Ernest Chausson (1855-1899)
Le roi Arthus – drame lyrique in three acts & six tableaux, Op. 23
Arthus: Gino Quilico (baritone), Genièvre: Teresa Żylis-Gara (soprano), Lancelot: Gösta Winbergh (tenor), Mordred: René Massis (baritone)
Other cast beneath review
Chœurs et Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/Armin Jordan
Erato 2564 68147-6 (3 CDs: 163)
This 1985 studio recording certainly gives Chausson’s sole excursion into the genre of opera its best advocacy. It is well recorded and has as good a cast as we could ever expect, especially Gino Quilico whose vibrant baritone I have always loved, Teresa Żylis-Gara‘s pure, silvery soprano and Gösta Winbergh’s virile tenor. Even among the supporting roles we find some top-class singers. Amin Jordan gives full Wagnerian weight to its lush textures and the Radio France orchestra plays beautifully.
The problem, to my ears at least, lies with much of the music, which constantly, consciously strives after memorability without actually achieving it. It is grand, densely – at times even ploggily – orchestrated and puzzling right from the start with the overture which uses a couple of portentous themes which somehow fail to engage the ear. There comes a big, noisy crowd scene in Arthur’s palace, with a double chorus and much carousing but at nearly three hours this is a long – indeed, overlong – opera and for extended passages, although it swoons and surges in quasi-Wagnerian mode, it can just bang on relentlessly. There are, however, also atmospheric moments of real serenity such as the serenade preceding the lover’s illicit tryst linking bands two and three of CD 1, marked by the wordless melismata of the “veilleurs de nuit” (watchers of the night), which distinctly echoes the nocturnal tryst of Tristan and Isolde; also notable is the brief, Impressionistic hymn to Nature at dawn followed by praise of Arthur’s heroism, elegantly sung by Thierry Dran as the ploughman and reminiscent of the two brief tenor solos in Berlioz’ Les Troyens, but there’s not a lot of the Gallic delicacy which marks the few – but masterly – songs in Chausson’s small output. Apparently, Chausson himself was worried that his opera was too obviously derivative of its Wagnerian predecessor; unfortunately, for all its moody grandeur, passages such as the love scene, while explicitly reminiscent of the Liebesnacht in Tristan in both its events and music – even the same key! – fail to rise to that level of intensity – but what could? Even the ostensibly sympathetic portrayal of Arthur’s anguish at his betrayal makes him seem like an avatar of King Mark. Nonetheless, there are many impressive passages, such the climax of Genièvre’s and Lancelot’s passion (track 4, CD 2).
We hear a rather throaty Gilles Cachemaille as Merlin in his more-bass-than-baritone phase but his baleful contribution is in only one scene. Following the battle and Genièvre’s suicide by strangling herself with her long hair – reflecting the Belle Époque/Pre-Raphaelite erotic fascination with flowing feminine tresses – for some, the best of the music is encountered in the final of Act 3, depiciting Arthur’s apotheosis. It is a kind of amalgam of Tristan’s death, Parsifal’s temptation by the flower maidens and the finale of Gounod’s Faust; the invisible, heavenly choir at sunset welcoming the fallen hero to Avalon attracted the praise of contemporary composers on the opera’s premiere. It all sounds very Golden Age Hollywood to modern ears and perhaps a little corny but hey, this is Grand Opera. Winbergh’s and the chorus’ singing is particularly attractive here.
Chausson laboured on Le roi Arthus for nearly a decade and failed to secure its staging before his untimely demise in the infamous, fatal cycling accident. For all its merits, it is perhaps not that hard to explain why this opera has failed to establish itself in the repertoire despite several revivals, as it is essentially a paler facsimile of its much more consistently inspired models and predecessors.
I have read criticism of Winbergh’s pronunciation of the text but to me it sounds perfectly acceptable as “standard international French”. Soprano Teresa Żylis-Gara is wrongly listed as a mezzo here, presumably because that was the Fach of the singer of Genièvre in the posthumous premiere. No libretto is provided in the CD box set I have reviewed here, just a brief synopsis, nor does the download – now the only way apart from “pre-loved” copies to acquire this – do so; however, bilingual versions can be found online, as per here, and an English translation only is available here. The original CD box set issue, Erato 2292-45407-2, however, contains the French libretto plus English & German translations.
Ralph Moore
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Other cast:
Lyonnel: Gérard Friedmann (tenor)
Merlin: Gilles Cachemaille (baritone)
Allan: François Loup (bass)
Un Écuyer: Alexandre Laitter (bass)
Un Laboureur: Thierry Dran (tenor)
3e Soldat: Francis Dudziak (bass)
1e & 2e Soldats: Michel Focquenoy (tenor)
Un Chevalier/4e Soldat: René Schirrer (bass)
