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Gilbert-Louis Duprez and Gustave Roger in the composition of Meyerbeer's Le Prophète

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2008

Alan Armstrong
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It is well known that mounting large-scale productions at the Paris Opéra during the 1830s and 1840s was a highly collaborative effort. The nature of so-called ‘grand opera’ demanded that composer, librettist and stage designer work closely together for the sake of a creation larger than the sum of its parts. Above them loomed the directeur, who laboured to ensure that his creative team had the means to produce their æuvres both in materials and human resources, and to guarantee that the Opéra made a profit from the finished products. A fifth collaborator, the singer, is not often cited as such in the literature, but in many ways wielded the greatest power in the creation of Parisian operatic works. By the 1830s, European singers had achieved professional status, and a singing artist of high calibre could find the Opéra a perfect venue in which to flex muscle. During the Opera's ‘golden age’, a bourgeois public, tired of political upheaval and economic uncertainty, found escape in the new ‘romanticè fare of the Opéra, and elevated the singers who strode its boards to what today is called ‘star status’. The Opéra became a temple and its singers, adored gods and goddesses. A beloved singer could – and did – ensure an opera's success simply by appearing in it, or doom it to failure by refusing to appear. With such power a singer could easily hold a new opera for ransom, forcing the composer and librettist to revise, excise or otherwise alter the work to some self-serving end. To secure a place for their stage works at the Opéra and to guarantee a public triumph, therefore, it is not surprising that composers such as Donizetti, and especially Meyerbeer, the leading composer of French grand opera, composed or revised their operas for particular singers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Opera Journal , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , July 1996 , pp. 147 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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References

1 For a detailed investigation of the collaborative process at the Opéra, see Crosten, William L., French Grand Opera: An Art and a Business (New York, 1948).Google Scholar Singers influencing the creation of an opera was, of course, nothing new. See, for example, Libby, Dennis, ‘Italy: Two Opera Centres’, in The Classical Era: From the 1740s to the end of the 18th century, ed. Zaslaw, Neal (London, 1989), 15–60.Google Scholar

2 For an intriguing examination of the rise of opera singing as a profession see Rosselli, John, ‘From Princely Service to the Open Market: Singers of Italian Opera and their Patrons, 1600–1850’, this journal, 1 (1989), 1–32,Google Scholar and his Singers of Italian Opera: The History of a Profession (Cambridge, 1992).Google Scholar

3 Deification, however, usually engenders mythologising: exaggerations and half-truths about singers at the Opéra constantly circulated in Paris, encouraged by the gossip printed in musical journals and effectively further empowering, or in some cases enfeebling, the singer. See Mary Ann Smart, ‘The Lost Voice of Rosine Stolz’, this journal, 6 (1994), 31–50.Google Scholar

4 For Meyerbeer's letters and journal entries up through the first performance of le Prophète, see Meyerbeer, Giacomo, Briejwechsel und Tagebücher, ed. Becker, Heinz, 4 vols. (Berlin, 1960–1984). Scribe collected and had bound his librettos, scenarios, contracts, working papers, letters and financial accounts. These 106 volumes and forty-six notebooks are housed in Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Nouvelles acquisitions frangaises (hereafter F-Pn., n.a.fr.) 22480–22584 and 22839–22840. Published eyewitness reports concerning events surrounding the composition and performance of Meyerbeer's grand operas may be found in the ‘nouvelles’ section of Paris newspapers, including Le Ménéstrel, the Gazette de la France muskale and – most notably – the Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris.Google Scholar Additional first-hand information may be obtained from Weber, Johannes, Meyerbeer. Notes et souvenirs d'un de ses secretaires (Paris, 1898). ‘Notes prises par Johannes Weber sous la direction de M. George Kastner’, an unpublished review of Le Prophète intended for publication in the journal Le Temps found in Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Opéra (hereafter F-Po), Le Prophéte, ‘Dossier d'oeuvre’, provides information surrounding the première of Le Prophète in the hand of Meyerbeer's personal secretary. The autograph scores of Meyerbeer's first three grand operas, Robert le Diable, Les Huguenots and Le Prophète, and the first four acts of the fourth work, L'Africaine, reside in Cracow, Biblioteka Jagielloń;ska (Mus. mb. 939, 944, 957, Mus. ms. autogr. Meyerbeer, respectively). The autograph score of L'Africaine, Act V, is in Berlin, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, Mus. ms. autogr. H. Meyerbeer 2. The rehearsal parts for all Meyerbeer's grand operas are housed in the ‘Matériel’ collection of F-Po; those for Le Prophète have the shelf number Mat. F [260].Google Scholar Most of what we know about Meyerbeer's working methods is culled from his letters and journal entries. Recent works that examine the importance of the singer at various stages of an opera's development include Kahane, Martine, Robert le Diable: Catalogue de l'exposition …, Théâtre national de l'Opéra de Paris, 20 Juin-20 Septembre 1985 (Paris, 1985);Google Scholar my ‘Meyerbeer's Le Prophéte: A History of its Composition and Early Performances’ (Ph.D. diss. Ohio State University, 1990);Google Scholar and Roberts, John, ‘The Genesis of Meyerbeer's L'Africaine’ (Ph.D. diss. University of California at Berkeley, 1977).Google Scholar

5 The contracts with the Opéra for the production of Robert le Diable and Les Huguenots are reprinted in Meyerbeer, Briefwechsel, II, 613–15 and 664–8, respectively. The contract for Le Prophète is described in Briefwechsel, III, 598–9.Google Scholar

6 F-Pn., n.a.fr. 22562, pp. 663–70.Google Scholar

7 Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel, III, 19–20. All Translations are mine except where otherwise noted.Google Scholar

8 See, for example, the entry on Duprez in Gourret, Jean, Dictionnaire des chanteurs de l'Opera de Paris (Paris, 1982), 64;Google ScholarWarrack, John, ‘Duprez, Gilbert (-Louis)’, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, V, 735;Google Scholar and Ashbrook, William, Donizetti and His Operas (Cambridge, 1982), 632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9 Ashbrook, Donizetti, 632.Google Scholar

10 See Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel, III, 19–20.Google Scholar

11 Marie-Cornelie Falcon (1814–97), the soprano who created the roles of Alice in Robert le Diable and Valentin in Les Huguenots, among others; see Gourret, Dictionnaire de I'Opéra de Paris, 33. For details concerning the early difficulties with Falcon and L'Africaine, see Roberts, ‘The Genesis of Meyerbeer's L'Africaine’, 6–7.Google Scholar

12 Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel, III, 681–4.Google Scholar

13 F-Pn., n.a.fr. 22504, fols. llr– 15v. Until autumn 1839, Meyerbeer and Scribe imagined Le Prophète as a four-act work; Scribe then recast the first two scenes as two acts.Google Scholar

14 ‘Donnez à Duprez le moins possible dans cet acte, et tachez qu'a l'exception de son air il n'aye presque rien à dire.’ ‘Il faut tachez de rendre le rôle de Massol bien important dans cet acte.’ Eugène Massol (1825–87) was one of the leading baritones at the Opéra at the time of the writing of Le Prophète. He had made his debut at the Opéra as a tenor (Licinius) in La Vestak in 1825, but by 1830 his voice had lowered enough for him to assume baritone roles. Besides singing the famous roles of his day – Guillaume in Guillaume Tell, Alphonse in la Favorite and Nevers in Meyerbeer's own Les Huguenots – the singer created many roles, including Kalian in Le Freischutz Severus in Les Martyrs, Reuben in L'Enfant Prodigue and Ahasuerus in Le juif Errant. See Gourret, Dictionnaire des Chanteurs, 63–4,Google Scholar and Robinson, Philip, ‘Massol, Eugène Etienne Auguste’, The New Grove, XI, 812.Google Scholar

15 Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel, III, 160–1.Google Scholar

16 Ibid., 162.

17 Berlioz, Hector, The Memoirs of -Hector Bertioz trans, and ed. Cairns, David (New York, 1974),245.Google Scholar

18 F-Pn., n.a.fr. 22564, pp. 39–63.Google Scholar

19 No correspondence exists concerning the first revision of Act II, but a scenario Meyerbeer returned to Scribe on 30 November 1838 was apparently the librettist's source for these changes. See Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel, III, 166.Google Scholar

20 F-Pn., n.a.fr. 22564, pp. 140–71 contain Scribe's verse-drafts for a new fifth act for Auber's Le Lac des Fées and the beginning of Donizetti's Polyeucte (Les Martyrs). According to surrounding material in this volume of Scribe's vade mecum, these entries were made sometime after 3 December 1838 and before late January 1839. Scribe was supposed to hand Meyerbeer the completed third and fourth acts by 24 January 1839. See Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel, III, 681–4.Google Scholar

21 Scribe's illness necessitated that he renegotiate his contract with Meyerbeer for the completion of the libretto. On 16 and 26 January he had documents prepared that allowed him to postpone the completion of Acts HI and IV until 15 February and 15 March 1839 respectively, and further revisions of Acts II and III until 1 and 15 April 1839. See Briefwchsel, III, 687–8.Google Scholar

22 Ibid., 170.

23 F-Pn., n.a.fr. 22504, fols. 84r–89v.Google Scholar

24 F-Pn., n.a.fr. 22504, fol. 33r–v. ‘Les couplets entre Duprez & Massol pourraient être comme ceux de Robert le Diable: le premier couplet féroce & préchant de mauvaises maximes, pour Massol le second, doux préchant des maximes humaines & nobles, & le 3e couplet à deux un vers par chacun.’ The stipulation that Massol should preach ‘humane and noble maxims’ must be an error. Throughout the Scribe–Meyerbeer correspondence the composer consistently urged Scribe to make the role of Jonas a vile one. In his ‘Remarques générates’ at the end of an early scenario for Act II (F-Pn., n.a.fr. 22504, fols. 44r–50r), Meyerbeer asked Scribe to take care to portray Massol (Jonas) as a cheat, a hypocrite and a coward (’fourbe, hypocrite, poltroné).Google Scholar

25 ‘Si ces couplets entre Duprez & Massol fatigueraient trop Duprez, on pourrait peut être les donner à Massol seul.’Google Scholar

26 F-Pn., n.a.fr. 22504, 1193–1195.Google Scholar

27 It will be remembered that the 16 January contract obliged Scribe to hand over a completed libretto to Meyerbeer by 15 March. However, according to a document both signed on 27 March (Meyerbeer, Briefwechsel, III, 688), Scribe had been afforded a brief extension: the completed libretto, save the revisions of Acts II and III (due according to the 26 January contact on 1 and 15 April, respectively), was given to Meyerbeer that day.Google Scholar

28 ‘Furchtbar fatiguirt’. Meyerbeer, Briefwechsel, III, 183.Google Scholar

29 Ibid., 186.

30 Meyerbeer's first journal entry dealing with the composition of Le Prophète is dated 8 June 1839. It is noteworthy that the first item he chose to compose was a chanson for Massol – the only singer contracted to perform in Le Prophète whose vocal abilities he did not seem to question. Briefwechsel, III, 326.Google Scholar

31 See, for example, Ibid., 187, 203, 245.

32 Ibid., 321.

33 F-Pn., n.a.fr. 22504, fols. 101r–120v, 132v–160v. This professionally prepared manuscript libretto, based on Scribe's manuscript verse-draft delivered to Meyerbeer on 27 March, may have been the composer's working copy from September or October 1839 until the completion of the 1841 score. Both he and Scribe placed copious notes for further revisions in the margins.Google Scholar

34 Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel, IV, 342.Google Scholar

35 Ibid., 285.

36 For a detailed account of this exasperating but colourful period in Meyerbeer's life, see my ‘Meyerbeer's Le Prophète’, 97–161.Google Scholar

37 Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel, IV, 314.Google Scholar

38 Ibid., 280, 294, 304, 314, 318, 322.

39 ‘Certes le róle, tel qu'il est écrit, etait trop lourd pour Roger. En général, le repertoire de l'Opéra se trouva être un peu au-dessus des ses forces. II était ténor d'opera-comique … et non pas fort ténor. Avec lui, les effets de douceur et de charmes ressortaient parriculièrement, mais non pas les effets de vigueur et de puissance. Ainsi que Meyerbeer l'avait remarqué, il avait une tendance à retenir le mouvement pour mieux émettre les sons quand il voulait donner de la force.’ Johannes Weber, Notes et souvenirs, 81.Google Scholar

40 Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel, IV, 315.Google Scholar

41 Ibid., 305.

42 Ibid., 336.

43 Ibid., 345. Unfortunately for Meyerbeer, obtaining Pauline Viardot was not an easy task. Her husband, noted impresario Louis Viardot, continually rewrote the contract between his wife and the Opéra. A battle of wills ensued between Louis Viardot and Duponchel that left Meyerbeer fearing whether Le Prophète would be staged at all. For a fuller account, see my ‘Meyerbeer's Le Prophète’, 167–79.

44 Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel, IV, 410. The passage shown in Example 2 exists in the autograph score and the so-called ‘archival score’ (F-Po, A 566a i–v, a manuscript score of the first production of Le Prophete prepared by the Opéra scribal atelier) but in neither the printed full score nor the printed vocal score. Apparently Meyerbeer decided to remove this passage before he had the scores printed.Google Scholar

45 On one side of a blank leaf, later inserted in the score, the composer wrote out the new vocal parts for this passage, and on the other side he orchestrated it, noting above the music, ‘Si cela n'est pas trop haut pour le róle de Jean, j'aime mieux ainsi que dans la partition.’ (‘If this is not too high for the role of Jean, I prefer this over what is in the score.’) Above the vocal parts of this version he wrote the other vocal parts for a ‘variante si I'on désire a abréger l'ensemble en La’, (‘variant if one wants to shorten the ensemble in A major’.) Jagiellońska 957, I, fol. 113r–v.Google Scholar

46 Weber, , Notes et souvenirs, 37.Google Scholar

47 Even without the 1841 layer of some portions of the autograph score, we can glean something about Jean's earlier music from comments the composer made in his diaries and journals, and by comparing the 1848 autograph score and 1848 libretto with the 1841 libretto. For example, when Meyerbeer replaced the love duet for Jean and Berthe in Act V with the famous duo in which Jean and his mother are reunited, the composer used the same poetry, making simple substitutions like ‘mère’ for ‘Berthe’; it is thus probable that the composer used most of the same music for both duos. Meyerbeer noted in his diaries what pieces he attended to when composing or revising. He worked on the revision of the Act V duo from 20 to 26 July 1847. In his 23 July 1847 journal entry the composer noted, ‘For two hours before noon I wrote out the duet from Act V in order to transpose it and revise some of the orchestration. In addition I made revisions in the vocal parts’ (Meyerbeer, Briefwechsel, IV, 420). Although Meyerbeer might have composed a few entirely new passages for this duo, it appears that he merely transposed most of it, presumably to accommodate the change from a soprano–contralto duet to a contralto–tenor one. That Meyerbeer would overlay previously composed music with new poetry is well known. Indeed, in independent reviews Johannes Weber, François-Joseph Fétis and Georges Kastner took Meyerbeer to task for substituting verses expressing alarm for those expressing amorous sentiments in a short passage for Berthe in Act II. (See, for example, Weber, Notes et souvenirs, 89.)Google Scholar

48 Georges Kastner was not fond of this particular passage of coloratura: ‘Les fioriture de Jean qui raminent le thème principal n'etaient pas d'abord dans le manuscrit original du compositeur. Il aurait mieux fait de les abandonner entierement au gossier de M. Roger et ne pas les insérer dans les partitions gravés.’ ‘Notes prises … sous … Georges Kastner’, fol. 12v, fol. 14v.Google Scholar

49 Meyerbeer, , Briejwechsel, IV, 425.Google ScholarRoger was apparently equal to the task: the women's number was removed from the score before the choral parts were prepared. It remains the only portion excised from Act III that cannot be accounted for.Google Scholar

50 Weber, , Notes et souvenirs, 37.Google Scholar

51 Ibid., 81.

52 ‘Und somit ist der 3. Akt für die Ablieferung gänzlich fertig, denn das kleine Rondo “je t'ai perdu[e]” schicke ich nicht mit, da es Scribe in der neuen Umarbeitung des 3. Aktes ausgelassen hat.’ Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel, III, 335.Google Scholar

53 Ibid., 360.

54 The music for this rondeau is missing from the autograph score, but a copy of the set-piece in piano-vocal format, excised from the prompter's score for the 1849 production, survives. This copy of the rondeau has been diplomatically reproduced in my ‘Meyerbeer's Le Prophets’, 953–61. A few bars of the instrumental introduction to the rondeau still survive in the autograph score. These inform us that a semiquaver figuration in the accompaniment was to have been played by strings.Google Scholar

55 Kastner, ‘Notes prises … sous … Georges Kastner’, fol. 12v.Google Scholar

56 Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel, IV, 451.Google Scholar

57 Weber, Notes et souvenirs, 80–1.Google Scholar

58 Kastner, ‘Notes prises … sous … Georges Kastner’, fol. 12v. The ‘Priere’ was published in the piano-vocal score of Le Prophète, but not in the full score. In 1977 the piece was restored to the opera for the Metropolitan Opera revival of Le Prophète under the direction of Henry Lewis.Google Scholar

59 Weber, Notes et souvenirs, 82.Google Scholar

60 Ibid., 36–7.

61 Ibid., 83–4.

62 Ibid., 84.

63 Meyerbeer, , Briefwechsel, IV, 486–7.Google Scholar

64 The full score, which went on sale in October 1849, is not quite a faithful representation of the 1849 Paris production. Of the few changes that were made, the most notable – and the only one that concerns the part of Jean – was the inclusion of the second stanza of the Act II ‘Pastorale’ (Roger sang only the first). For details see my ‘Meyerbeer's Le Prophéte’, 398–408.Google Scholar

65 Meyerbeer did allow unperformed portions of Le Prophète to be published in the piano-vocal scores, but he apparendy did not consider them as guides for future productions. Presumably Brandus and Troupenas published these portions to pique the curiosity of the public and increase sales.Google Scholar

66 See, for example, Kastner, ‘Notes prises … sous … Georges Kastnerè, fols. 9v–14v, and Blanchard's, Henri review of the second edition of Le Prophète, in Revue et gazette musicak de Paris, No. 28 (14 07 1850), 233.Google Scholar