Sunday13th of June 2010 at 3.03 - 6 pm
INTRODUCTION
GOUNOD: Mireille, an opera in five acts and seven scenes
Mireille.......................... Inva Mula
Vincent......................... Charles Castronovo
Ourrias.......................... Franck Ferrari
Ramon.......................... Alain Vernhes
Taven............................ Sylvie Brunet
Vincenette..................... Anne-Catherine Gillet
Andreloux..................... Sébastien Droy
Ambroise...................... Nicholas Cavallier
Clémence...................... Amel Brahim-Djelloul
Le Passeur.................... Ugo Rabec
Paris National Opera Chorus & Orch/Marc Minkowski
French libretto by Michel Carré after Frédéric Mistral's poem Mireio.
The recording of Mireille in my collection (1981) has Mirella Freni singing the title role; and fittingly so, as she bears the same name (Italian version) as the Provençal heroine, Mireio. Inside the green box, there are 3 black discs, and a 4-page sheet supplying a cast-list (Vanzo, van Dam, Bacquier), a synopsis, and an introduction describing how passionately and lovingly Charles Gounod undertook the task of making an opera out of Frédéric Mistral's dramatic poem; he went to Provence and stayed near Mistral so he could consult him. Then he was confronted by the problems of getting the soprano to perform what was written (Bizet and Saint-Saens, who played a piano and harmonium arrangement of it for interested friends, warned him that it would be too difficult for Madame Carvalho), and the necessity of making changes ('improvements') to please the tastes of others (the task of musical decomposition, he called it). Another version with a happier ending was also produced along the way.
The New York Metro-Opera has not staged Mireille in this century, so no notes are available from that source. But I have seen it, in London in December 1983, at the English National Opera house, the Coliseum, up the road from the church of Saint Martin in the Fields (the day we went into it there were only homeless people seeking warmth, no sight or sound of Neville Marriner and the Academy) It was done in English translation, the principal singers being Valerie Masterson (who had left the world of G & S), Ann Howard, Adrian Martin, Malcolm Donnelly (from Sydney), Dennis Wicks, with Serge Baudo conducting. I was still on NZ time, so when Helen remarked later on the the effectiveness of the boat, I had to ask what boat was that; it is the ferry-boat that sinks in the Rhône River (in Act 3, Tableau 2) and drowns Ourras, the suitor who had struck his successful rival Vincent and left him for dead.
Together with the program, in the green box, I have a couple of reviews. The production had been borrowed from Geneva in exchange for Julius Caesar (I wonder whether Janet Baker traveld [sic] with it). One person complained about it as another example of 'the muddle-headed, working-against-the text approach', setting the scene in later periods and weird surroundings. An example from Mireille; Ourras does not strike Vincent with his trident but a rock. Why? In our video-opera group we have started studying Pelléas et Mélisande in two versions: neither of them have the expected medieval or fairy-tale costumes; one of them is set entirely inside the castle, no forests or fountains or gardens; I have suggested that the meaning is that the characters are locked into the family fate and their personal destinies. But I suggest a more balanced approach: put all the external scenes indoors, and all the interior scenes outdoors.
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