André Messager (1853-1929)
FORTUNIO (1907)
Thierry Dran, Colette Alliot-Lugaz, Gille Cachemaille
Francis Dudziak, Michel Trempont
Choeurs de l'Opéra de Lyon
Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon
dir : John Eliot Gardiner
Recorded 1987
Erato Libretto 2292-45983-2 stereo, 2 CDs [P] 1993
FLAC images, cuesheets, scans, booklet
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
When I reviewed the original release of this recording I suggested it was as well to get possible misconceptions out of the way right at the start. So let me stress that this is not another operetta by the composer of Véronique‚ but a genuine opera. Messager was‚ after all‚ a cultured musician‚ who was artistic director at the Paris Opéra and Covent Garden‚ as well as the original conductor of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.
He composed Fortunio for the Paris OpéraComique in 1907‚ when the legal clerk Landry and the soldier Clavaroche were created by Jean Périer and Hector Dufranne‚ the creators of Pelléas and Golaud in Debussy’s opera. Fernand Francell sang the title role‚ with Marguerite Carré as Jacqueline and the celebrated baritone Lucien Fugère as her husband Maître André.
It’s a lightly sentimental‚ compact little piece‚ with none of its four acts lasting much more than half an hour. It shows off to marvellous effect the grace and subtlety of Messager’s writing for both voice and orchestra‚ with gently suspended vocal lines above delightful chamber music textures. The opera was understandably warmly received when it received its British première at the Grange Park festival in Hampshire in June 2001.
The opera’s source is Alfred de Musset’s comedy Le Chandelier‚ about a decoy for a love affair. That decoy is Fortunio‚ young apprentice of the lawyer Maître André‚ whose wife Jacqueline is having an affair with handsome soldier Clavaroche. Fortunio himself falls for Jacqueline‚ who exploits his infatuation and even begins to reciprocate‚ before Fortunio rudely discovers the relationship between her and Clavaroche.
Offenbach composed a song for de Musset’s original play‚ around which he then composed a oneact operetta that was effectively a sequel to de Musset’s play. By contrast Messager’s first act prefaces de Musset’s action with the story of how Clavaroche and Jacqueline became lovers. He‚ too‚ sets de Musset’s text for Fortunio’s song‚ perhaps inevitably not in quite as spontaneous a fashion. Indeed‚ the number that has been extracted and recorded separately is Fortunio’s brief ‘Ma vieille maison grise’ in Act 2.
The cast of this recording is that of a highly acclaimed production at Lyon in 1987. Colette Alliot-Lugaz proves an agreeably engaging Jacqueline‚ with Michel Trempont typically reliable as the cuckolded Maître André. I have especially enjoyed Gilles Cachemaille’s lecherous Clavaroche‚ while Thierry Dran’s Fortunio is at its best agreeably light. John Eliot Gardiner may not always capture the native French phrasing of a 1961 EMI excerpts recording (transferred to CD‚ nla)‚ but he maintains the momentum of the piece splendidly.
In my original review I mentioned that Erato provided a line-by-line libretto but didn’t so much as indicate the setting of the action. Moreover‚ by missing out the preludes to the final two acts‚ they got the track numbering of CD2 wrong. Since they reprint the booklet virtually unchanged for this reissue‚ those shortcomings remain. Happily that should not seriously impede enjoyment of this delicious work.
GRAMOPHONE
FORTUNIO (1907)
Thierry Dran, Colette Alliot-Lugaz, Gille Cachemaille
Francis Dudziak, Michel Trempont
Choeurs de l'Opéra de Lyon
Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon
dir : John Eliot Gardiner
Recorded 1987
Erato Libretto 2292-45983-2 stereo, 2 CDs [P] 1993
FLAC images, cuesheets, scans, booklet
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
When I reviewed the original release of this recording I suggested it was as well to get possible misconceptions out of the way right at the start. So let me stress that this is not another operetta by the composer of Véronique‚ but a genuine opera. Messager was‚ after all‚ a cultured musician‚ who was artistic director at the Paris Opéra and Covent Garden‚ as well as the original conductor of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.
He composed Fortunio for the Paris OpéraComique in 1907‚ when the legal clerk Landry and the soldier Clavaroche were created by Jean Périer and Hector Dufranne‚ the creators of Pelléas and Golaud in Debussy’s opera. Fernand Francell sang the title role‚ with Marguerite Carré as Jacqueline and the celebrated baritone Lucien Fugère as her husband Maître André.
It’s a lightly sentimental‚ compact little piece‚ with none of its four acts lasting much more than half an hour. It shows off to marvellous effect the grace and subtlety of Messager’s writing for both voice and orchestra‚ with gently suspended vocal lines above delightful chamber music textures. The opera was understandably warmly received when it received its British première at the Grange Park festival in Hampshire in June 2001.
The opera’s source is Alfred de Musset’s comedy Le Chandelier‚ about a decoy for a love affair. That decoy is Fortunio‚ young apprentice of the lawyer Maître André‚ whose wife Jacqueline is having an affair with handsome soldier Clavaroche. Fortunio himself falls for Jacqueline‚ who exploits his infatuation and even begins to reciprocate‚ before Fortunio rudely discovers the relationship between her and Clavaroche.
Offenbach composed a song for de Musset’s original play‚ around which he then composed a oneact operetta that was effectively a sequel to de Musset’s play. By contrast Messager’s first act prefaces de Musset’s action with the story of how Clavaroche and Jacqueline became lovers. He‚ too‚ sets de Musset’s text for Fortunio’s song‚ perhaps inevitably not in quite as spontaneous a fashion. Indeed‚ the number that has been extracted and recorded separately is Fortunio’s brief ‘Ma vieille maison grise’ in Act 2.
The cast of this recording is that of a highly acclaimed production at Lyon in 1987. Colette Alliot-Lugaz proves an agreeably engaging Jacqueline‚ with Michel Trempont typically reliable as the cuckolded Maître André. I have especially enjoyed Gilles Cachemaille’s lecherous Clavaroche‚ while Thierry Dran’s Fortunio is at its best agreeably light. John Eliot Gardiner may not always capture the native French phrasing of a 1961 EMI excerpts recording (transferred to CD‚ nla)‚ but he maintains the momentum of the piece splendidly.
In my original review I mentioned that Erato provided a line-by-line libretto but didn’t so much as indicate the setting of the action. Moreover‚ by missing out the preludes to the final two acts‚ they got the track numbering of CD2 wrong. Since they reprint the booklet virtually unchanged for this reissue‚ those shortcomings remain. Happily that should not seriously impede enjoyment of this delicious work.
GRAMOPHONE