daggers to be used in the massacre declaring it to be God s will that the heretics be killed Only Nevers does not join in the oath Conjuration Des troubles renaissants This scene is generally judged the most gripping in the opera and is accompanied by some of its most dramatic music When the nobles have departed Raoul re appears and is torn between warning his fellows and staying with Valentine Duet O ciel ou courez vous Valentine is desperate to prevent him from meeting death by going to the assistance of his fellow Protestants and admits she loves him which sends Raoul into raptures However they hear the bell of Saint Germain l Auxerrois ringing the signal for the massacre to begin and Valentine faints as Raoul leaps out the window to join his co religionists Act 5 edit Scene 1 A beautifully lit ballroom in the Hotel de NesleThe Protestants are celebrating the marriage of the Queen to Henry of Navarre The tolling of a bell interrupts the dancing and festivities as does the entrance of Raoul in torn clothing covered in blood who informs the assembly that the second stroke was the signal for the Catholic massacre of the Huguenots Admiral Coligny has been assassinated Raoul tells them and Protestant men women and children are being slaughtered in the street by the thousands The women flee panic stricken as the Protestant men prepare to defend themselves Scene 2 A cemetery in the background a Protestant church whose stained glass windows are visible On the left a small door that leads into the interior of the church On the right a gate that overlooks a crossroads nbsp Philippe Chaperon s set design for Act V Scene 2Under the leadership of Marcel Protestant women take refuge with their children in the church It is there that Raoul finds his old servant who resigned prepares to die Valentine arrives and tells Raoul that his life will be saved if he agrees to wear a white scarf around his arm indicating that he is Catholic She also informs the young man that she is now free Nevers having been killed after having defended Protestants Raoul seems to hesitate but finally refuses Valentine s proposal to pass as Catholic She immediately decides to share the fate of the one she loves by abjuring the Catholic faith She asks Marcel to bless her Marcel does so and declares the couple married in the sight of God Trio Savez vous qu en joignant vos mains Meanwhile the Protestants who barricaded themselves in the church intone Luther s hymn Ein feste Burg Suddenly the singing inside the church is interrupted The Catholics have broken down the door of the church and threaten to kill all the Protestant women and children if they do not renounce their faith After refusing the Protestants resume their singing interrupted several times by musket shots Finally the song is no longer heard all were massacred At the height of exaltation Marcel thinks he hears the march of angels leading the martyrs to God Valentine and Raoul share this vision of heaven with six harps 23 Trio Ah voyez Le ciel s ouvre et rayonne Catholic soldiers enter the cemetery seize Raoul Valentine and Marcel and drag them away wounding all three after they refuse to abjure their faith Scene 3 A street in Paris on the night of 23 to 24 August 1572Wounded they are finally murdered by St Bris and his men he realising only too late that he has killed his own daughter Cf the closing scene of Fromental Halevy s opera La Juive libretto also by Scribe produced a year earlier than Les Huguenots It is at this moment that Marguerite s litter appears She also recognizes Valentine and tries to stop the massacre to no avail A chorus of soldiers hunting for more Protestants to murder and singing God wants blood brings the opera to a close 24 Analysis editLibretto edit nbsp George Sand who called Les Huguenots an evangel of love In Les Huguenots Scribe and Meyerbeer depicted religious fanaticism and sectarianism causing bloody civil division for the first time 2 The composer Robert Schumann in a scathing review of the piece objected to the use of the hymn Ein feste Burg as a musical theme recurring throughout the opera and to the depiction of religious division writing I am not a moralist but for a good Protestant it is offensive to hear his most cherished song being yelled on the stage and to see the bloodiest drama in the history of his faith degraded to the level of a fairground farce Meyerbeer s highest ambition is to startle or titillate and he certainly succeeds in that with the theatre going rabble 25 George Sand at first refused to attend a performance of the opera saying that she did not want to watch Catholics and Protestants slit each other s throats to music written by a Jew 26 When eventually she did see the piece however she was overwhelmed and wrote to Meyerbeer that Though you are a musician you are more a poet than any of us 27 and called the opera an evangel of love 2 Franz Liszt observed of the libretto If one continually reproaches the poet for striving after dramatic effects it would be unjust not to acknowledge how thrilling these can often be 2 while Hector Berlioz in his review of the premiere wrote the new libretto by M Scribe seems to us to be admirably arranged for music and full of situations of undoubted dramatic interest 28 Some writers have condemned as nothing more than kitsch melodrama the central and fictitious love story between Raoul and Valentine dependent on Raoul s mistaken belief that she is Nevers mistress a misunderstanding that goes on for three acts when it could easily have been cleared up much sooner 29 Other critics have praised the psychological realism of the characters Ernest Newman for instance stating that Meyerbeer gave his audiences the delighted feeling that they were being brought into touch with real life and that the characters they saw on the boards were men and women such as they might meet any day themselves 2 The character of Marcel a creation both textually and musically of Meyerbeer has met particular praise from critics evolving as he does from the status of intolerant servant in the first act to that of visionary spiritual guide in the last 30 Liszt wrote The role of Marcel the purest type of popular pride and religious sacrifice seems to us to be the most complete and living character The unmistakable solemnity of his airs which expresses so eloquently the moral grandeur of this man of the people as well as his simplicity the noble nature of his thought remains striking from the beginning to the end of the opera 31 Meyerbeer had intended a singing role for the character of Catherine de Medici Queen Mother at the time of the massacre in the scene of the blessing of the daggers in Act 4 but the state censorship would not permit a royal personage to be depicted in such an unfavourable light 32 Victor Hugo in his preface to Cromwell 1827 called for the introduction of local colour into historical dramas For music critic Robert Letellier this request is perfectly met by Act 3 of Les Huguenots with its strolling promenaders of all classes setting the scene and its squabbles of Catholics and Protestants interrupted by gypsy dancers and fortune tellers reminiscent of episodes from Hugo s Notre Dame de Paris 1831 2 Letellier has also written of the masterly way Scribe s libretto moves from light to darkness Act 1 is set in the daytime in the hedonistic surroundings of a chateau belonging to a pleasure loving Catholic noble with one of the musical numbers even marked The Orgy Act 2 is set in sparkling sunshine in the beautiful countryside Act 3 with near riots between Catholic and Protestant factions as dusk falls Act 4 with the plotting to massacre the Protestants at night and Act 5 with the actual massacre in the darkness of the early hours of the morning 2 In the assessment of music historian David Charlton Scribe and Meyerbeer in Les Huguenots created a masterpiece of romantic tragedy 28 Music edit nbsp Hector Berlioz who wrote that in its instrumentation Les Huguenots surpasses everything previously attempted Reviewing the premiere of the opera Hector Berlioz wrote The dramatic expression is always true and profound with fresh colours warm movement elegant forms in instrumentation in effects of vocal masses this score surpasses all that has been attempted to this day 33 One of the most striking innovations is the treatment of Luther s chorale Ein feste Burg as a leitmotif developed and varied throughout the opera The theme is present from the outset where it is subject to a series of variations that symbolize according to Letellier the feelings inspired by religion recollection love consolation exaltation but also intolerance and fanaticism In the song of Marcel in the first act it corresponds to an expression of faith full of conviction and aspiration to transcendence In the finale of the second act it is used as a cantus firmus to affirm the resolution and strength of Protestants in the face of danger In the third act it is a call to arms to escape traps and betrayals Finally in the last act it becomes the stifled and distant prayer of the Protestants who seek to escape the massacre to become an ultimate cry of defiance against the Catholic executioners and is also sung in unison by Valentine Raoul and Marcel as they have an ecstatic vision of heaven awaiting them upon their imminent deaths 34 32 Also very innovatory were the huge multiple choruses as for instance in the Pre aux Clercs scene at the start of Act 3 when Protestant soldiers sing a rataplan chorus Catholic girls cross the stage chanting praise to the Virgin with a third chorus of law clerks These are all first heard separately then combined and to this mix is then added the wives and girlfriends of the Catholic students and Protestant soldiers hurling abuse at each other Berlioz marveled that The richness of texture in the Pre aux Clercs scene of act III was extraordinary yet the ear could follow it with such ease that every strand in the composer s complex thought was continually apparent a marvel of dramatic counterpoint 35 and said the music in that act dazzles the ear as bright light does the eye Both Liszt and Berlioz greatly admired the instrumentation of the opera Liszt wrote that the orchestral effects are so cleverly combined and diversified that we have never been able to attend a performance of the Huguenots without a new feeling of surprise and admiration for the art of the master who has managed to dye in a thousand shades almost ungraspable in their delicacy the rich fabric of his musical poem 36 Meyerbeer used a variety of novel and unusual orchestral effects in the opera Marcel s utterances are usually accompanied by two cellos and a double bass The composer revived an archaic instrument the viola d amore which had fallen into complete disuse in the 19th century for Raoul s aria Plus blanche que la blanche hermine and used the bass clarinet for the first time in an opera in the scene in the last act during which Marcel marries Valentine and Raoul just before they are murdered creating an other worldly funereal effect Influence edit nbsp John Everett Millais A Huguenot on St Bartholomew s Day Refusing to Shield Himself from Danger by Wearing the Roman Catholic Badge 1852 Following five years after Meyerbeer s own Robert le diable and a year after Fromental Halevy s La Juive Les Huguenots consolidated the genre of Grand Opera in which the Paris Opera would specialise for the next generation and which became a major box office attraction for opera houses all over the world Hector Berlioz s contemporary account is full of praise with Meyerbeer in command at the first desk of violins from beginning to end I found the orchestral playing superb in its beauty and refinement 35 The immense success of the opera encouraged many musicians including Franz Liszt and Sigismond Thalberg to create virtuosic piano works based on its themes A military slow march based on the prelude to Les Huguenots is played every year during the ceremony of Trooping the Colour at Horse Guards Parade in London 37 Selected recordings editSee also Les Huguenots discography Audio recordings edit Les Huguenots discography audio recordings Year Cast Marguerite Valentine Urbain Raoul Marcel Nevers Saint Bris Conductor Opera house and orchestra Label 38 39 1969 Joan SutherlandMartina ArroyoHuguette TourangeauAnastasios VreniosNicola GhiuselevDominic CossaGabriel Bacquier Richard BonyngePhilharmonia OrchestraAmbrosian Opera Chorus CD DeccaCat 430 549 21988 Ghyslaine RaphanelFrancoise PolletDaniele BorstRichard LeechNicola GhiuselevGilles CachemailleBoris Martinovich Cyril DiederichOrchestre national de Montpellier Languedoc RoussillonOpera national de Montpellier chorus CD EratoCat 2292 45027 22009 Erin MorleyAlexandra DeshortiesMarie LenormandMichael SpyresAndrew SchroederPeter Volpe Leon BotsteinAmerican Symphony Orchestra CD American Symphony OrchestraCat ASO093Video recordings edit Les Huguenots discography video rexordings Year Cast Marguerite Valentine Urbain Raoul Marcel Nevers Saint Bris Conductor Opera house and orchestra Label1990 Joan SutherlandAmanda ThaneSuzanne JohnstonAnson AustinClifford GrantJohn PringleJohn Wegner Richard BonyngeOpera Australia orchestra amp chorus DVD Opus ArteCat OAF 4024D1991 Angela DenningLucy PeacockCamille CapassoRichard LeechMartin BlasiusLenus CarlsonHartmut Welker Stefan SolteszDeutsche Oper Berlin orchestra amp chorus DVD Arthaus MusikCat 100 156 sung in German Scores edit nbsp Les Huguenots extract of the Benediction des poignards 3 38 source source Les Huguenots extract of the Conjuratio 4 03 source source Marthe Bakkers soprano Valentine Pierre d Assy bass St Bris Emile Boussagol baryton Nevers Orchestra and chorus conducted by Alfred Fock Recorded in 1909 4 03 Problems playing these files See media help Vocal piano score of Les Huguenots Scores at the International Music Score Library Project Reminiscences des Huguenots p 412 for piano by Franz Liszt at 412 Liszt 2C Franz IMSLP Grande Fantaisie sur l opera de Meyerbeer Les Huguenots Op 43 for piano by Sigismond Thalberg at IMSLPReferences editNotes huguenot at WordReference com the optional e is not given in The Oxford Hachette French Dictionary 4th edition 2007 however it is sung Meyerbeer c 1900 p 14 a b c d e f g h i j Letellier Robert 2006 Introduction to Les Huguenots cambridgescholars com Cambridge Scholars Publishing Archived from the original on 25 August 2017 Retrieved 28 August 2018 Kelly 2004 pp 201 206 Pitou 1990 pp 451 452 Brzoska 2003 p 206 Wolff 1962 pp 116 117 Woolfe Zachary 2 October 2018 After 350 Years Paris Still Defines Opera New York Times Retrieved 22 November 2018 Brzoska 2003 p 207 Les Huguenots archives metoperafamily org Retrieved 28 August 2018 This Dekabristi is not to be confused with the better known Yuri Shaporin opera of the same name Genf Les Huguenots Die Hugenotten Online Musik Magazin www omm de Retrieved 16 September 2020 Loomis George 21 June 2011 Les Huguenots Making Operatic History Again New York Times Retrieved 16 June 2014 Die Hugenotten Les Huguenots Staatstheater Nurnberg com Retrieved 16 June 2014 Meyerbeers Hugenotten in Berlin gefeiert shz de Archived from the original on 29 November 2016 Retrieved 28 November 2016 Les Huguenots Budapest Opera Retrieved 11 June 2017 Arden Charles Rentree 2017 2018 tonitruante annoncee a l Opera de Paris Olyrix Retrieved 11 June 2017 Les Huguenots semperoper de Retrieved 14 October 2018 The names descriptions and order of the roles are from Meyerbeer Arsenty and Letellier 2009 p 2 Chorus roles are from Kobbe 1976 p 726 The role voice types are from the Benoit edition of the piano vocal score Meyerbeer ca 1900 except that baritone is used in place of basse chantante and bass in place of basse profonde Additional roles include Leonard the valet sung by Charpentier a tenor and the town crier sung by Alizard a bass see note for the Premiere cast Sources sometimes differ with regard to role voice types For example Kobbe 1976 p 726 lists Maurevert as a bass while Huebner 1992 p 765 lists Saint Bris De Retz Meru and Thore as bass roles and omits Maurevert altogether Cast surnames are from the Benoit edition of the piano vocal score Meyerbeer ca 1900 and forenames from Kutsch and Riemens 2003 There is some disagreement among the sources concerning the singers of the minor roles Chouquet 1873 p 399 lists Ferdinand Prevot as de Retz Alex Dupont as Cosse and Massol as Tavannes Wolff 1962 pp 115 116 lists Trevaux as Tavannes Wolff also lists four minor roles not found in the other sources Gosselin and Laurent as the two Maids of Honor Charpentier tenor as Leonard the valet and Adolphe Joseph Louis Alizard bass as the town crier These two singers voice types are given by Tamvaco 2000 pp 1224 Alizard 1237 Charpentier Alizard was a student at the time and made his real house debut on 23 June 1837 when he took over the role of Saint Bris Kutsch and Riemens 2003 p 61 Chouquet Later in his career Alizard created the roles of Father Laurence in Berlioz s dramatic symphony Romeo et Juliette 1839 and Roger in Verdi s Jerusalem 1847 Kutsch and Riemens Letellier 2006 p 131 Although the role of Urbain was originally designated for a soprano Meyerbeer transposed it for contralto and added the aria Non non non non non non Vouz n avez jamais je gage in 1848 when it was performed by Marietta Alboni at the Royal Italian Opera at Covent Garden Jander Owen Steane J B Forbes Elisabeth Contralto in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera I p 934 Kelly 2004 p 191 Les Huguenots opera online com Retrieved 27 August 2018 Giacomo Meyerbeer en tchaikovsky research net Retrieved 29 August 2018 Schonberg Harold C 1997 The Lives of the Great Composers Third ed W W Norton amp Company ISBN 978 0393038576 Letellier Robert 2014 Meyerbeer s Les Huguenots An Evangel of Religion and Love Cambridge Scholars Publishing ISBN 978 1443856669 a b Abraham Gerald 1990 The New Oxford History of Music Volume IX Romanticism 1830 1890 Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0193163096 Breque Jean Michel 1990 Loin de Merimee et du grand opera historique L Avant Scene Opera 134 9 19 Becker Heinz 1981 Der Marcel von Meyerbeer Anmerkungen zur Entstehungsgeschichte der Hugenotten Jachbuch des Staatslichen Instituts fur Musikforschung Preussischer Kulturbesitz 1979 1980 79 100 Letellier 2006 a b Huebner Stephen 2001 Huguenots Les In Sadie Stanley Tyrrell John eds The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2nd ed London Macmillan Publishers ISBN 978 1 56159 239 5 Berlioz Hector 6 March 1836 Les Huguenots Premiere representation Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris Letellier 2006 a b Berlioz 1969 pp 396 397 Liszt Franz Revue musicale de l annee 1836 No 8 January 1837 Le Monde Paget p 48 Recordings of Les Huguenots on operadis opera discography org uk the Meyerbeer Fan Club site Archived from the original on 19 January 1998 Retrieved 29 January 2019 Sources Berlioz Hector Cairns David translator 1969 The Memoirs of Hector Berlioz London Gollancz ISBN 978 0 575 00181 7 Brzoska Matthias Smith Christopher translation 2003 Meyerbeer Robert le Diable and Les Huguenots in The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera David Charlton editor Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 64118 0 Chouquet Gustave 1873 Histoire de la musique dramatique en France depuis ses origines jusqu a nos jours in French Paris Didot View at Google Books Huebner Steven 1992 Huguenots Les in Sadie 1992 vol 2 pp 765 768 Kelly Thomas Forrest 2004 Les Huguenots in First Nights at the Opera New Haven Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 300 10044 0 Kobbe Gustav 1976 The New Kobbe s Complete Opera Book edited and revised by the Earl of Harewood New York Putnam ISBN 978 0 399 11633 9 Kutsch K J Riemens Leo 2003 Grosses Sangerlexikon fourth edition in German Munich K G Saur ISBN 978 3 598 11598 1 Letellier Robert 2006 The Operas of Giacomo Meyerbeer Madison New Jersey Fairleigh Dickinson University Press ISBN 978 0 8386 4093 7 Meyerbeer Giacomo n d ca 1900 Les Huguenots piano vocal score Paris Benoit IMSLP file 72250 OCLC 497239303 Meyerbeer Giacomo Arsenty Richard translation Letellier Robert Ignatius introduction 2009 The Meyerbeer Libretti Grand Opera 2 Les Huguenots Newcastle upon Tyne Cambridge Scholars Publishing ISBN 978 1 84718 965 3 Paget Julian Discovering London Ceremonials and Traditions Gutenburg Press Limited 1989 ISBN 0 7478 0408 7 Pitou Spire 1990 The Paris Opera An Encyclopedia of Operas Ballets Composers and Performers Growth and Grandeur 1815 1914 New York Greenwood Press ISBN 978 0 313 26218 0 Rosenthal Harold Warrack John 1979 Les Huguenots The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera Oxford Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 311318 3 Sadie Stanley editor 1992 The New Grove Dictionary of Opera 4 volumes London Macmillan ISBN 978 1 56159 228 9 Tamvaco Jean Louis 2000 Les Cancans de l Opera Chroniques de l Academie Royale de Musique et du theatre a Paris sous les deux restorations 2 volumes in French Paris CNRS Editions ISBN 9782271056856 Wolff Stephane 1962 L Opera au Palais Garnier 1875 1962 Paris l Entr acte Paris Slatkine 1983 reprint ISBN 978 2 05 000214 2 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Les Huguenots Les Huguenots Scores at the International Music Score Library Project Les Huguenots full score Schlesinger Paris 1836 at Saxon State and University Library Dresden Les Huguenots French libretto in Oeuvres completes de Scribe vol 2 pp 73 160 Paris 1841 at Google Books Les Huguenots French libretto Braun Paris 1965 at Gallica Gli Ugonotti opera in 5 atti 1850 publication in Italian digitized by BYU on the Internet Archive Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Les Huguenots amp oldid 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