Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
Colorature
Jodie Devos (soprano), Adèle Charvet (mezzo-soprano) , Münchner Rundfunkorchester/Laurent Campellone
rec. 2018, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Studio 1, Munich, Germany
French song texts with English translations included.
Reviewed as 16-bit / 44.1 kHz WAV download
Alpha Classics 437 [61]
Sadly, the Belgian coloratura soprano Jodie Devos died on June 16 this year of breast cancer, aged only 35. After winning prizes in several competitions, she was voted Young Vocal Artist of the Year by the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) in 2015, which catapulted her into a rapid international career. She endeared herself to her audiences in roles such as Olympia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) and Eurydice (Orphée aux Enfers) – both represented here – Lakmé, Die Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte), Blondchen (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Adèle (Le Comte Ory),
Marie (La Fille du régiment), Philine (Mignon), La Fée (Cendrillon), Le Feu, Le Rossignol and La Princesse (L’Enfant et les sortilèges), Adele (Die Fledermaus) and Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) – in other words, the cream of the coloratura repertoire. Her beautiful, light soubrette voice and technical accomplishment with superb handling of coloratura and stratospheric high notes reaped laurels wherever she appeared, and it is a great loss for the operatic world and a tragedy that she left us so young. We are fortunate that she left behind a recorded legacy to savour for many years to come.
As far as I know, this Offenbach recital was her recording debut, set down in 2018 and issued the year after to coincide with the bicentenary celebrations of Offenbach’s birth. It is a real jewel in the catalogue. In a co-production with Palazzetto Bru Zane & BR-Klassic & Alpha Klassics the production team dug deep into Offenbach’s oeuvre and came up with a programme of relative rarities, apart from a couple of evergreens. The Münchner Rundfunkorchester is hardly the first ensemble one expects to encounter in a recording of the most French music imaginable, but they are of course fullblood musicians and can adjust to anything – and Laurent Campellone is 100% French and “known around the world for his expertise in the French opera of the Romantic era, he is often compared to Michel Plasson”, as Wikipedia so nicely puts it.
Offenbach, who also was an eminent cellist, composed his first operetta in 1847, a one-act opéra-comique, which was followed by a long list of similar works. They were played but disappeared quickly, and it took more than ten years before he had a lasting success. It was Orphée aux enfers, premiered in October 1858. Then during the 1860s, which was his great decade, there followed a handful of other full-length operetta which are still played: La belle Hélène (1864), La vie Parisienne (1866), La Grande-duchess de Gerolstein (1867) and La Périchole (1868). Parallel with these he produced a steady stream of less successful works, and when interest waned in the 1870s he still continued composing, ending up with a total of just over 100. His melodic inventiveness flourished, even though much of it was quickly forgotten, but this is not to imply that what is collected on this disc is second-rate. We recognise typical Offenbachian turns of phrases and rhythmical finesses, and the general atmosphere is what we expect. He was prolific and inspiration flowed unimpededly. It should also be pointed out that all these “unknown” operettas were composed by the mature Offenbach, contemporaneous with the masterworks listed above.
Boule de neige (Snowball) (1871), for instance, from which there are three songs here, was a revised version of Barkouf from 1860. The title “person” was a dog, which may have contributed to the failure of both versions, but Olga’s Couplet de la dompteuse (track 1), Romance (track 13) and Chanson (track 14) are charming numbers. The first is vivacious and full of joy and coloratura, the other two romantic, beautiful and elegant – two of my favourites in fact. La Corilla’s aria from Vert-Vert (1869) is also lively, but then comes Eurydice’s inward invocation from Offenbach’s break-through work Orphée aux Enfer from 1858. This is music most of us recognise, and it is beautifully sung. The next year Offenbach introduced Un mari á la Porte, which hasn’t made much imprint in the annals, but Rosita’s Valse-Tyrolienne with its fireworks of coloratura is certainly worth a listen, in particular when it is performed with such abandon as here. Fantasio from 1872 was not among the most successful of Offenbach’s operettas but might be worth a revival for Elsbeth’s two beautiful arias (track 5 & 10). The latter is a really beautiful love song. The same year also saw the premiere of Le Roi Carotte, which contains the beautiful Romance des fleurs (track 8) – a song to treasure. Les bavards (1862) was over-shadowed by La belle Hélène and the other masterworks that followed soon, but Inès’ aria is anyway a souvenir worth saving. The same year as Orphée aux Enfer, 1858, a one-act comedy titled Mesdames de la Halle was presented. I have a vague memory of seeing it on TV many years ago, and I do have an EMI recording from 1982 under the legendary Manuel Rosenthal. Ciboulette’s role was then sung by Jodie Devos’ great predecessor in the French coloratura repertoire Mady Mesplé. Returning to that recording after many years, I could remark that Mesplé’s tone was thinner and her delivery was a great deal more reticent that Devos’, who is a lot more dramatic and forward-moving. Technically there is little difference, the coloratura fluent, the top notes secure, but Jodie Devos has nothing to fear from the comparison.
Robinson Crusoé from 1867 has been revived occasionally and even recorded by Opera Rara, though I haven’t heard it, but Edwige’s pacy waltz is a brilliant piece of music. The final number, Fantasia’s Ariette from Le voyage dans la Lune (1875) is endearing. As a bonus we are offered two numbers from Offenbach’s only opera, the unfinished Les Contes d’Hoffmann (1880). Olympia’s well-known aria is a real treat with some extra decorations in the second couplet, and the just as well-known Barcarolle, that opens the Venice act is so beautifully sung, with mezzo-soprano Adèle Charvet an eminent Niklausse in the opening phrases, and matching Devos’ Giulietta perfectly in the duet.
I need only mention that about halfway through the programme we are offered a little resting point from all the vocal excellence in the shape of the overture to Les bergers (1865), also a piece full of life. I wholeheartedly recommend this issue to operetta lovers for the largely unhackneyed programme and, first and foremost, for the magnificent singing.
Göran Forsling
Previous review: Michael Cookson (February 2019)
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Contents
Boule de neige
1 Couplet de la dompteuse « Je suis du pays vermeil » 2’03
Vert-Vert
2 Air de la Corilla « Les plus beaux vers sont toujours fades » 4’04
Orphée aux Enfer
3 Invocation d’Eurydice « La mort m’apparaît souriante » 2’22
Un mari à la porte
4 Valse-tyrolienne de Rosita « J’entends, ma belle » 4’02
Fantasio
5 Air d’Elsbeth « Cachons l’ennui de mon âme » 5’13
Les bavards
6 Air d’Inès « De sont d’étranges personnages » 2’50
Mesdames de la Halle
7 Rondo de Ciboulette « Quel bruit et quel tapage » 4’51
Le Roi Carotte
8 Romance des fleurs « Le voilà… c’est bien lui » 4’06
Les bergers
9 Ouverture 4’39
Fantasio
10 Romance d’Elsbeth « Voilà toute la ville en fête » 4’03
Les contes d’Hoffmann
11 Couplets d’Olympia « Les oiseaux dans la charmille » 6’01
Robinson Crusoé
12 Valse d’Edwige « Conduisez-moi vers celui Que j’adore » 3’47
Boule de neige
13 Romance d’Olga « Souvenance » 2’26
Boule de neige
14 Chanson d’Olga « Allons ! couché » 3’59
Les contes d’Hoffmann
15 Prélude & Barcarolle « Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour » 4’03
Le voyage dans la lune
16 Ariette de Fantasia « Je suis nerveuse » 2’22
