Date of composition: 1733
Duration: 33 minutes
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau later took up Lully’s achievements and developed them further in his own operas. Yet it was not until the age of 50 that Rameau, born four years before Lully’s death, felt ready to step out of the great master’s shadow. With Hippolyte et Aricie, he composed his first tragédie lyrique, having found in Simon-Joseph Pellegrin a librettist who met his standards. Meanwhile, Italian opera seria had been triumphant. At the same time as Rameau’s first tragédies lyriques, Handel and Vivaldi were writing some of their greatest operas. Yet French musical theatre stubbornly retained its independence. The emphasis remained on the affective recitative, the ballet, and the natural rhythm of the French language – not, as in Italy, on the virtuosic coloratura of the da capo aria. Even when arias such as “Tristes apprêts” from Castor et Pollux or “Lieux funestes” from Dardanus adopt an ABA structure, they are fully integrated into the dramatic context and surrounding recitatives. In his handling of the orchestra and the expressive range of his music, however, Rameau’s style was – quite literally – unprecedented. Its modernity, with unfamiliar and daring harmonies, shocked audiences at the 1733 premiere of Hippolyte et Aricie.
The suite from the opera, assembled by Emmanuelle Haïm, includes not only brilliant orchestral movements, but also follows Hippolyte and Aricie through a plot of forbidden love, jealousy and divine intervention in ancient Greece. Phèdre loves her stepson Hippolyte, who in turn loves Aricie – and she loves him back. Out of jealousy, Phèdre sends Aricie to the temple of Diana to become a chaste priestess. When Phèdre confesses her feelings, tragedy ensues: Thésée, Phèdre’s husband, is led to believe that his son has tried to kill his stepmother and asks his father Neptune to destroy Hippolyte. Yet Diana rescues him, and the young couple is happily reunited.
Alongside the ballet Les Indes galantes, Rameau’s second surviving tragédie lyrique, Castor et Pollux, is probably his most frequently performed stage work. At its world premiere in 1737, the opera met with only moderate success, but a few years later, in 1755, the aria “Tristes apprêts” was praised as a model of French vocal composition. This evening’s performance features only two arias from the tragédie lyrique – a work dealing with the conflict between fraternal devotion and rivalling love for the princess Télaïre, shared by the immortal Pollux and his mortal twin brother Castor – thereby leaving more space for Rameau’s lesser-known pieces.
Dardanus (1739) too was initially rejected by traditionalists. Only twenty years later, in a heavily revised version, did it enjoy a triumphant revival. The selection prepared by Emmanuelle Haïm begins with excerpts from the allegorical prologue, which is unconnected to the main plot: the goddess of love, Venus, sings of her power. When L’Amour (Love) and Les Plaisirs (Pleasures) fall asleep in her palace, Venus summons La Jalousie (Jealousy) to wake them.
As in Italian opera, the tragédie lyrique also developed characteristic associations between voice types and roles: the youthful hero was always a tenor (haute-contre), since the “unnatural” Italian castrati were rejected; the equally youthful heroine was a soprano, while dramatic and powerful female roles were often assigned to darker mezzo-sopranos. Dardanus’ aria “Lieux funestes”, composed five years after the premiere for performances of 1744, was written by Rameau for Pierre Jélyotte, who created many of the composer’s tenor roles.
After Dardanus, Rameau took a six-year break from composition, but from 1745 onwards his works dominated the French musical landscape so completely that his opponents even fought to instal limits on their performance. Toward the end of his life, Rameau found himself embroiled in a new musical controversy: the so-called querelle des bouffons, once again arguing about which opera was superior – French or Italian. This time, however, Rameau’s works represented the conservative ideal, while the fashionable Italian opera buffa became the latest craze.