Meyerbeer - Vasco da Gama

[BerlinExpat]

Bernd Helmich's reign at the Chemnitz Opera House has seen a wonderful sequence of unsung operas, all of which have been broadcast and recorded for CD release by CPO (who else?). They include Nicolai's Il templario and Die Heimkehr des Verbannten, Pfitzner's Die Rose vom Liebesgarten, Schreker's Der Schmied von Gent and Reznicek's Benzin. Helmich's probable last unsung offering before he transfers to Bonn is Meyerbeer's Vasco de Gama.

Rehearsals are already in progress for this production of the opera's critical edition by Jürgen Schläder. It is based on the last published and unpublished material left by Meyerbeer on his death.
According to the information presented on the Chemnitz Opera homepage Meyerbeer himself altered the location of two acts to India during the thirty years he spent on writing the score. These changes were not taken into account by the Belgian musicologist François-Joseph Fétis when he produced the shortened version known as L'Africaine that was premièred in Paris in 1865.

The premiere of Vasco da Gama is on Saturday 2nd February 2013 and a transmission by Deutschlandradio Kultur is planned.
I have it on good authority that the performance could last four and a half hours including two intervals. A CD production by CPO is planned. (Like some of the others, eventually, I guess!)

[Mark Thomas]

How absolutely fascinating, Colin. Thanks very much for the news.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

This really is News. My last acquaintance with L'Africaine was way back in the late 1970s at Covent Garden. This was a French version (and presumably near identical to the 1865 Paris version referred to by BerlinExpat). I felt the opera largely 'worked' on account of the cast that contained not only 'stars' but Covent Garden stalwarts whose performances were equal to that of the principals. My memory (not to be trusted!) was of a somewhat disjointed opera of some thrilling and wonderful pieces rather bolted together in an arbitrary fashion. I haven't checked, but I think it was conducted by Peter Maag.

I knew (although vaguely) that L'Africaine was salvaged from Vasco da Gama. But then I thought we were never likely to have a production of the latter since Meyerbeer was unable to complete it. I put it in the category of an operatic juggernaut that got rather out of control, a sprawling entity where Meyerbeer's aspirations out-stretched his abilities. But things have obviously moved on! This Chemnitz production is surely going to be a real landmark in the opera world.

And how wonderful it is that CPO are likely to record it (a 4 or 5 CD set surely, for I guess it is similar in duration to the Trojans?). Gosh, one wonders where the money comes from to undertake the task. But I guess an actual release on CD might be at least 2-3 years in the future. Doesn't this (together with all the other projects locked away in the vaults of CPO) make a fellow aspire to develop the skills of a burglar? (Alas, in my case not much chance of rising above the level of a bungler.)

[Derek Hughes]

I haven't checked, but I think it was conducted by Peter Maag.

Peter Maag it was. I still have a recording of the broadcast, though it has suffered in transference from tape to cassette, and then from cassette to hard disk. It's a long time since I've listened to it, but my impression was that there was a bit more music on the 1977 Gerd Albrecht recording. The newly unearthed material will be interesting. Many years ago, I read in a newspaper that there is a hoard of variant music for Les Huguenots in the bowels of the Paris Opéra.

On the subject of Huguenots variants, many years ago I was working in the Library of Congress on their microfilm collection of libretti. Suddenly, I came upon a sequence of alternative libretti for Les Huguenots, from which I gathered that the Bartholomew Massacre was still politically untouchable in some regions. The most common evasion was to turn the opposing sides into Guelfs and Ghibellines, but there was also Die Anglikaner und Puritaner (Munich) and Gli Anglicani (Florence): in the former, the Anglicans stood for the Catholics, and the Duke of Buckingham unwittingly ordered the death of his daughter; in the latter, the Anglicans stood for the Huguenots and the Puritans for the Catholics. Here, Cromwell unwittingly ordered the death of his daughter. From this we gather that, while French religious politics were still a sensitive topic, those of England meant absolutely nothing, and were a blank sheet on which one could write any meaning one chose. In Meyerbeer's Margherita d'Anjou, the final stages of the Wars of the Roses are played out in Scotland, and the villainy of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, is defeated by the action of some plucky Highlanders,

[BerlinExpat]

Here's the good news - the Vasco da Gama broadcast details:

Deutschlandradio Kultur
2 February 2013
19:04 - 23:00

Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791 - 1864)
Vasco de Gama (Die Afrikanerin)
Opéra en cinq actes

From the Oper Chemnitz

Don Pedro         Kouta Räsänen
Don Diego         Martin Gäbler
Ines                      Guibee Yang
Vasco da Gama [/i ]   Bernhard Berchthold
Selica         Claudia Sorokina
Nelusco         Nikolay Borchev
Anna         Tiina Penttinen
Don Alvar         André Riemer
Chemnitz Opera Chorus
Robert Schumann Philharmonie
Frank Beermann, conductor

[edurban]

Marvelous news.  We discussed/speculated on the disappointing Paris arrangement/butchery of Vasco a few years ago in the context of Eve Queler's NYC Africaine performance and I'm sure all Meyerbeer devotees (I count myself one) look forward to an enlightened new edition.  The opera as currently circulating plays more like "highlights from Vasco" than the artistic testament Meyerbeer planned, but then, that was life at the Paris Opera...see also The Tales of Hoffman.  I shudder to think how Don Carlo would have emerged if Verdi had died before the premiere...

At the moment, I must come down firmly on the side of Huguenots as Meyerbeer's masterpiece...it has a confidence, consistancy and stylistic unity I miss in Prophet and Highlights from Vasco and complete (or very nearly so,) worked beautifully on stage at the Bard Festival a few years back...but I hope this production will force me to reconsider...

Thanks for keeping us informed and updated,

David

[Derek Hughes]

Deutschlandradio Kultur
2 February 2013
19:04 - 23:00

Unfortunately, I shall probably be in an aeroplane throughout this broadcast. Will anyone be recording it?

[Richergar]

Thanks for all this. I am just back from a frantic week of travel all through Europe, though this wasn't a great time to see novel stuff (but I did see a wonderful Offenbach double bill I'll try to write on when I catch my breath, and a rare Telemann and rarer Porpora and the Honneger Roi Pausolus, which kind of qualifies) and I am still hoping to get to see this there, although my April weekend has probably fallen through. I missed the Schmied (I was there but they cancelled the performance because a singer was sick) and did see the Benzin, which is wonderful, although I know people don't like it (it's very much based on Midsummer Night's Dream).

More later, but I am glad it will be radio broadcast.

For those interested, Wildbad this summer is doing the same thing with the Rossini Tell, and also offering an additional evening of music that didn't make it in.

All best
Richard

[BerlinExpat]

The latest state of affairs:

The Première took place last Saturday to great critical acclaim: "an opulent masterpiece"; "a firestorm raged throught the
house" to quote a couple of newspapers.

The production lasted from 18:00 to 23:11. The music lasts 247 minutes (a friend timed it!)

The opera was not transmitted as originally planned, probably on account of its length (Deutschalndradio Kultur doesn't like long operas except Wagner's; see Siegfried Wagner's Der Schmied von Marienburg and Anton Urspruch's Das Unmöglichste von allem. It will now be broadcast on Deutschlandradio Kultur on two successive evenings: Sat. 9 March from19:05 till 22:30 (presumably acts 1-3) and on Sunday 10th March from 20:03 till 22:00 (presumably acts 4 & 5).

The dates given for the recording sessions ( Feb 4th and 5th) do not coincide with public performances so I guess they are concert performances especially for the broadcasts and subsequent CD release through CPO.

Because the broadcast has been rescheduled I cannot record the performances on account of going to Odense for La grande tante!!! Can someone else record them?

I see the latest opera release through CPO from Chemnitz is Strauss's Die schweigsame Frau which rather suggests that earlier productions of Pfitzner's Die Rose vom Liebesgarten and Reznicek's Beznin have rather bitten the dust. I can upload either or both if there's any interest out there.

[Mark Thomas]

Colin, I too will be away for Vasco's rescheduled broadcasts, but I have a friend who will record them and I'll eventually upload his recordings if no one else has done so in the meantime.

[BerlinExpat]

Giacomo Meyerbeer

Vasco de Gama

I attended a performance this season of Vasco de Gama at the Chemnitz Opera House and can say the critics were right – it was an astounding and enlightening performance and one can only hope that L'Africaine will be consigned to the archives and Jürgen Schläder's critical edition will become standard. Critics may harp on about its length – about 250 minutes - but every minute was thoroughly enjoyable and I believe is Meyerbeer at his best. Only once did I think his orchestration was inappropriate but I'll leave you to judge. The opera will be broadcast by Deutschlandradio Kultur on Saturday 9th March (Acts 1-3) at 19:05 and Sunday 10th March (Acts 4 & 5) at 20:03. For your information the act lengths are as follows:
Act 1   60 minutes
Act 2   45 minutes
Act 3   45 minutes
Act 4   55 minutes
Act 5   45 minutes
For those wishing to make the pilgrimage to Chemnitz there are further performances on 10th March, 7th April, 28th April, 31st May and 15th June 2013. The link is:

http://www.theater-chemnitz.de/sparten/oper/repertoire/vasco_de_gama.html

The following notes may be of interest to Meyerbeer fans who are not familiar with the opera. I have translated and slightly précised notes from the Chemnitz programme regarding its creation.

The roots of the opera go back to 1837 when Meyerbeer and Scribe signed a contract with the Paris Opéra for a further Grand Opéra after the success of Robert le Diable and the Hugenottes. The premiére was planned for 1840. Meyerbeers initial enthusiasm for the project faltered when he realized that L'Africaine would not reach the quality of the two previous operas. He then laid it aside and produced Das Feldlager in Schlesien for Berlin and Le Prophète for Paris. Only then did Scribe and Mayerbeer take up the L'Africaine project again. The character of Vasco da Gama developed into more of a central figure and because of his historical importance the opera developed political dimensions. Because Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to India it became clear to Meyerbeer that the location of the final acts in Africa had to be transferred to India and the African girl turned into an Indian princess. Nevertheless, Meyerbeer still couldn't muster the creativity to complete the opera. Scribe's death in 1861 struck another blow. It wasn't until Charlotte Birch-Pfeifer completed the text according to Meyerbeer's guidelines that he once more made progress. On the 29th November 1863 he noted in his diary that he had worked for seven hours working on Sélica's final scene and thereby completed the whole score of Vasco de Gama. All that remained was the overture and the ballet music and any last minute modifications. He hoped God would bless the work and endow it with a glowing and enduring success on its première. In the following weeks Meyerbeer undertook minor revisions and on New Year's Day 1864 he one more noted in his diary that he hoped a première would take place in the coming year. However, he died on 2nd May 1864 before rehearsals could begin.
After Meyerbeer's death the Paris Opéra gave Belgian musicologist Françoise-Joseph Fétis the contract to sift through the material and produce something more concise. Unfortuately, although Fétis' efforts may be considered worthy, he made inappropriate incisions and changes including reversing the title back to L'Africaine, even though it was clear that Sélika was Indian. Most of Fétis' cuts and transpositions concerned the third and fifth acts. In the third act Fétis removed the sailors' drinking song and made a significant cut after Don Pedro and Ines' duet. Some of the material was used in the fifth act and as a result important aspects of the plot's development were removed or transposed, thereby bringing some confusion to the sequence of events. The famous aria "Ô paradis" in the fourth act is Fétis' own invention and Meyerbeer's original "Ô doux climat" is restored in the original instrumentation. In the fifth act the original material is restored so the sequence of events is thoroughly clarified.
The Fétis Version received its première on 28th April 1865 in Paris and was an immense success. It quickly became Meyerbeer's most popular opera and its run of success was only stopped by a Nazi ban. Since 1845 the opera has received considerably fewer productions.
Because it is known that Meyerbeer made alterations to his scores during rehearsals, it is not know how Vasco de Gama would have resulted had he lived to oversee the project. However, Jürgen Schläder's critical edition for Ricordi enables a complete performance of all the published and unpublished material that Meyerbeer left on his death.

[edurban]

Thank you for this wonderful post, and the whole thread, in fact...can't wait to hear the 'new' Vasco.  Particularly interesting about Fetis' 'O Paradis'.  Shades of the recomposed Venetian act in Tales of Hoffman. 

David

[Mark Thomas]

This is a mouth-watering prospect. I'm agog to hear the work once it is broadcast, and how interesting that Ô paradis is actually by Fétis. He, by the way, wasn't only a musicologist, he was an accomplished composer (a good symphony and fantasy of his were issued on CD quite a few years ago), and also of course edited the French language equivalent of Groves.

[JimL]

We also have a DL of a concert overture of his in our Archives.

[eschiss1]

I think both of Fétis' symphonies have been scanned and uploaded in full score by Google/Hathitrust (in truly execrable unusable-except-for-reading-during-performances-with-allowances-made... please ... - scans...)