Eva Zaïcik (mezzo-soprano)
Rebelle – Hommage a Célestine Galli-Marié
Orchestre National de Lille/Pierre Dumoussaud
rec. 2024 Auditorium du Nouveau Siecle, Lille, France
Sung texts with English translations included
Alpha Classics 1128 [62]

This new solo recital, ‘Rebelle’, is a collection of airs from French opéras comiques sung by mezzo-soprano Eva Zaïcik and one of the most enjoyable I have heard so far this year. 

The theme of the collection is both the 150th anniversary of Georges Bizet’s death and the premiere of his masterpiece Carmen. To mark the occasion, Zaïcik honours the career of mezzo-soprano Célestine Galli-Marié (1837-1905) a performer renowned for creating the title role. (Prior to her birth certificate being unearthed, her birthyear was usually given as 1840).

A Parisian, Galli-Marié was much admired for her gifts for characterisation and drama. In Rouen whilst successfully performing the role of Mab in a French language version of Michael Balfe’s hit opera The Bohemian Girl, she was talent spotted by Émile Perrin, director of the Opéra-Comique, Paris who recruited her and in her fifteen years there she created sixteen roles. It seems that most, if not all, the chosen airs in Zaïcik’s collection are from roles created by Galli-Marié. Zaïcik writes that in her day ‘Celestine embodied a certain idea of artistic and feminine rebellion’ – hence the album title.

It’s worth noting how many of the works staged at the Opéra-Comique, Paris were not necessarily humorous. Some, such as Carmen, were serious dramas with a tragic conclusion. Here, we have a total of sixteen works written by eleven composers of French opéra and opéra comique. I have previously encountered the music of Ambroise Thomas, Bizet, Offenbach and Massenet but the remaining seven composers, Paladilhe, Poise, Deffes, Masse, Guiraud, Cohen and Grisar, are new to me. Fourteen of the tracks are airs and the remaining two others, an entr’acte and a prelude, are orchestral only. The programming of airs like this,  combining works by both famous and rarely known composers,  is an approach I greatly favour in a recital collection. 

Carmen is one of the most famous operas on the world stage. Following its premiere, despite quite a slow start, after a few years  Carmen became a resounding success. It remains a perennial feature in the top five operas vying with rivals La traviata, Die Zauberflöte, La bohème and Tosca. Carmen was Galli-Marié’s most famous role but she also performed in eponymous opéras comiques such as Ambroise Thomas’s Mignon and Offenbach’s Fantasio. Most of the other works here have been overlooked and are today rarely staged. 

Born at Ivry-sur-Seine, on the outskirts of Paris, competition-winning Eva Zaïcik is carving out a successful career in both the opera house and concert stage. A look at her repertoire and reviews shows that she sings lots of Renaissance and Baroque works by composers such as Monteverdi and Lully, but she has a broader range than that and moves easily through to the classical era with Mozart, to Rossini and the Romantic era of Wagner and Tchaikovsky. She also includes roles in the post-Romantic tradition of verismo by Bizet and Mascagni.

Zaïcik clearly revels in the rich repertoire with which Galli-Marié had such success and is confident in her choice of roles and airs. She explains that Galli-Marié ‘embodied a certain notion of artistic and feminine rebellion. With her voice, her charisma and her highly individual approach to drama, she brought to life characters who were free, complex and often at odds with the norms of their time.’I am impressed by the clarity of her voice, the security of projection, the breadth of her vocal range and her pleasing, naturally produced vibrato, although at times I feel that she might have achieved more with the texts. 

In 1866 Galli-Marié made her Opéra-Comique debut by creating the title role in Ambroise Thomas’ Mignon, whichwas popular for many decades, but is far less so today, Zaïcik sings a couple of notable mezzo-soprano airs. Standing out is Mignon’s charmingly lyrical act one Romance: Connais-tu le pays où fleurit l’oranger? (Do you know the country where the orange tree blooms?). Abducted as a child the beautiful Mignon tells her lover Wilhelm that if freed from her gypsy captors she imagines visiting a beautiful island where orange trees bloom with plentiful golden fruit and red roses. Delighting in Mignon’s romantic dream, Zaïcik is in exquisite voice producing a sense of sweet reverie.

Zaïcik’s take on Carmen’s famous entrance air the Habanera – L’amour est un oiseau rebelle (Love is a rebellious bird) is interesting. This isn’t the typical portrayal exuding the wildness and passion many Carmens seek to achieve. There is more than one way to communicate the role; here, Carmen is by turns coquettish and rebellious and has a more seductive air. The unfailing sincerity of Zaïcik’s singing is effective, if different from the norm. 

One of Massenet’s more unfamiliar opéras comiques Don César de Bazan is now receiving some attention. One of the admired  passages from the score is the lovely Act Three Entr’acte Sevillana. Additionally, a jewel from act two is the air Dors, ami, dors (Sleep, my friend, sleep) a lovely, melodic berceuse for the boy Lazarille, a trouser role. Spanish grandee Don César has saved Lazarille from the gallows. Incarcerated in a prison cell Don César is being comforted by Lazarille who sings a charming lullaby.

Victor Massé’s four act opera Fior d’Aliza is a work unknown to me. Nevertheless, I especially enjoyed Zaïcik’s performance of the Act Three Chanson bohémienne titled Ma mère était bohémienne (My mother was a gypsy). Born in a prison, hurt and abandoned by her parents Piccinina delights at her freedom as she frolics in the countryside. Zaïcik seems to be living Piccinina’s role, and her display of light coloratura is most convincing.  

The Orchestre national de Lille plays admirably throughout under the talented French conductor Pierre Dumoussaud; the section principals play very impressively. Recording in Lille, at the Auditorium du Nouveau Siècle, the engineering team for Alpha Classics provides well-balanced, high-quality sound. In the booklet Patrick Taïeb has written a helpful essay ‘Carmen before Carmen: A Portrait of Célestine Galli-Marié’ plus Zaïcik has contributed a note in praise of Galli-Marié. Full marks for the sung French texts with the English translations placed alongside in this splendidly presented album.

Michael Cookson

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Contents
Ferdinand Poise (1828-1892)
La surprise de l’amour (1877)
1. Chanson de Colombine – Chacun connaît de Colombine
Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896)
Mignon (1866)
2. Introduction et récit-cantabile – Elle est là, près de lui
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Carmen (1875)
3. Habanera de Carmen – L’amour est un oiseau rebelle
Louis Deffès (1819-1900)
Les noces de Fernande (1878)
4. Sevillana de l’infant – Nuit d’amour et de plaisir
Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
Fantasio (1872)
5. Ballade de Fantasio – Voyez dans la nuit brune
Victor Massé (1822-1884)
Fior d’Aliza (1866)
6. Entracte symphonique de l’acte V
7. Chanson bohémienne – Ma mère était bohémienne
Ernest Guiraud (1837-1892)
Piccolino (1876)
8. Cavatine de Marthe – Noël! Déjà!
Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896)
Mignon (1866)
9. Romance de Mignon – Connais-tu le pays où fleurit l’oranger?
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Carmen, WD31
10. Séguedille de Carmen – Près des remparts de Séville
Émile Paladilhe (1844-1926)
Le Passant (1872)
11. Prélude
12. Mandoline de Zanetto – Mignonne bien-aimée
Jules Massenet (1842-1912)
Don César de Bazan (1872)
13. Berceuse de Lazarille – Dors, ami, dors
Albert Grisar (1808-1869)
Les Porcherons (1850)
14. Air de Mme de Briane – Quoi! Perdue!
Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
Robinson Crusoé (1867)
15. Berceuse de Vendredi – Beauté qui viens des cieux
Jules Cohen (1830-1901)
José-Maria (1866)
16. Air de Diane – Poltrons! Qui vous sauvez en criant