Dinorah at Compiegne October 13

Dinorah at Compiegne October 13, 20, 2002

1. The Producer, Pierre Jourdan, speaks about the performance

2. Review in The International Herald Tribune, October 30, 2002

1. The Producer, Pierre Jourdan, speaks about the performance

The material that follows is from the advance postings by the Theatre Imperial at Compiegne, France. The monograph is by the producer, Pierre Jourdan

Following the production, which was considered to be a great success, it was announced, unofficially, that the opera will be repeated in the following season. It is also understood that both a CD recording and a DVD will be released within a year.

For an interview with Isabelle Phillippe about this production click here

Isabelle Phillippe and the goat in Dinorah

Rediscover the great Meyerbeer :
new production TFM 2002

Opera in three acts by Giaccomo Meyerbeer
Libretto by Barbier and Carré
Conducted by Olivier Opdebeeck
Artistic direction and production Pierre Jourdan
Decor and costumes Jean-Pierre capeyron

Orchestra of the Hungarian state opera FAILONI
Choirs Cori Spezzati under the conduction of Olivier OPDEBEECK
Head singer Hélène BLANIC
New company of mimodrama Marcel Marceau :
New company of mimodrama Yacine Perret, with Yacine Perret, Alicia Trueba and Laurent Clairet
Choreography from Jean-Hugues Tanto

Cast
Isabelle Philippe : Dinorah
Armand Arapian : Hoël
Frédéric Mazzotta : Corentin
Lucile Vignon : a goatherd shepherd
Céline Victores-Benavente : a shepherd
Séverine Delforge : a shepherd
Philippe Le Chevalier : a hunter
Pierre Espiaut : a faucheur

Dinorah or The Forgiveness of Ploërmel is a real sea snake of lyrical art. Everybody knows the title , everybody knows the great tune of Dinorah “Ombre Légère...” interpreted by the most famous opera singers of the world since its creation and by the last and by no means the least Maria Callas. Nobody or practically nobody has ever seen the piece on stage in its totality and not many people have even heard it; only one very old recording on an LP record exists today in English.

Maurice Ravel, like many other major musicians, considered Meyerbeer as one of the most important orchestral composers of the nineteenth century and when he was asked what he thought of Wagner and his skills as an orchestrator, he answered : “It’s Meyerbeer but not as good!”. Not worrying about such opinions, the purifiers of the only musical French thought rejected Meyerbeer’s operas with great contempt and particularly Dinorah.

However, when you listen to the piece and you study it, you realize how wonderful and rich the music is as much melody wise as the dazzling and innovatory orchestration.

Therefore I decided to produce this piece.

It’s certain that the libretto is not easy to convey to a public from 2002, indoctrinated by a certain type of media which despises this kind of piece.

It is about a singing festival, a sort of “bel canto” festival French style. I believed having brought together young artists on the one hand, experienced on the other hand capable after a long preparation of work to ensure a correct and modern fulfillment, that is to say free from affectations and pomposities transmitted by a tradition which is often only a string of bad habits.

For the production, I will try to avoid certain traps and certain clichés by calling on a vast poetical distance on a basis of mimes and pantomimes, trying to present this piece as a great ballet opera. The decor, mainly painted, will be inspired by paintings from Turner.
It was indispensable in order to bring a change in the policy of rediscovering French singing in Compiègne to put the public back into contact today with one of the master pieces of Meyerbeer.

Pierre Jourdan

2. Review in The International Herald Tribune, October 30, 2002

Meyerbeer's "Dinorah" is not one of the vast grand operas for which he is mainly remembered but had its premiere in 1859 at the Opera Comique, the last of the composer's works to be premiered in his lifetime.

The libretto, by the ubiquitous team of Barbier and Carre, is long on effects and short on causes as it tells the tale of a Breton peasant maid whose marriage to her beloved goatherd is continually blocked by events natural and unnatural. In effect, it is one long mad scene punctuated by a sorcerer's curse, a hidden treasure and some very inhospitable weather.

The opera became mainly a vehicle for coloratura sopranos in the title role and it was known to record collectors exclusively through countless recordings of the air "Ombre legere," the "Shadow Song," which is essentially the mentally destabilized Dinorah's duet with her own shadow.

The Theatre Francais de la Musique, whose mission is resuscitating forgotten French opera, brought "Dinorah" briefly back from oblivion with a workmanlike production at the compact Theatre Imperial adjacent to the château of Compiegne, north of Paris.

The young cast was headed by Isabelle Philippe, appealing and vocally solid in the title Dinorah's role at the Oct. 20 performance. Armand Arapian applied his strong baritone to Hoel, betrothed, and Frederic Mazzotta handled the tenor role of Corentin, the cornemuse player who befriends the couple.

Pierre Jourdan's staging moved the humans and their various goats and sheep around efficiently enough in Jean-Pierre Capeyron's representation of a rugged Breton landscape. Olivier Opdebeeck conducted the Failoni Orchestra, a chamber group attached to the Hungarian State Opera.

David Stevens, International Herald Tribune, October 30, 2002