Les Musiques de Molière
Chœur des Arts Florissants
Orchestre des Arts Florissants/William Christie
Sung texts with English translations enclosed
Reviewed as download
Harmonia Mundi HAX 8904097 [68]
One does not normally think of Molière in terms of music, and he never actually composed any operas, but together with Lully and the choreographer Pierre Beauchamps he created a new genre, the comédie-ballet, which became the favourite entertainment at court in France in the 1660s and 1670s. When Lully wasn’t available, Charpentier was a preferable stand-in, and even though the two were not always on speaking terms, they both produced congenial music of the highest order. Lully is rightly represented with four works: La Pastorale comique, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, George Dandin ou le Grand Divertissement Royal de Versailles and Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, while Charpentier gets only two: Intermèdes nouveaux du Mariage force and La Malade imaginaire. On the other hand, the music from the latter occupies about 75 % of the total playing time.
Some years ago, Glossa issued a disc titled “Molière à L’Opera”, which I reviewed very positively, and I refer readers to consult it for more historical facts. Most of the material on Christie’s disc was recorded much earlier than that, as early as 1990, and it is interesting to note that both have the same approach to the music: less reverential to 17th-century music and rather down-to-earth, even burlesque, which presumably was authentic even at the court of Louis XIV.
William Christie knows this repertoire inside out, having explored it for more than a half-century. Likewise, his musicians and singers – though the personnel have gradually changed – have been closely knit together. Thus, what we hear here is ensemble work with high precision, rhythmical vitality and freshness. The music is colourful, and in the Ballet des Magiciens from La Pastorale comique, which opens the disc, there are festivities galore with percussion and woodwind, and the magicians are noisy and almost excessively parodical. The singers enjoy themselves energetically and the sense of theatre is tangible. Similarly, the Turkish march from Le Bourgeois gentilhomme is glorious. It returns as an encore at the end of the programme, but then in an arrangement for two harpsichords, which gives the piece a quite different dimension.
The king originally resided in the Louvre Castle, where the theatre performances also were held, but he frequently travelled to other royal castles where some premieres also took place, and in the 1660s he began to show an interest in the Court of Versailles, which was still under construction. He didn’t move there permanently until 1682, ‘but he already favoured the château when he gave his first grand fêtes in the gardens designed by the architect Le Nôtre, then still being created’ in 1668, as Catherine Cessac writes in her very informative booklet notes. The festive music performed then was Le Grand Divertissement royal de Versailles, from which Cloris’ lament Ah ! mortelles douleurs (track 3) is heard here, expressively sung by Emmanuelle De Negri. From Le Mariage force we hear Les Grotesques perform a lively and thrilling scene, spiced with caustic dissonances and good-humoured theatricality. Here, Charpentier is the composer, and he is often more unpredictable than Lully.
Lully is back with two short excerpts from Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, where L’Égyptienne’s solo is insightfully sung by Claire Debono (track 5) and the chorus is inspired by their concerted piece. The rest of the disc is devoted to Le Malade imaginaire – possibly the most popular of Molière’s comedies to this very day, and a masterwork in every respect. This was the first full-scale collaboration between Molière and Charpentier – and also the last since Molière, who had recently turned 51, died after the fourth performance in February 1673. This was of course a great loss to French theatre. The music is quite extended and as far as I understand this is the complete score – and it is masterly music. The play is in three acts, and each act is followed by an intermède; besides this, there is a lively overture, an Églogue en musique et en danse and a Petit opéra impromptu. Altogether, there is a playing time of almost 45 minutes – all of it riveting. The longest intermède is the last and their spoken dialogue is mixed with music. Here we get a whiff of the theatre when it is at its most realistic. The actors are professionals, and William Christie himself takes the role of Praeses and reveals that he is a marvellous actor.
This disc should be heard by anyone who has an interest in baroque opera, and it is a valuable complement to the Glossa issue, referred to above.
Göran Forsling
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Contents, cast and recording details:
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)
La Pastorale comique, LWV 33
Ballet des Magiciens
Première Entrée
– Trois sorcières : Déesse des appas
– Une sorcière : Ô toi qui peux rendre agréables
Seconde Entrée
– Trois sorcières : Ah ! qu’il est beau, le jouvenceau
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, LWV 43
Quatrième intermède
– Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs
George Dandin ou le Grand Divertissement Royal de Versailles, LWV 38
– Plainte de Cloris : Ah ! mortelles douleurs !
Trois Sorcières: Cyril Costanzo, David Tricou, Bastien Rimondi
Cloris: Emmanuelle De Negri, Claire Debono, Virginie Thomas
Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, LWV 80
Quatrième intermède
– Une Égyptienne : Sortez, sortez de ces lieux
– Chœur : Sus, sus, chantons tous ensemble (+ Un Musicien seul)
L’Égyptienne: Claire Debono
Un Musicien seul: Stéphane Facco
Dessus: Maud Gnidzaz, Juliette Perret, Virginie Thomas
Hautes-contre: David Tricou, Renaud Tripathi Tailles: Edouard Hazebrouck, Jean-Yves Ravoux, Bastien Rimondi, Michael Loughlin Smith
Basse-taille: Matthieu Walendzik
Basse: Julien Neyer
rec. 2022, Philharmonie de Paris, Paris
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)
Intermèdes nouveaux du Mariage forcé, H. 494
– Les Grotesques : La, la, la, la, bonjour – Oh, le joli concert et la belle harmonie !
Les Grotesques: Cyril Auvity, Marc Mauillon, Lisandro Abadie
rec. 2013, Auditorium du Conservatoire de Vincennes, Paris
Le Malade imaginaire, H. 495
– Ouverture
Églogue en musique et en danse
– Quittez, quittez vos troupeaux (Flore, Climène, Daphné, Tircis, Dorilas)
– Ah ! quelle douce nouvelle (Flore, Climène, Daphné, Tircis, Dorilas)
– De vos flûtes bocagères (Flore, Climène, Daphné, Tircis, Dorilas)
Premier intermède
– Air pour les Croquignoles (Polichinelle, Chœur des Archers)
– Ballet – Loure – Air des archers
Petit opéra impromptu
– Belle Philis (Cléante, Angélique, Argan)
Deuxième intermède
– Profitez du printemps (Quatre Femmes mores)
– Entrée de ballet – Premier air des Mores, Second air des Mores – Canaries
Troisième intermède
– Cérémonie burlesque – Ritornelles (Praeses, Bachelierus, Primus Doctor, Secundus Doctor,
Tertius Doctor, Quartus Doctor, Quintus Doctor, Chœur)
– Air des révérences (Bachelierus, Chirurgus Primus, Chirurgus Secundus, Chœur)
Flore: Monique Zanetti
Daphné: Claire Brua
Climène: Noémi Rime
Tircis: Howard Crook
Dorilas Jean-François Gardeil
Polichinelle: Alain Trétout
Les Quatre Archers: Dominique Visse, Bruno Boterf, François Fauché, Antoine Sicot
Cléante: Denis Léger-Milhau
Argan: Jean Dautremay
Angélique: Isabelle Desrochers
Première Femme more: Monique Zanetti
Deuxième Femme more: Claire Brua
Troisième Femme more: Noémi Rime
Quatrième Femme more: Dominique Visse
Praeses: William Christie
Cinq Docteurs: Edouard Denoyelle, Jean-François Gay, Philippe Choquet,
Daniel Bonnardot, Jonathan Rubin
Bachelierus: Jean Dautremay
Chirurgus Primus: Jean-François Gardeil
Chirurgus Secundus: Howard Crook
Dessus: Catherine Bignalet, Sylvie Colas, Caroline de Corbiac, Emmanuelle Gal,
Christiane Détrez-Lagny, Béatrice Malleret, Donatienne Michel-Dansac, Anne Pichard,
Sylviane Pitour, Anne-Marie Tauzin
Hautes-contre: Edouard Audouy, Edouard Denoyelle, Frédéric Lair, Frédéric Marie, Didier Rebuffet, Bruno Renhold
Tenors: Bruno-Karl Boes, Alain Brumeau, Christophe Le Paludier, François Piolino, Jean-Marie Puissant
Basses: François Bazola, Daniel Bonnardot, Philippe Choquet, Jean-François Gay,
Fabrice Lillamand, Marcos Loureiro de Sa, Jean-Claude Sarragosse, Paul Willenbrock
rec. 1990, Auditorium des Halles, Paris
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, LWV 43
Quatrième intermède
– Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs
(Arr. pour 2 clavecins par William Christie & Justin Taylor)
William Christie, clavecin français anonyme (Lyon, fin XVIIes.) “mis au grand clavier par Joseph Collesse,
à Lyon, nov. 1748″, restauré par Laurent Soumagnac, Chaumont-en-Vexin, 2000-2004 (collection François Ryelandt, Bruxelles)
Justin Taylor, clavecin franco-flamand de William F. Morton (Paris, 1991) d’après le clavecin de Iohannes Ruckers de 1624 (Musée Unterlinden de Colmar – collection François Ryelandt, Bruxelles)
Justin Taylor appears courtesy of Alpha Classics
rec. 2023, Église de Saint-Martin-l’Ars, Vienne, France
