Soloists - GOUNOD: Romeo and Juliet [CD]

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Charles GOUNOD (1818-1893)Romeo et JulietteCharles Gounod, one of the great nineteenth-century mastersof operatic melody, had a huge early success with Faust, based on the dramaticpoem by Goethe, and spent the rest of his career trying to match it. He cameclosest with a work based on a play by another great poet, Shakespeare. Hissetting of Romeo et Juliette was composed in 1865-67 with the help of thelibrettists Jules Barbier and Michel Carre, who had served him well with otheroperas including Faust. To make Shakespeare's tragedy suitable for the lyricstage, much of it had to be cut; the result was that the two star-crossedlovers loomed even larger in the opera than they had in the play. Gounod roseto the occasion with a series of marvellous duets for the tenor and soprano whotook the title r?\xe2??les - like other operatic composers who tackled Shakespeare'stext, he could not resist having a final duet in the Tomb Scene, which meantthe story had to be adjusted. Otherwise his librettists stuck reasonablyclosely to the original. The tenor was given much superb declamatory music aswell as a magnificent aria; and the soprano was allotted one of the waltz-songswhich were de rigeur in French opera at the time. This song, the opera's onlyother hit number, unless you count the baritone's Queen Mab song, was a lateaddition; Gounod originally intended Juliette's r?\xe2??le to be more declamatorylike that of Romeo, but found himself with a relatively light soprano, MarieMiolan-Carvalho, for the premi?\xe2?\xbfre. He therefore capitulated to her request forsomething brilliant in Act I and allowed her to omit her big aria in Act IVScene 1. Since then Juliette has usually been sung by a lyric soprano and sothis aria has generally been cut, as on this recording. The first performancetook place in the The?\xe2?\xf3tre-Lyrique, Paris, on 27th April 1867 and within threemonths the opera had been heard in London with Patti and Mario. By the end ofthe year it had been staged in New York and other major centres. Famousexponents of Juliette have included Melba, Farrar, Heldy, Feraldy, Norena,Say?\xe2?\xfao, Micheau and Freni, while Romeo has been sung by Jean de Reszke, Ansseau,d'Arkor, Crooks, Thill, Luccioni, Bjorling and Kraus.            Romeoet Juliette was not recorded during the 78rpm era, even though many of thesingers mentioned above made important individual discs, so we must rely onSaturday-matinee broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where itwas a repertoire piece for many years. If we want to hear how it was performedin the heyday of French style, there is only one choice, this broadcast fromthe l934-35 season. Change was in the air at the Metropolitan, as thelong-serving manager Giulio Gatti-Casazza was about to retire, but thestructure he had built up, with its fine chorus and orchestra and its excellentsupporting singers, was still in place. The cast of our Romeo includes onelegendary character singer, the

Prologue: Verone vit jadis deux familles rivales

Annoucements

L'heure S'envole

Depuis Hier Je Cherche En Vain Mon Maitre!

Mab, La Reine Des Mensonges

Finale: Ah! Ah! voici nos gens!

Eh Bien! Que L'avertissement Me Vienne De Mab

Va! Je t'ai pardonne...

Ah! Je veux vivre dans le reve

Juliette! - Ah! Le Ciel Soit Loue!

Le Nom De Cette Belle Enfant?

Mon Pere! Tout M'accable!

Ange Adorable

Annoucements

Quelqu'un1 C'est mon cousin Tybalt

Le Sommeil De Juliette

O Nuit! Sous Tes Ailes Obscures

C'est la! Salut! Tombeau sombre et silencieux

L'amour, l'amour!

Helas! Moi, Le Hair!

O Nuit Divine! Je T'implore!

Mon Pere! Dieu Vous Garde!

Dieu Qui Fis L'homme a Ton Image!