Act V. The gardens of _Selika's_ palace. Again _Selika_ makes a
sacrifice of love. How easily she could compass the death of _Vasco_ and _Inez_! But she forgives. She persuades _Nelusko_ to provide the lovers with a ship and bids him meet her, after the ship has sailed, on a high promontory overlooking the sea.
To this the scene changes. On the promontory stands a large manchineel tree. The perfume of its blossoms is deadly to anyone who breathes it in from under the deep shadow of its branches. From here _Selika_ watches the ship set sail. It bears from her the man she loves. Breathing in the poison-laden odour from the tree from under which she has watched the ship depart, she dies. _Nelusko_ seeks her, finds her dead, and himself seeks death beside her under the fatal branches of the manchineel.
* * * * *
Meyerbeer considered "L'Africaine" his masterpiece, and believed that through it he was bequeathing to posterity an immortal monument to his fame. But although he had worked over the music for many years, and produced a wonderfully well-contrived score, his labour upon it was more careful and self-exacting than inspired; and this despite moments of intense interest in the opera. Not "L'Africaine," but "Les Huguenots," is considered his greatest work.
"L'Africaine" calls for one of the most elaborate stage-settings in opera. This is the ship scene, which gives a lengthwise section of a vessel, so that its between-decks and cabin interiors are seen--like the compartments of a huge but neatly partitioned box laid on its oblong side; in fact an amazing piece of marine architecture.
Scribe's libretto has been criticized, and not unjustly, on account of the vacillating character which he gives _Vasco da Gama_. In the first act this operatic hero is in love with _Inez_. In the prison scene, in the second act, when _Selika_ points out on the map the true course to India, he is so impressed with her as a teacher of geography, that he clasps the supposed slave-girl to his breast and addresses her in impassioned song. _Selika_, being enamoured of her pupil, naturally is elated over his progress. Unfortunately _Inez_ enters the prison at this critical moment to announce to _Vasco_ that she has secured his freedom. To prove to _Inez_ that he still loves her _Vasco_ glibly makes her a present of _Selika_ and _Nelusko_. _Selika_, so to speak, no longer is on the map, so far as _Vasco_ is concerned, until, in the fourth act, she saves his life by pretending he is her husband. Rapturously he pledges his love to her. Then _Inez's_ voice is heard singing a ballad to the Tagus River--and _Selika_ again finds herself deserted. There is nothing for her to do but to die under the manchineel tree.
"Is the shadow of this tree so fatal?" asks a French authority. "Monsieur Scribe says yes, the naturalists say no." With this question and answer "L'Africaine" may be left to its future fate upon the stage, save that it seems proper to remark that, although the opera is called "The African," _Selika_ appears to have been an East Indian.
Early in the first act of the opera occurs _Inez's_ ballad, "Adieu, mon beau rivage" (Farewell, beloved shores). It is gracefully accompanied by flute and oboe. This is the ballad to the river Tagus, which _Vasco_ hears her sing in the fourth act. The finale of the first act--the scene in which _Vasco_ defies the Royal Council--is a powerful ensemble. The slumber song for _Selika_ in the second act, as she watches over _Vasco_, "Sur mes genoux, fils du soleil" (On my knees, offspring of the sun) is charming, and entirely original, with many exotic and fascinating touches. _Nelusko's_ air of homage, "Fille des rois, à toi l'hommage" (Daughter of Kings, my homage thine), expresses a sombre loyalty characteristic of the savage whose passion for his queen amounts to fanaticism. The finale of the act is an unaccompanied septette for _Inez_, _Selika_, _Anna_, _Vasco_, _d'Alvar_, _Nelusko_, and _Don Pedro_.
In the act which plays aboardship, are the graceful chorus of women, "Le rapide et léger navire" (The swiftly gliding ship), the prayer of the sailors, "Ô grand Saint Dominique," and Nelusko's song, "Adamastor, roi des vagues profondes" (Adamastor, monarch of the trackless deep), a savage invocation of sea and storm, chanted to the rising of a hurricane, by the most dramatic figure among the characters in the opera. For like _Marcel_ in "Les Huguenots" and _Fides_ in "Le Prophète," _Nelusko_ is a genuine dramatic creation.
The Indian march and the ballet, which accompanies the ceremony of the crowning of _Selika_, open the fourth act. The music is exotic, piquant, and in every way effective. The scene is a masterpiece of its kind. There follow the lovely measures of the principal tenor solo of the opera, _Vasco's_ "Paradis sorti du sein de l'onde" (Paradise, lulled by the lisping sea). Then comes the love duet between _Vasco_ and _Selika_, "Ô transport, ô douce extase" (Oh transport, oh sweet ecstacy). One authority says of it that "rarely have the tender passion, the ecstacy of love been expressed with such force." Now it would be set down simply as a tiptop love duet of the old-fashioned operatic kind.
The scene of _Selika's_ death under the manchineel tree is preceded by a famous prelude for strings in unison supported by clarinets and bassoons, a brief instrumental recital of grief that makes a powerful appeal. The opera ends dramatically with a soliloquy for _Selika_--"D'ici je vois la mer immense" (From here I gaze upon the boundless deep).
L'ÉTOILE DU NORD AND DINORAH
Two other operas by Meyerbeer remain for mention. One of them has completely disappeared from the repertoire of the lyric stage. The other suffers an occasional revival for the benefit of some prima donna extraordinarily gifted in lightness and flexibility of vocal phrasing. These operas are "L'Étoile du Nord" (The Star of the North), and "Dinorah, ou Le Pardon de Ploërmel" (Dinorah, or The Pardon of Ploërmel).
Each of these contains a famous air. "L'Étoile du Nord" has the high soprano solo with _obbligato_ for two flutes, which was one of Jenny Lind's greatest show-pieces, but has not sufficed to keep the opera alive. In "Dinorah" there is the "Shadow Song," in which _Dinorah_ dances and sings to her own shadow in the moonlight--a number which, at long intervals of time, galvanizes the rest of the score into some semblance of life.
The score of "L'Étoile du Nord," produced at the Opéra Comique, Paris, February 16, 1854, was assembled from an earlier work, "Das Feldlager in Schlesien" (The Camp in Silesia), produced for the opening of the Berlin Opera House, February 17, 1847; but the plots differ. The story of "L'Étoile du Nord" relates to the love of _Peter the Great_ for _Catherine_, a cantinière. Their union finally takes place, but not until _Catherine_ has disguised herself as a soldier and served in the Russian camp. After surreptitiously watching _Peter_ and a companion drink and roister in the former's tent with a couple of girls, she loses her reason. When it is happily restored by Peter playing familiar airs to her on his flute, she voices her joy in the show-piece, "La, la, la, air chéri" (La, la, la, beloved song), to which reference already has been made. In the first act _Catherine_ has a "Ronde bohémienne" (Gypsy rondo), the theme of which Meyerbeer took from his opera "Emma de Rohsburg."
"L'Étoile du Nord" is in three acts. There is much military music in the second act--a cavalry chorus, "Beau cavalier au coeur d'acier" (Brave cavalier with heart of steel); a grenadier song with chorus, "Grenadiers, fiers Moscovites" (grenadiers, proud Muscovites), in which the chorus articulates the beat of the drums ("tr-r-r-um"); the "Dessauer" march, a cavalry fanfare "Ah! voyez nos Tartares du Don" (Ah, behold our Cossacks of the Don); and a grenadiers' march: stirring numbers, all of them.
The libretto is by Scribe. The first act scene is laid in Wyborg, on the Gulf of Finland; the second in a Russian camp; the third in Peter's palace in Petrograd. Time, about 1700.
* * * * *
Barbier and Carré wrote the words of "Dinorah," founding their libretto on a Breton tale. Under the title, "Le Pardon de Ploërmel" (the scene of the opera being laid near the Breton village of Ploërmel) the work was produced at the Opéra Comique, Paris, April 4, 1859. It has three principal characters--a peasant girl, _Dinorah_, _soprano_; _Hoël_, a goat-herd, _baritone_; _Corentino_, a bagpiper, _tenor_. The famous baritone, Faure, was the _Hoël_ of the Paris production. Cordier (_Dinorah_), Amodio (_Hoël_), Brignoli (_Corentino_) were heard in the first American production, Academy of Music, New York, November 24, 1864. As _Dinorah_ there also have been heard here Ilma di Murska (Booth's Theatre, 1867), Marimon (with Campanini as _Corentino_), December 12, 1879; Adelina Patti (1882); Tetrazzini (Manhattan Opera House, 1907); and Galli-Curci (Lexington Theatre, January 28, 1918), with the Chicago Opera Company.
_Dinorah_ is betrothed to _Hoël_. Her cottage has been destroyed in a storm. _Hoël_, in order to rebuild it, goes into a region haunted by evil spirits, in search of hidden treasure. _Dinorah_, believing herself deserted, loses her reason and, with her goat, whose tinkling bell is heard, wanders through the mountains in search of _Hoël_.
The opera is in three acts. It is preceded by an overture during which there is sung by the villagers behind the curtain the hymn to Our Lady of the Pardon. The scene of the first act is a rough mountain passage near _Corentino's_ hut. _Dinorah_ finds her goat asleep and sings to it a graceful lullaby, "Dors, petite, dors tranquille" (Little one, sleep; calmly rest). _Corentino_, in his cottage, sings of the fear that comes over him in this lonely region. To dispel it, he plays on his cornemuse. _Dinorah_ enters the hut, and makes him dance with her, while she sings.
When someone is heard approaching, she jumps out of the window. It is _Hoël_. Both he and _Corentino_ think she is a sprite. _Hoël_ sings of the gold he expects to find, and offers _Corentino_ a share in the treasure if he will aid him lift it. According to the legend, however, the first one to touch the treasure must die, and _Hoël's_ seeming generosity is a ruse to make _Corentino_ the victim of the discovery. The tinkle of the goat's bell is heard. _Hoël_ advises that they follow the sound as it may lead to the treasure. The act closes with a trio, "Ce tintement que l'on entend" (The tinkling tones that greet the ear). _Dinorah_ stands among the high rocks, while _Hoël_ and _Corentino_, the latter reluctantly, make ready to follow the tinkle of the bell.
A wood of birches by moonlight is the opening scene of the second act. It is here _Dinorah_ sings of "Le vieux sorcier de la montagne" (The ancient wizard of the mountain), following it with the "Shadow Song," "Ombre légère qui suis mes pas" (Fleet shadow that pursues my steps)--"Ombra leggiera" in the more familiar Italian version.
[Music]
This is a passage so graceful and, when sung and acted by an Adelina Patti, was so appealing, that I am frank to confess it suggested to me the chapter entitled "Shadows of the Stage," in my novel of opera behind the scenes, _All-of-a-Sudden Carmen_.
The scene changes to a wild landscape. A ravine bridged by an uprooted tree. A pond, with a sluiceway which, when opened, gives on the ravine. The moon has set. A storm is rising.
_Hoël_ and _Corentino_ enter; later _Dinorah_. Through the night, that is growing wilder, she sings the legend of the treasure, "Sombre destinée, âme condamnée" (O'ershadowing fate, soul lost for aye).
Her words recall the tragic story of the treasure to _Corentino_, who now sees through _Hoël's_ ruse, and seeks to persuade the girl to go after the treasure. She sings gaily, in strange contrast to the gathering storm. Lightning flashes show her her goat crossing the ravine by the fallen tree. She runs after her pet. As she is crossing the tree, a thunderbolt crashes. The sluice bursts, the tree is carried away by the flood, which seizes _Dinorah_ in its swirl. _Hoël_ plunges into the wild waters to save her.
Not enough of the actual story remains to make a third act. But as there has to be one, the opening of the act is filled in with a song for a _Hunter_ (_bass_), another for a _Reaper_ (_tenor_), and a duet for _Goat-herds_ (_soprano and contralto_). _Hoël_ enters bearing _Dinorah_, who is in a swoon. _Hoël_ here has his principal air, "Ah! mon remords te venge" (Ah, my remorse avenges you). _Dinorah_ comes to. Her reason is restored when she finds herself in her lover's arms. The villagers chant the "Hymn of the Pardon." A procession forms for the wedding, which is to make happy _Dinorah_ and _Hoël_, every one, in fact, including the goat.
Except for the scene of the "Shadow Dance," the libretto is incredibly inane--far more so than the demented heroine. But Meyerbeer evidently wanted to write a pastoral opera. He did so; with the result that now, instead of pastoral, it sounds pasteurized.
Hector Berlioz
(1803-1869)
This composer, born Côte-Saint-André, near Grenoble, December 11, 1803; died Paris, March 9, 1869, has had comparatively little influence upon opera considered simply as such. But, as a musician whose skill in instrumentation, and knowledge of the individual tone quality of every instrument in the orchestra amounted to positive genius, his influence on music in general was great. In his symphonies--"Episode de la Vie d'un Artiste" (characterized by him as a _symphonie phantastique_), its sequel, "Lelio, ou la Retour à la Vie," "Harold en Italie," in which Harold is impersonated by the viola, and the _symphonie dramatique_, "Roméo et Juliette," he proved the feasibility of producing, by means of orchestral music, the effect of narrative, personal characterization and the visualization of dramatic action, as well as of scenery and material objects. He thus became the founder of "program music."
Of Berlioz's operas not one is known on the stage of English-speaking countries. For "La Damnation de Faust," in its original form, is not an opera but a dramatic cantata. First performed in 1846, it was not made over into an opera until 1893, twenty-four years after the composer's death.
BENVENUTO CELLINI
Opera in three acts, by Berlioz. Words by du Wailly and Barbier. Produced, and failed completely, Grand Opéra, Paris, September 3, 1838, and London a fortnight later. Revived London, Covent Garden, 1853, under Berlioz's own direction; by Liszt, at Weimar, 1855; by von Bülow, Hanover, 1879.
CHARACTERS
CARDINAL SALVIATI _Bass_ BALDUCCI, Papal Treasurer _Bass_ TERESA, his daughter _Soprano_ BENVENUTO CELLINI, a goldsmith _Tenor_ ASCANIO, his apprentice _Mezzo-Soprano_ FRANCESCO } Artisans in { _Tenor_ BERNARDINO } Cellini's workshop { _Bass_ FIERAMOSCA, sculptor to the Pope _Baritone_ POMPEO, a bravo _Baritone_
_Time_--1532.
_Place_--Rome.