A week ago the Metropolitan Opera telecast their full-length production of Les Troyens by Hector Berlioz. It's being repeated on March 9 and I heartily encourage you to go and see it if you missed the first time. In the meanwhile, I want to share my thoughts about this acknowledged masterpiece that yet remains so little known.
In my review of the performance in my parallel blog, "Large Stage Live", I touched on the technical difficulties of mounting this huge opera on stage. Similar difficulties attend the process of trying to record it complete, which is why it hasn't been done very often. Indeed, I am only aware of three complete recordings of the entire work and two video releases. I hope the Met's current cinecast will soon join the roster.
The very first, way back in 1970, was conducted by Colin Davis for Philips records as part of his massive Berlioz cycle. He repeated the work in 2000 in a live concert recording for the London Symphony Orchestra Live label. In between, in 1993, Charles Dutoit laid down his version for Decca records with the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal as part of his complete Berlioz cycle. One curious feature is the Canadian connection found in all three. Dutoit of course recorded in Canada with a Canadian orchestra and chorus, and used the Canadian baritone Gino Quilico in the role of Choroebus. Davis used Canadian heldentenors in the role of Aeneas for both of his versions -- Jon Vickers and Ben Heppner respectively.
I haven't heard Davis 2, which some critics call the best of the three, but I have had copies of both Davis 1 and Dutoit and find very little to choose between them. So you can safely assume the excellence of all three recordings. Davis 2 is readily available online, and the others may be hunted up with a little effort since both were released in the CD era.
So what is the experience of listening to this sprawling 4.5 hour epic drama? To begin with, dismiss all thought of Wagner. Berlioz does use a large orchestra, but it isn't the Wagner orchestra, and the sounds he coaxes from it are uniquely his own -- most notably his distinctive use of woodwinds, exemplified by the very opening bars. The singers do require large, heroic voices, but they sing in formed melodies organized into formal set pieces. Some lengthy passages are developed into quasi-recitative, but the general shape of the work is of a succession of choral and solo numbers, each one developed into a distinct structure of its own. There are also a series of dance numbers in several of the five acts, not surprising considering the central role that the ballet has always played in the French opera tradition.
Indeed, the ballets are perhaps better known than any other parts of the score. The pantomime-ballet opening the fourth act, called Royal Hunt and Storm, has often been recorded in collections of French orchestral music -- it was a particular favourite of Sir Thomas Beecham. Another number frequently heard in anthologies is the meltingly beautiful love duet of Aeneas and Dido, O nuit d'ivresse. You may, therefore, settle down to the complete opera and find that (like Hamlet) it has some familiar quotes in it!
Other passages will soon become favourites too. In the first part, La prise de Troie ("The Fall of Troy") some of the most striking include the urgent duet of Cassandra and Choroebus in Act 1, Aeneas' narration of the hideous death of the priest Laocoon in the same act, the Trojan March which accompanies the entry of the Trojan Horse into the city, and the dramatic immolation of Cassandra and the women of Troy which forms the climax of Act 2.
In Part 2, Les Troyens a Carthage, the theme changes from war to the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for Aeneas. Now there comes the Royal Hunt and Storm, the midnight quintet and love duet, and the lyrical song of homesickness sung by the Trojan sailor Hylas. Finally there's the magnificent climax of the entire opera, when Dido on her death pyre sees a vision of the unconquered Roman capitol while her people hurl their curses at Aeneas and his men in counterpoint to the Trojan March.
No question in my mind: Les Troyens is Berlioz' greatest masterpiece, and one of the finest and most significant operas in history. And it's eminently listenable too. Seek out one of the recordings I've mentioned, and do try to catch the repeat broadcast of the complete opera from the Met on March 9.
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