NY Times Praises Saint-Saens' Henri viii

[edurban]

It's true, and you could have knocked me over with a feather.  Appreciative, well-informed and spot-on.  Not a hint of "Well, it's no masterpiece..."

From this past Sunday's Times, part of an article discussing this summer's Bard Festival and its leader, Leon Botstein:

"...Saint-Saëns's "Henry VIII," on the other hand, may need more special pleading. Though it had a brief currency in major European opera houses after its successful premiere at the Paris Opera in 1883, it never really caught on.

Saint-Saëns himself adored it. "The work stands out brilliantly," he wrote to his publisher during rehearsals for a revival in 1909, when "Henry VIII" seemed to be fading from sight. "Why an opera like this is not in the repertory everywhere is something I refuse to understand."

One reason "Henry VIII" never became a repertory piece is suggested by Mr. Botstein in "Beyond the Conceits of the Avant-Garde: Saint-Saëns, Romain Rolland and the Musical Culture of the 19th Century," an article in the hefty book of essays that accompanies the Bard festival's composer immersion, "Camille Saint-Saëns and His World," edited by Jann Pasler (Princeton University Press).

"In Rolland's dream of a modern synthesis of Classicism and the post-Wagnerian a political, ethical ideology takes center stage," Mr. Botstein writes. "Yet Saint-Saëns did not have the extra measure of inspiration, idealism and intensity Rolland invested in his fictional hero, his modern Beethoven."

Yes, Saint-Saëns was a rather chilly character whose music tends to generate more light than heat. For all that, "he possessed extraordinary musical gifts, daunting range, versatility and spectacular craftsmanship," Mr. Botstein wrote, and "Henry VIII" shows Saint-Saëns at his best. He was correct to be proud of what he had achieved: an imposing operatic spectacle that avoids Meyerbeer's bloated heroics and Massenet's often fussy decorations, not to mention the grand-opera overkill that smothers Wagner's "Rienzi."

Beyond that, Saint-Saëns seems to find a special identification with classic figures from British royal history. The plot concentrates on the first two of Henry's six wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, whose conflicts, contrasting characters and downward-spiraling fortunes could not be more poignantly etched. Catherine's haunting death scene is still waiting to be discovered by some enterprising soprano.

In contrast to the tense private drama Henry's public defiance of the Roman Catholic Church brings Act III to a thrilling conclusion, as the king defies the papal legate, divorces Catherine, takes Anne as his wife and proclaims himself head of the Church of England. Saint-Saëns, in his correspondence, referred to Henry as "a sausage on legs" and even more rudely as "fatso" ("petit gros"), but musically he presents the king as a dignified if complex figure who gets precisely what he wants, both as a manipulative lover and as a politically savvy hands-on king.

Saint-Saëns may have disguised his debt to Wagner in "Henry VIII" even more artfully than Chabrier did in "Le Roi Malgré Lui," but you can still sense Wagner dabbling a ghostly finger in the extended scenes between Catherine and Anne. Like many other French composers who embraced Wagner's musical innovations Saint-Saëns took only what he felt he needed and absorbed them without ever completely abandoning the traditional Gallic virtues of clarity, precision, balance and gestural incisiveness. When the marriage is a happy one, as it is in "Henry VIII," the musical results can be exquisite.."

Amazing.  Wonderful.  Thank you.

David

[Alan Howe]

It's a hugely enjoyable opera well worthy of revival. Wonder whether Botstein will record it (or whether it'll come out as a download)?

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Never let a feather get you down, David!

Thank you so much for your detailed and informative post. For something like 20-30 years this opera has been on my list of those I'd very much like to hear.

A resounding three cheers to Botstein and his forces. And now I'm hoping very much that the performance will be preserved on a CD.

[Alan Howe]

There is a pretty good DVD of the opera...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Camille-Saint-Saens-Theatre-Imperial-Compiegne/dp/B0001ZW6R4/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1343144678&sr=8-5

[edurban]

For a CD of Montpellier's 1989 performance in rather decent French Radio sound, try this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Saint-Saens-Henry-VIII-with-J-Pritchard-1989-2CDs-/140440130643?pt=Music_CDs&hash=item20b2e25453

The cast is very good (excepting the tenor, as is also true of the dvd cast): Alain Fondary is a stentorian, if not very subtle, Henry, Francoise Pollet quite fine as Catherine of Aragon, Magali Chalbeau-Damonte is the schemer Anne de Boleyn, Sir John Pritchard leading the Orchestre National de Lyon.  Few cuts I can detect, though the ballet is only the Gigue et Finale.  The big march that opens the Synod scene is magificent.

David

[edurban]

The Bard performance of Henri viii went off brilliantly yesterday, hopefully making many new friends for this fine opera.   The singing surpassed that on almost all the available recorded options (aged Caballe, not-quite-so-aged Command, ill Estes, several awful tenors) though the Bard Henry was not really in the same league as Philippe Rouillon on the French dvd.  The women were wonderful, Botstein's tempos- IMO-extremely well-judged, the orchestra and chorus outstanding.  A triumph for old Camille, and one can only hope that given the quality of the opera, and the current vogue for anything having to do with Henry & Anne & kin, this work will find itself back in the opera houses posthaste.  With the Met about to unveil their first Maria Stuarda, following their first Anna Bolena last season and preceding their first Roberto Devereux next season, surely there is a spot somewhere on the roster for this rousing Tudor family drama... 

Here's the glowing New York Times review:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/arts/music/leon-botstein-conducts-henry-viii-at-bard-festival.html?ref=music

David

[Alan Howe]

Thanks very much for this report on what was obviously a triumph. Let's hope it'll presage a recording - or maybe the Bard performance itself was recorded. Any sign of microphones, David?

[Revilod]

"Henri VIII" is surely one of the few truly great unsung operas and a new recording would be most welcome . As much as I am a fan of Saint-Saens I do think that his extraordinary technical facility results in a certain slickness which makes it difficult to relate emotionally to some of his music. Even his most popular opera,"Samson et Dalila", suffers from this. "Henri VIII", though, seems much more spontaneous musically largely partly because it is primarily a psychological drama rather than a  spectacle. As a result, Saint-Saens seems far less constrained by his usual concern for musical correctness and "Henri VIII" is far more fluidly written. It's great to see it making a stir in New York.

[edurban]

Microphones everywhere, Alan, so we can hope...

Btw, Act. 3, scene 1, Henry's encounter with the Papal legate, was omitted, as it has been in all four modern productions I'm familiar with.  I have to get myself a score, to find out if the music is weak, or if the story just moves along nicely without it and no opera should go on all night.  The ballet, of course,  was mostly omitted.

Another note: the programme mentioned that the original libretto had a fifth act introducing Jane Seymour, but Saint-Saens et al. dropped this early in the planning stages.  A terrible idea dramatically, of course, but intriguing, none the less.

David

[Alan Howe]

Thanks for your additional report, Dave. We live in hope, then...

[Lionel Harrsion]

Another note: the programme mentioned that the original libretto had a fifth act introducing Jane Seymour, but Saint-Saens et al. dropped this early in the planning stages.  A terrible idea dramatically, of course, but intriguing, none the less.

David

If only Henry VIII himself had been smart enough to drop the idea of Jane Seymour...