GLUCK
Orphée et Euridice
(1774 Paris Version)
Fouchécourt • Dubosc • Le Blanc
Opera Lafayette Orchestra and Chorus
Ryan Brown
8.660185-86 28
ORPHÉE
Ah, justes dieux!
Quelle est notre reconnaissance!
L’AMOUR
Ne doutez plus de ma puissance.
Je viens vous retirer de cet affreux séjour.
Jouissez désormais des faveurs de l’amour.
SCÈNE III
Temple magnifique dédié à l’Amour. Orphée,
Euridice et l’Amour, précédés de bergers et de
nymphes qui viennent fêter le retour d’Euridice.
ORPHÉE
L’Amour triomphe,
Et tout ce qui respire
Sert l’empire de la beauté.
Sa chaîne agréable
Est préférable à la liberté.
LE CHOEUR
L’Amour triomphe, etc.
L’AMOUR
Dans les peines, dans les alarmes
Je fais souvent languir les coeurs.
Mais, dans un instant, mes charmes
Font pour jamais oublier mes rigueurs.
LE CHOEUR
L’Amour triomphe, etc.
EURIDICE
Si la cruelle jalousie
A troublé mes tendres désirs,
Les douceurs dont elle est suivie
Sont des chaînes de plaisirs.
LE CHOEUR
L’Amour triomphe, etc.
ORPHEUS
Ah, just gods!
How grateful we are!
LOVE
No longer doubt my power.
I have come to take you from this dreary abode.
Enjoy henceforth the favour of love.
SCENE III
Magnificent temple dedicated to Love. Orpheus,
Euridice and Love, preceded by shepherds and
nymphs coming to celebrate Euridice’s return.
ORPHEUS
Love is triumphant,
and all living things
are servants of beauty.
Its pleasant bonds
are preferable to liberty.
CHORUS
Love is triumphant, etc.
LOVE
In pain and in worry
I often cause hearts to languish.
But, in an instant, my magic
causes my severity to be forgotten forever.
CHORUS
Love is triumphant, etc.
EURIDICE
If cruel jealousy
troubled my tender desires,
the joys which followed it
are bonds of pleasure.
CHORUS
Love is triumphant, etc.
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8.660185-8627
Oui, je te suis, tendre objet de ma foi,
Je te suis, attends-moi!
Tu ne me seras plus ravie
Et la mort pour jamais va m’unir avec toi.
(Il sort son épée pour se donner la mort.
L’Amour apparaît.)
SCÈNE II
Récit
L’AMOUR
Arrête, Orphée!
ORPHÉE
Ô ciel, qui pourrait en ce jour
Retenir le transport de mon âme égarée?
L’AMOUR
Calme ta fureur insensée.
Arrête et reconnais l’Amour,
Qui veille sur ta destinée.
ORPHÉE
Qu’exigez-vous de moi?
L’AMOUR
Tu viens de me prouver
ta constance et ta foi.
Je vais soulager ton martyre.
(Il touche Euridice et la ranime.)
Euridice. . . respire!
Du plus fidèle époux
viens couronner les feux.
ORPHÉE
Mon Euridice!
EURIDICE
Orphée!
Yes, I am following you, tender object of my love,
I am following you, wait for me!
You shall never again be taken from me
and death shall unite us forever.
(Orpheus draws his sword to kill himself.
Love appears.)
SCENE II
Recitative
LOVE
Stop, Orpheus!
ORPHEUS
Heavens, who could now
restrain the ardour of my distraught soul?
LOVE
Calm your mad frenzy,
stop and recognise Love,
who watches over your destiny.
ORPHEUS
What do you demand of me?
LOVE
You have proved
your constancy and your faithfulness.
I shall end your martyrdom.
(Love touches Euridice and brings her back to life.)
Euridice. . . Live again!
Come reward the passion
of the most faithful of husbands.
ORPHEUS
My Euridice!
EURIDICE
Orpheus!
8.660185-86 2
There have been three significantly different versions of
Gluck’s work before the public since Orfeo was first
produced in 1762. Gluck composed his first version in
Vienna and in Italian. The second he revised (in French)
and expanded for Paris in 1774, and the third is one which
Gluck’s admirer Hector Berlioz revised in Paris in 1859.
Of the many differences between these versions, the most
prominent is the voice used for Orpheus: in 1762 Gluck
wrote the rôle for a castrato, in 1774 he rewrote it for a
tenor, and in 1859 Berlioz rewrote it again for a female
alto. It is a variant of the Berlioz version, though
translated back into Italian, which has been heard most
often in the opera house of the last century. More recently
the 1762 version has been recreated with a counter–tenor
in the title rôle. The 1774 Paris version, however, which
was the most popular version in the eighteenth and early
nineteenth century, is only now receiving its due.
The high tenor, or haut-contre, was a voice that
French composers of the eighteenth century cultivated
and challenged, and which Gluck made remarkable use of
in this version of Orphée. The relatively low pitch of the
Paris Opera orchestra in the eighteenth century, and its
apparent flexibility, helped make the tenor’s high tessitura
possible. (Rousseau and others said that the Opera
orchestra actually varied its pitch depending on the needs
of the singers.) Period-instrument orchestras today again
play at these lower pitches (ours is A=392), and they offer
a different and more comfortable set of sonorities and
articulations with which to accompany this vocal range.
In addition to rewriting the title rôle for tenor,
Gluck’s other changes to the 1774 version of Orphée et
Euridice involved the incorporation of new dances and
airs for the Parisian stage. The flute solo from the Ballet
des Ombres Heureuses is certainly the most famous of
these. Additionally Gluck reworked and orchestrated the
opera’s recitatives.
Our recording is based upon the very first Paris
performance on 2nd August, 1774. In addition to
fragments of an autograph score, we consulted the
performance materials for this Parisian début found in the
Bibliothèque Nationale, including the conductor’s score,
a choral score, and the livret (the pre-prepared text for the
audience.) We compared each of these to the Bärenreiter
edition, a kind of compendium of various Paris
performances in the late eighteenth century. Not only was
the conductor’s score in particular very helpful with
regard to interpretive matters, but it also indicated ways in
which the 2nd August 1774 performance was shorter than
subsequent eighteenth-century versions. These initial
performance materials suggested, for instance, that at the
end of Act I, Scene 1, the récit ‘Eloignez-vous’ directly
follows the Pantomime, which then proceeds directly to
the Chœur, without a ritournelle. The materials also
indicated that the tenor Legros decided not to attempt the
ariette ‘L’espoir renaît’ at the end of Act I. (Legros was
known for his beautiful high notes but not, it seems, for
his agility). We have decided to keep it, however, as JeanPaul
Fouchécourt negotiates it with ease. In Act III, Scene
2, the conductor’s score suggests that L’Amour’s récit
with Orphée and Euridice moves directly into the final
chorus, without an additional trio, and that the chorus
finishes the work without an additional ballet. These
indications preserve a direct and dramatic finish, at least
within the conventions of late eighteenth-century opera.
The greatest conventional change to the story is of course
the one described in the Argument of the livret, which
states that ‘to adapt this fable to our stage, it has been
necessary to change the catastrophe and to add the
episode in which Love reunites husband and wife’.
Soon after the 1774 début, more dances were added
for other Parisian performances. Most of these dances
Gluck borrowed from his earlier works. In 1776 Orphée
et Euridice was choreographed by the famous JeanGeorges
Noverre. For our public performance of the work
we engaged the choreographer Catherine Turocy and the
New York Baroque Dance Company, and added a final
ballet, or divertissement.
For this recording we are pleased to be able to
present the 1774 version of Orphée as sung by a tenor
experienced in the major rôles of eighteenth-century
Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787)
Orphée et Euridice
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 2
8.660185-86 26
ORPHÉE
Malheureux, qu’ai-je fait!
Et dans quel précipice
M’a plongé mon funeste amour!
Chère épouse. . .Euridice!
Euridice. . . chère épouse!
Elle ne m’entend plus, je la perds sans retour!
C’est moi qui lui ravis le jour!
Loi fatale!
Cruel remords!
Ma peine est sans égale,
Dans ce moment funeste,
Le désespoir, la mort
Est tout ce qui me reste.
Air
ORPHÉE
J’ai perdu mon Euridice,
Rien n’égale mon malheur.
Sort cruel, quelle rigueur!
rien n’égale mon malheur.
Je succombe à ma douleur.
Euridice. . .Euridice. . .
Réponds-moi, quel supplice!
C’est ton époux fidèle;
Entends ma voix qui t’appelle. . .
J’ai perdu mon Euridice, etc.
Euridice. . .Euridice. . .
Mortel silence, vaine espérance,
Quelle souffrance!
Quel tourment déchire mon coeur!
J’ai perdu mon Euridice, etc.
4 Récit
ORPHÉE
Ah, puisse ma douleur finir avec ma vie!
Je ne survivrai pas à ce dernier revers.
Je touche encore aux portes des enfers;
J’aurais bientôt rejoint mon épouse chérie.
ORPHEUS
Wretched man, what have I done!
Over what precipice
has my tragic love thrown me!
Dear wife . . . Euridice!
Euridice . . . dear wife!
She no longer hears me. I have lost her forever!
It was I who took away her life!
Fatal decree!
Cruel remorse!
My pain is unequalled,
In this tragic moment
despair and death
are all that remain for me.
Air
ORPHEUS
I have lost my Euridice,
Nothing equals my despair.
Cruel fate, what severity!
Nothing equals my despair.
I am overwhelmed by grief.
Euridice . . . Euridice . . .
Answer me, what torture!
I am your faithful husband;
Listen to my voice calling you. . .
I have lost my Euridice, etc.
Euridice. . . Euridice. . .
Deathly silence, vain hope,
what suffering!
What torment tears my heart!
I have lost my Euridice, etc.
4 Recitative
ORPHEUS
May my pains end, and my life also!
I cannot survive this last reversal of fate.
I am still on the threshold of Hades;
I will soon rejoin my beloved wife.
8.660185-863
French opera. We hope that it will breathe new life into
Gluck’s magnificent retelling of a myth which has been
so central to our collective imagination for many
centuries.
Ryan Brown
Gluck and Reform Opera
The son of a forester who, by 1727, was in the service of
Prince Philipp Hyazinth von Lobkowitz, Christoph
Willibald Gluck was born in 1714 and spent his
childhood in his native Bohemia, with its strong musical
traditions. He studied at the University of Prague, while
continuing his own musical activities, and by 1734 was
in Vienna, it is supposed with the patronage of the
Lobkowitz family. There followed a period in Italy,
chiefly in Milan, during which he began to establish
himself as a composer of opera. It was perhaps through
his connection with the Lobkowitz family that he found
himself in 1746 in London, commissioned to provide
opera for the King’s Theatre, and the following years
brought employment in various cities of Europe. In 1750
he married in Vienna and in the next years wrote operas
on libretti by Metastasio for that city, for Prague, Naples
and Rome, while serving first as Konzertmeister and
then as Kapellmeister to the Prince of SaxeHildburghausen.
For this patron he set Metastasio’s
libretto Le cinesi, a sumptuous performance of which for
the Emperor brought a satisfactory reward, not least in
establishing Gluck in court circles. During the decade he
collaborated with Count Durazzo, who had been
appointed in 1754 to take charge of the two principal
theatres of Vienna, particularly in the provision of
adaptations of French opéra comique for the Viennese
stage.
The collaboration with Durazzo was of great
importance both for Gluck and for the history of opera.
In 1755 he became court composer and in 1759
composer of ballets, with responsibility in the following
year for theatre music. In 1761 he collaborated with the
dancer and ballet-master Gasparo Angiolini in a new
ballet d’action, a ballet with a story, following now
current fashions, Don Juan ou Le festin de pierre (Don
Juan or The Stone Guest). The arrival in Vienna that year
of Ranieri de’ Calzabigi was the catalyst for a change of
course for opera, now abandoning the conventions of
Metastasian opera seria in favour of a new simplicity
and a measure of dramatic realism. The first result of the
joint work of Calzabigi, Angiolini and Gluck, under the
encouragement of Count Durazzo, was Orfeo ed
Euridice. There were to be two further ‘reform’ operas
with Calzabigi, in 1767 Alceste (Naxos 8.66066-68) and
in 1770 Paride ed Elena. Between 1774 and 1779 Gluck
enjoyed considerable success in Paris, where a French
version of Orfeo ed Euridice, with a libretto adapted by
Pierre Louis Moline, was staged in August, 1774, and an
adaptation of Alceste two years later. The failure of his
Ovidian Echo et Narcisse and ill-health brought him
back to Viennain 1779, where he remained until his
death in 1787.
Gluck later credited Calzabigi with the inspiration
for Orfeo ed Euridice (Naxos 8.660064), a judgement in
which the librettist himself fully concurred. Calzabigi
laid particular stress on the relationship between opera
and declamation, in one sense a return to the very origins
of the form in its late sixteenth-century association with
rhetoric. In his introduction to the work he explains that
he has changed the scene of Eurydice’s death from
Thrace to Campania, near to the reputed entrance to the
Underworld near Lake Averno, thus preserving the
Aristotelian unity of place. He further adapted the
legend, according to which Orpheus had lost Eurydice
by disobeying the prohibition laid on him not to look
round at her as he left the Underworld, by conforming
with the happy ending expected of the modern stage and
avoiding the harsher ending outlined in his classical
sources, Vergil’s fourth Georgic and the sixth book of
the Aeneid.
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8.660185-8625
Récit
ORPHÉE
(Quelle épreuve cruelle!)
EURIDICE
Tu m’abandonnes, cher Orphée!
En ce moment ton épouse désolée
Implore en vain ton secours!
Ô dieux, à vous seuls j’ai recours!
Dois-je finir mes jours
Sans un regard de ce que jaime?
ORPHÉE
(Je sens mon courage expirer
Et ma raison se perd.
Dans mon amour extrême
J’oublie et la défense, Euridice et moi-même.
Ciel!)
(Il fait un mouvement pour se retourner
et tout à coup se retient.)
EURIDICE
Cher époux, je puis à peine respirer.
ORPHÉE
Rassure-toi, je vais tout dire.
Apprends. . .
(Que fais-je? Justes dieux,
Quand finirez-vous mon martyre?)
EURIDICE
Reçois donc mes derniers adieux,
Et souviens-toi d’Euridice. . .
ORPHÉE
(Où suis-je? Je ne puis résister à ses pleurs.)
Non, le ciel ne veut pas un plus grand sacrifice!
Ô ma chère Euridice!
(Il se retourne impétueusement.)
EURIDICE
Orphée, ô ciel, je meurs!
Recitative
ORPHEUS
(What cruel tribulation!)
EURIDICE
You are forsaking me, dear Orpheus!
In this moment your wretched wife
begs in vain for your help!
O gods, you are my only refuge!
Must I end my days
without one look from the object of my love?
ORPHEUS
(I feel my courage dying,
and I am losing my reason.
In the passion of my love
I am forgetting the decree, Euridice, and myself.
Heavens!)
(He starts to turn around
and suddenly stops himself)
EURIDICE
Dear husband, I can scarcely breathe.
ORPHEUS
Console yourself, I shall tell you everything.
It happened that . . .
(What am I doing? O gods,
When will you end my martyrdom?)
EURIDICE
Receive then my last farewell,
and remember Euridice . . .
ORPHEUS
(Where am I? I cannot bear her tears.)
No, the gods do not require such a sacrifice!
O my beloved Euridice!
(He turns around impetuously)
EURIDICE
Orpheus, heavens, I’m dying!
8.660185-86 4
CD 1
1 The overture touches briefly on something of the
drama to come.
ACT I
Scene 1
2 Solemn music at the rise of the curtain reveals a
lonely grove of laurels and cypresses, with the tomb of
Eurydice, around which nymphs and shepherds lament,
while Orpheus calls on his beloved. He bids his
companions to desist and leave him alone to mourn. The
nymphs and shepherds disperse.
Scene 2
3 Orpheus calls out the name of his beloved Eurydice,
weeping for her loss.
4 He bitterly inveighs against the powers of the
Underworld.
Scene 3
The god of Love appears, offering help. Orpheus will be
allowed to bring Eurydice back from the dead, if he can,
with his music, placate the furies and spirits of Hades. In
bringing her back, he must not turn to look at her, as she
follows him back to the land of the living, nor may he
explain to her the reason for his actions. Love urges
Orpheus to follow this decree, reminding him that his
suffering will be transitory and that lovers are sometimes
without words.
Scene 4
5 Orpheus now has hope again, but foresees the
difficulties he will encounter in vuew of the restrictions
placed upon him.
ACT II
Scene 1
6 The scene is set in the dreaded caverns of Hades.
Furies and spectres dance their infernal dance, interrupted
by the sound of the lyre of Orpheus. The spirits seek to
know who dares to enter Hades. Orpheus pleads with
them, but they are adamant, and repeat their question,
asking why he has come. Orpheus seeks to calm the
Furies and spirits, who are partially placated by his pleas,
and give way, allowing Orpheus to enter the gates of their
realm. They dance, and Orpheus passes through the gates.
CD 2
Scene 2
1 The scene changes to a verdant countryside,
meadows covered in flowers, arbours and murmuring
streams. Orpheus is joined by the blessed spirits, who
dance.
Scene 3
2 Orpheus delights in the scene, but Elysium is not for
him: his paradise is Eurydice, whom he now seeks. The
spirits praise Orpheus, and promise that Euridice will
soon be with him again.
Scene 4
The spiritis lead Eurydice in. Orpheus takes her hand and
leads her away.
ACT III
Scene 1
3 Orpheus leads Eurydice on the path to the upper
world, always without looking at her. She is at first
delighted and then puzzled and angry at the failure of her
husband to embrace her or even look at her. He remains
steadfast, still leading her on. Both are distressed by the
situation, Eurydice by her husband’s seemingly unfeeling
behaviour, and Orpheus by her importunity. Eurydice
foresees future unhappiness and declares herself now
unused to the troubles of humanity. She pleads with
Orpheus, who finally can resist no longer. He turns to
look at her, and she dies, leaving him to lament the second
death of his beloved.
Synopsis
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 4
8.660185-86 24
Je frissonne, je tremble, je pâlis;
Mon coeur palpite,
Un trouble secret m’agite.
Tous mes sens sont saisis d’horreur
Et je succombe à ma douleur.
Air et Duo
EURIDICE
Fortune ennemie,
Quelle barbarie!
Ne me rends-tu la vie
Que pour les tourments?
Fortune ennemie, etc.
Je goûtais les charmes
D’un repos sans alarmes.
ORPHÉE
Ses injustes soupçons
Redoublent mes tourments.
Que dire, que faire?
Elle me désespère!
EURIDICE
Le trouble, les larmes
Remplissent aujourd’hui
Mes malheureux moments.
Je goûtais les charmes, etc.
ORPHÉE
Ne pourrais-je calmer
Le trouble de ses sens?
Que mon sort est à plaindre,
Je ne puis me contraindre.
EURIDICE
Je frissonne, je tremble!
Fortune ennemie, etc.
I shudder, I tremble, I blanch;
my heart throbs,
a secret confusion agitates me.
All my senses are horror-stricken
and I am overcome by grief.
Air and Duet
EURIDICE
Oh, unkind fortune,
what ruthlessness!
Are you giving me back life
only so that I may suffer?
Oh, unkind Fortune, etc.
I was enjoying
an untroubled happiness.
ORPHEUS
Her unjust suspicions
increase my torment.
What shall I say? What shall I do?
She is driving me to despair!
EURIDICE
Afflictions, tears
today fill
my unhappy moments.
I was enjoying, etc.
ORPHEUS
Can I not calm
her troubled mind?
How piteous is my fate,
I cannot bear it.
EURIDICE
I shudder, I tremble!
Oh, unkind fortune, etc.
8.660185-865
4 Now he only wants to follow her back to Hades, to
join her in death.
Scene 2
As he is about to kill himself, Love intervenes, disarming
him and bringing a reward for his love and constancy.
Eurydice shall live again, and she comes to life again,
waking as from a deep sleep. They are now re-united.
Scene 3
At a sign from Love the scene changes to the temple of
Love, where nymphs and shepherds celebrate the return
of Eurydice, joined in their rejoicing by Orpheus.
Synopsis and additional note by Keith Anderson
Opera Lafayette would like to extend its thanks to the following people for their extraordinary support of this
debut recording:
The Ambassador and Mrs. Francois Bujon de l’Estang
Sandra and Tom Jordan and the Jordan Vineyard and Winery
Mike and Foster Beigler
Bill and Cari Gradison
G. Lewis and Ingrid B. Meyer
Melissa Monson and Monson Communications LLC
Opera Lafayette also extends its thanks to all of its supporters who have given of themselves in countless ways in
order that our work can continue to flourish. Among the institutions who have provided major support to the
ensemble are The Florence Gould Foundation, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, The Helen
Sperry Lea Foundation, and The Marpat Foundation, Cogema, Inc., and Suzan Reed Graphics.
Opera Lafayette is indebted to the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts and to the Inn and Conference
Center at the University of Maryland for their assistance in making this project possible.
Naxos Radio
70 Channels of Classical Music • Jazz, Folk/World, Nostalgia
Accessible Anywhere, Anytime • Near-CD Quality
www.naxosradio.com
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 24
8.660185-8623
ORPHÉE
Vois ma peine!
EURIDICE
Laisse Euridice!
ORPHÉE
Ah, cruelle, quelle injustice!
Je suivrai toujours tes pas!
EURIDICE
Parle, contente mon envie!
ORPHÉE
Dût-il m’en coûter la vie,
Non je ne parlerai pas.
EURIDICE, ORPHÉE
(chacun à part)
Dieux, soyez-moi favorables!
Voyez mes pleurs,
Dieux secourables!
Quels tourments insupportables,
Quelles rigueurs
Mêlez-vous à vos faveurs.
EURIDICE
Parle, etc.
ORPHÉE
Dût-il m’en coûter la vie, etc.
Récit
EURIDICE
Mais d’où vient qu’il obstine à garder le silence?
Quels secrets veut-il me cacher?
Au séjour du repos devait-il m’arracher
Pour m’accabler de son indifférence!
Ô destin rigoureux!
Ma force m’abandonne.
Le voile de la mort retombe sur mes yeux;
Je frémis, je languis,
ORPHEUS
See how miserable I am!
EURIDICE
Leave Euridice!
ORPHEUS
Ah, cruel one, what injustice!
I will always follow your steps!
EURIDICE
Speak, fulfill my desire!
ORPHEUS
Even at the cost of my life,
I will not speak!
EURIDICE, ORPHEUS
(together, aside)
Gods, be favourable to me!
See my tears,
gracious gods!
What unbearable torture,
what severity
come with your favours.
EURIDICE
Speak, etc.
ORPHEUS
Even at the cost of my life, etc.
Recitative
EURIDICE
But why does he remain so obstinately silent?
What secrets is he trying to hide from me?
Did he have to tear me from the sojourn of rest
only to afflict me with his indifference!
Oh, cruel destiny!
My strength is leaving me.
The veil of death is falling once more across my eyes;
I shiver, I languish,
8.660185-86 6
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt is known as a tenor, but his work in the Baroque repertoire also qualifies him as an exponent
of haut-contre. After studying the classical saxophone and conducting, he decided to become a singer after taking
part in a workshop with Cathy Berberian. William Christie invited him to join his ensemble Les Arts Florissants in
1986, and with that ensemble he appeared in concerts in Europe and the United States, the Soviet Union, South
America, Australia and Japan, and made many recordings. Many of the highlights of Jean-Paul Fouchécourt’s career
thus far have come from his appearances with Marc Minkowsky and his Musiciens du Louvre. These include the
principal rôles of Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, Mondonville’s Titon et l’Aurore, Lully’s Acis et Galatée and
Handel’s Resurrezione. He has also sung with other Baroque ensembles, directed by Philippe Herreweghe, René
Jacobs, Sigiswald Kuijken, Nicholas McGegan, Hervé Niquet and Christophe Rousset. His gradually expanded
repertoire includes such composers as Berlioz, Britten, Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov and Szymanowski, and he has also
been invited to sing with such conductors as Franz Brüggen, Myung-Wun Chung, Andrew Davis, Charles Dutoit,
John Eliot Gardiner, James Levine, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, Michel Plasson, Simon Rattle,
G. Rozhdestvensky and many others. On stage his most important rôles have included Rameau’s Platée, Arnalta in
Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, the husband in Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, the four servants in
Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann, Bardolfo in Verdi’s Falstaff and Goro in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, a rôle which
he has performed with leading international opera companies including Covent Garden, the Paris Opéra, the
Metropolitan Opera of New York, New York City Opera, Netherlands Opera, Geneva Opera, and the Festivals of
Salzburg, Edinburgh and Aix-en- Provence. He has also performed opera in concert with the orchestra of Saito
Kinen (Japan), the Boston Symphony, the National Orchestra of France, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio
France, and the Berlin Philharmonic. Jean-Paul Fouchécourt devotes a large part of his time to French song, from
the baroque Air de cour and classical Romance to the romantic mélodie, and has performed in recital in France and
abroad, including Warsaw, Abu Dhabi, Moscow, Caracas, San Francisco, Tokyo, New York and London. His
discography already includes some 75 recordings. He has been honoured as a Chevalier dans l’ordre national du
mérite by the French Government.
Catherine Dubosc
Catherine Dubosc has appeared on the major French stages, the Opéra Comique, Théâtre du Châtelet, Théâtre des
Champs-Elysées, Opéra de Strasbourg, Toulouse, Nice, Opéra de Montpellier, and at the Aix-en-Provence, Vaisonla-Romaine,
Saint-Denis, La Chaise Dieu, Innsbruck and Edinburgh festivals. She has sung under many famous
conductors, including John Eliot Gardiner, René Jacobs, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Harry Christophers, Semyon
Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Sylvain Cambreling and Christoph Eschenbach. Recent performances include the rôle of
the child in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges in concert at the London Royal Albert Hall and La Vierge by Massenet
at the Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona. She made her début as Musette in La Bohème with the Netherlands Opera and
was heard in L’enfant et les sortilèges in Santiago de Compostela. In Tours and Rennes she appeared in Gluck’s
Orphée et Euridice. She sang a series of concert performances of L’enfant et les sortilèges and Le rossignol with the
Fribourg SWR and Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil with the Wiener Klangforum in Vienna and Graz. She also
performed Orphée aux enfers in Cologne.
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 6
8.660185-86 22
EURIDICE
Mais, par ta main, ma main n’est plus pressée. . .
Quoi, tu fuis ces regards que tu chérissais tant!
Ton coeur pour Euridice est-il indifférent?
La fraîcheur de mes traits serait-elle effacée?
ORPHÉE
(Ô dieux, quelle contrainte!)
Euridice, suis-moi. . .
Fuyons de ces lieux, le temps presse.
Je voudrais t’exprimer l’exès de ma tendresse. . .
(Je ne le puis, ô trop funeste loi!)
EURIDICE
Un seul de tes regards. . .
ORPHÉE
Tu me glaces d’effroi!
EURIDICE
Ah, barbare!
Sont-ce là les douceurs que ton coeur me prépare?
Est-ce donc là le prix de mon amour?
Ô fortune jalouse!
Orphée, hélas, se refuse en ce jour
Aux transports innocents de sa fidèle épouse.
ORPHÉE
Par tes soupçons, cesse de m’outrager!
EURIDICE
Tu me rends à la vie, et c’est pour m’affliger!
Dieux, reprenez un bienfait que j’abhorre!
Ah, cruel époux, laisse-moi!
Duo
ORPHÉE
Viens, suis un époux qui t’adore.
EURIDICE
Non, ingrat, je préfère encore
La mort qui m’éloigne de toi!
EURIDICE
But you are no longer holding my hand . . .
What, you avoid the glances which once you loved!
Is your heart indifferent to Euridice?
Has the bloom of my youth faded?
ORPHEUS
(O gods! How I must restrain myself!)
Euridice, follow me . . .
Let us flee this place, time is passing.
I wish I could express my love. . .
(I cannot! Oh, harsh decree!)
EURIDICE
A single glance from you . . .
ORPHEUS
You make me shudder!
EURIDICE
Barbarian!
Is this the gentleness which your heart will grant me?
Is this then the reward for my love?
Oh jealous Fortune!
Orpheus, alas, refuses
the innocent love of his faithful wife.
ORPHEUS
Cease to insult me with your suspicions!
EURIDICE
You give me life again only to make me suffer!
Gods, take back your generous gift. I now abhor it!
Cruel husband, leave me!
Duo
ORPHEUS
Come, follow the husband who loves you.
EURIDICE
No, ungrateful one! I prefer
death, which separates me from you!
8.660185-867
Suzie Le Blanc
The soprano Suzie LeBlanc has established a distinguished career specialising in music of the baroque and classical
periods. Her schedule is an enviable mix of concert and opera performances, festival appearances and recording
projects both on video and for the CD market. She has been involved in a number of critically acclaimed productions
including Sartorio’s Orfeo, a recording awarded the Cini prize for Best Opera CD of 1999, Poppea in Monteverdi’s
L’incoronazione di Poppea for Opéra de Montréal, and the same composer’s Orfeo for Netherlands Opera, the Vienna
Konzerthaus and Festival Vancouver. Solicited by some of the most distinguished period orchestras, she has performed
with Teatro Lirico, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, La Petite Bande, Tafelmusik, Musica Antiqua Köln, the Australian
Brandenburg Orchestra, NY Collegium, l’Académie Baroque de Montréal (which she founded in 2001), as well as with
Les Violons du Roy, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Orchestra of Montreal. In the more
intimate setting of chamber music, she performs and records with Tragicomedia, Les Voix Humaines, the Purcell
Quartet, Theatre of Early Music and forms a duo with the lutenist Stephen Stubbs, with whom she has recorded several
discs. Her impressive discography, ranging from medieval to contemporary music, includes Handel’s Gloria with
l’Académie Baroque de Montréal, Bach’s Coffee and Peasant Cantatas with Tafelmusik, Vivaldi motets with Teatro
Lirico (awarded Best Canadian Vocal recording by Opus Magazine), Amour Cruel, French airs de cour with Stephen
Stubbs and Les Voix Humaines (awarded the Prix Opus for the Early Music Recording of the Year 2000).
Opera Lafayette
In 1994 the Artistic Director Ryan Brown founded The Violins of Lafayette, a Washington DC-based periodinstrument
ensemble dedicated to the great wealth of music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In its
opening season, VOL produced a series of chamber concerts in the Salon Doré, an eighteenth-century drawing-room
in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. In the following seasons the ensemble grew to produce larger works such as Rebel’s
Les Eléments and concerti grossi of Handel and Corelli. Collaborations resulted in performances of the complete
Brandenburg Concertos of Bach with Dumbarton Concerts as well as a programme of Purcell’s theatrical music with
texts by Congreve, Shakespeare, and Dryden with the Olney Theatre. VOL also produced a programme of sacred music
by Schmelzer and Biber in collaboration with the Choir of St Ignatius Loyola in New York and at the Austrian Embassy
in Washington, and an orchestral concert of works by Rameau, J.C. Bach, Mozart, and Gluck at the Embassy of France.
As part of its artistic development, The Violins of Lafayette has given particular attention to performances of opera,
both semi-staged and in concert. In 1998 VOL produced Charpentier’s Actéon, and in 1999, in the statuary hall of the
Corcoran Gallery, Rameau’s Pygmalion. This performance featured both the tenor Jean-Paul Fouchécourt and dancerchoreographer
Catherine Turocy, and the critical response to the quality and individuality of the opera was exceptional.
Subsequently VOL invited both artists, along with the NY Baroque Dance Company and many other distinguished
singers to collaborate with the ensemble on Lully’s opera-ballet Acis et Galatée, an event that won critical praise. In
the same year VOL complemented this production with Handel’s Acis and Galatea in collaboration with The Four
Nations Ensemble. In 2001, encouraged by its success in presenting opera and recognizing an opportunity to present
this literature on both coasts, The Violins of Lafayette and The Redwoods Festival, a summer festival in Sonoma
County, California, joined as one organization called Opera Lafayette. In its first season Opera Lafayette and guests
from Le Neon Theatre produced a programme that included scenes from Charpentier and Molière’s comedy Le malade
imaginaire. In early 2002 Opera Lafayette produced the 1774 Paris version of Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice in
collaboration with the new Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Maryland. Opera
Lafayette’s début recording is of this version of Gluck’s masterpiece. In 2003 Opera Lafayette produced Rameau’s
Hippolyte et Aricie, again to high praise, and in 2004, Haydn’s Il mondo della luna, with staging by Leon Major and
featuring François Loup, also to great critical acclaim.
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 22
8.660185-8621
TROISIÈME ACTE
Une caverne sombre, en forme de labyrinthe,
couverte de rochers et de plantes sauvages,
qui conduit hors des enfers
3 SCÈNE I
Récit
ORPHÉE
(conduisant Euridice sans la regarder)
Viens, viens, Euridice, suis-moi,
Du plus constant amour, objet unique et tendre.
EURIDICE
C’est toi. . . je te vois!
Ciel, devais-je m’attendre. . .
ORPHÉE
Oui, tu vois ton époux: c’est moi: je vis encore
Et je viens t’arracher au séjour de la mort.
Touché de mon ardeur fidèle,
Jupiter au jour te rappelle.
EURIDICE
Quoi, je vis! et pour toi?
Ah, grands dieux, quel bonheur!
ORPHÉE
Euridice, suis-moi. . .
Hâtons-nous de jouir de la faveur céleste.
Sortons de ce séjour funeste.
Non, tu n’es plus une ombre
Et le dieu des amours
Va nous réunir pour toujours!
EURIDICE
Qu’entends-je! Ah, se peut-il?
Heureuse destinée!
Eh quoi, nous pourrons resserrer
Les noeuds d’amour et d’hyménée.
ORPHÉE
Oui, suis mes pas sans différer.
ACT THREE
A dark cavern leading out of Hades.
It is in the form of a labyrinth and is covered
by rocks and wild plants.
3 SCENE 1
Recitative
ORPHEUS
(leading Euridice, without looking at her)
Come, come, follow me, Euridice,
only object of my constant love.
EURIDICE
It is you . . . I see you!
Heavens, how I am moved . . .
ORPHEUS
Yes, you see your husband, I am still alive
and I have come to take you from the realm of death.
Touched by my faithful ardour,
Jupiter allows you to return to life.
EURIDICE
What? I live! and for you?
Ah, kind gods, what happiness!
ORPHEUS
Euridice, follow me . . .
Let us hasten, while the gods favour us.
Let us leave this evil place.
You are no longer a shade
and the god of love
will reunite us forever!
EURIDICE
What do I hear! Ah, can it be?
Happy destiny!
What, we can tie once more
the bonds of Amor and of Hymen?
ORPHEUS
Yes. Follow me quickly.
8.660185-86 8
VIOLIN I
Claire Jolivet,
concertmaster
Nina Falk †
Alexandra Eddy
Christof Richter
Risa Browder
VIOLIN II
Elizabeth Field *
June Huang †
Melissa Dougherty
Sarah Wetherbee
VIOLA
Anthony Martin *
Peter Bucknell
Scott McCormack †
VIOLONCELLO
Loretta O’Sullivan *
John Moran
Nancy Jo Snider †
BASS
Anne Trout
FLUTE
Colin St. Martin
Kathryn Roth
OBOE
Geoffrey Burgess †
Sarah Davol
CLARINET
Nina Stern
Robert Adelson
BASSOON
James Bolyard
Marilyn Boenau
HORN
Richard Sarasinoff
Linda Dempf
TRUMPET
Barry Bauguess
Stanley Curtis
TROMBONE
Terry Pierce
Greg Ingles
Mack Ramsey
TIMPANI and
PERCUSSION
Thomas Jones
HARP
Alison Attar
HARPSICHORD
Andrew Appel
* Principal
† Second Orchestra
Nancy Jo Snider,
orchestra personnel
manager
SOPRANO
Kathryn Aaron
Gisèle Becker
Susan Bender
Joan McFarland
ALTO
Marta Kirilloff Barber
Marjorie Bunday
Roger Issacs
TENOR
Wayne Glass
Tony Boutté
Michael Harrison
BASS
Charles Bowers
William Brubeck
Steven Combs
Guy Lushin
Michael Harrison,
chorus personnel
mananger
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 8
8.660185-86 20
CHOEUR DES OMBRES HEUREUSES
(entrant sur scène)
Viens dans ce séjour paisible,
Époux tendre, amant sensible.
Viens bannir tes justes regrets.
Euridice va paraître,
Euridice va renaître
Avec de nouveaux attraits.
Danse des Ombres Heureuses
Récit et Choeur
ORPHÉE
Ô vous, ombres que j’implore,
Hâtez-vous de la rendre à mes empressements!
Ah, si vous ressentiez le feu qui me dévore,
Je jouirais déjà de ses embrassements.
Offrez à mes désirs la beauté que j’adore!
Hâtez-vous de me rendre heureux!
CHOEUR DES OMBRES HEUREUSES
Le destin répond à tes voeux.
SCÈNE IV
(Euridice entre.)
CHOEUR DES OMBRES HEUREUSES
(à Euridice)
Près du tendre objet qu’on aime
On jouit du bien suprême.
Goûtez le sort le plus doux,
Va renaître pour Orphée;
On retrouve l’Elysée
Auprès d’un si tendre époux.
(Le choeur conduit Euridice auprès d’Orphée,
lequel prend sa main et l’entraîne.)
CHORUS OF BLESSED SPIRITS
(entering)
Come into this peaceful abode,
tender husband, kind lover.
Rid yourself of all regrets.
Eurydice is about to appear,
Eurydice will live again
even more beautiful than before.
Dance of the Blessed Spirits
Recitative and Chorus
ORPHEUS
Oh, spirits whom I implore,
by my entreaties return her quickly!
Ah, if you felt the fire devouring me,
I would already be enjoying her affections.
Fulfill my longing for the beauty I love!
Hasten to make me happy once more!
CHORUS OF THE BLESSED SPIRITS
Destiny answers your wishes.
SCENE IV
(Eurydice enters)
CHORUS OF BLESSED SPIRITS
(to Eurydice)
Near the tender object of one’s love
one feels the highest bliss.
Enjoy the happiest fate,
live again for Orpheus;
One finds Elysium again
with such a tender husband.
(The chorus lead Eurydice to Orpheus,
who takes her hand and leads her away.)
.
8.660185-869
CD 1
1 Ouverture
ACTE PREMIER
SCÈNE I
2 Choeur Ah! Dans ce bois
Récit Vos plaintes, vos regrets (Orphée)
Pantomime
Récit Eloignez-vous (Orphée)
Choeur Ah! Dans ce bois
SCÈNE II
3 Air Objet de mon amour! (Orphée)
Récit Euridice! Euridice! (Orphée)
Air Accablé de regrets (Orphée)
Récit Euridice! Euridice! (Orphée)
Air Plein de trouble et d’effroi (Orphée)
4 Récit Divinités de l’Achéron (Orphée)
SCÈNE III
Récit L’Amour vient au secours (L’Amour)
Air Si les doux accords de ta lyre
(L’Amour, Orphée)
Air Soumis au silence (L’Amour)
5 SCÈNE IV
Récit Impitoyables Dieux! (Orphée)
Ariette L’espoir renaît dans mon âme (Orphée)
ACTE DEUXIEME
SCÈNE I
6 Maestoso
Prélude
Choeur Quel est l’audacieux
Air de Furie
Choeur Quel est l’audacieux
Orphée et Choeur Laissez vous toucher
Choeur Qui t’amène en ces lieux
Air Ah! La flamme qui me dévore (Orphée)
Choeur Par quels puissants accords
Air La tendresse qui me presse (Orphée)
Choeur Quels chants doux et touchants!
Air de Furies
CD 2
SCÈNE II
1 Ballet des Ombres heureuses
Air Cet asile aimable (Euridice, Choeur)
Danse des Héros et Héroïnes
SCÈNE III
2 Récit Quel nouveau ciel (Orphée)
Choeur Viens dans ce séjour paisible
Danse des Ombres Heureuses
Orphée et Choeur O vous ombres
SCENE IV
Choeur Près du tendre objet qu’on aime
ACTE TROISIEME
SCÈNE I
3 Récit Viens, viens, Euridice (Orphée, Euridice)
Duo Viens, suis un époux qui t’adore
(Orphée, Euridice)
Récit Mais, d’où vient qu’il persiste (Euridice)
Air Fortune ennemie (Euridice)
Duo Je goûtais les charmes (Euridice, Orphée)
Air Fortune ennemie (Euridice)
Récit Quelle épreuve cruelle! (Orphée, Euridice)
Air J’ai perdu mon Euridice (Orphée)
4 Récit Ah! Puisse ma douleur (Orphée)
SCÈNE II
Récit Arrête, Orphée!
(L’Amour, Orphée, Euridice)
SCÈNE DERNIERE
Choeur L’Amour triomphe
(Orphée, L’Amour, Euridice)
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 20
8.660185-8619
Air avec Choeur
UNE OMBRE HEUREUSE
Cet asile,
Aimable et tranquille,
Par le bonheur est habité.
C’est le riant séjour de la félicité.
Nul objet ici n’enflamme
L’âme.
Une douce ivresse
Laisse
Un calme heureux dans tous les sens;
Et la sombre tristesse
Cesse
Dans ces lieux innocents.
CHOEUR DES OMBRES HEUREUSES
Cet asile, etc.
(Les Ombres s’éloignent. Orphée entre)
2 SCÈNE III
Air
ORPHÉE
Quel nouveau ciel pare les lieux!
Un jour plus doux s’offre à mes yeux.
Quels sons harmonieux!
J’entends retentir ce bocage
Du ramage
Des oiseaux,
Du murure des ruisseaux
Et des soupirs de Zéphyre.
On goûte en ce séjour un éternel repos.
Mais le calme qu’on y respire
Ne saurait adoucir mes maux.
Chère épouse, objet de ma flamme,
Toi seule y peux calmer le trouble de mon âme!
Tes accents,
Tendres et touchants,
Tes regards séduisants,
Ton doux sourire
Sont les seuls biens que je désire.
Air with Chorus
A BLESSED SPIRIT (EURYDICE)
In this refuge,
pleasant and tranquil,
happiness dwells.
Happiness reigns in this agreeable place.
Here nothing troubles
the soul.
A sweet exhilaration
leaves
a happy calmness in all the senses;
and sombre sadness
ceases
in this guiltless place.
CHORUS OF BLESSED SPIRITS
In this refuge, etc.
(The Spirits withdraw. Orpheus enters.)
2 SCENE III
Air
ORPHEUS
What a pure sky adorns this realm!
Here a softer light meets my eyes!
What harmony!
From this coppice come the sounds
of the warbling
of birds,
of the murmur of brooks
and of the sighs of the breeze.
In this place one can enjoy eternal rest.
But the calm which I breathe here
cannot alleviate my pain.
Dear Wife, object of my passion,
only you can quiet the confusion of my soul!
Your voice,
so tender and touching,
your gentle glances,
and your sweet smile
are all that I desire.
8.660185-86 10
ARGUMENT
(tel qu’il figure dans la partition originale)
La Fable d’Orphée et d’Euridice est assez connüe pour
ne pas entrer dans un long détail à cet objet. Les Poëtes
nous ont appris qu’Euridice mourut dans les
Campagnes de Thrace de la morsure d’un Serpent
quelques jours après son mariage avec Orphée.
Pour conserver l’unité de lieu dans ce Poëme, on
suppose qu’elle est morte et ensevelie dans une
Campagne voisine du Lac d’Averne qui conduit à
l’entrée des Enfers. Les Dieux touchés du désespoir
d’Orphée lui permettent de pénétrer dans les Champs
Elysées pour en retirer Euridice à condition qu’il ne la
regarderoit point qu’il ne soit de retour sur la terre.
Orphée avant de sortir des Enfers pressé par la violence
de son Amour oublie la loy qui lui est imposée et donne
la mort à Euridice en osant la regarder.
Pour adapter cette Fable à notre Scène on a été obligé
de changer la catastrophe, et d’y ajouter l’épisode de
l’Amour qui réunit les Epoux. Ovide rapporte ce sujet
dans le X. livre de ses Métamorphoses; Virgile en fait
mention dans le quatrième chant de ses Géorgiques, et
dans le sixième de son Eneïde.
CD 1
1 Ouverture
Un bois agréable et solitaire
où se trouve le tombeau d’Euridice.
PREMIER ACTE
La scène est occupée par les bergers et les
nymphes de la suite d’Euridice qui, derrière
Orphée, portent des couronnes de fleurs et des
guirlandes de myrte. D’autres brûlent des
parfums, recouvrent le tombeau de couronnes et
jettent des fleurs sur le marbre.
THE STORY
(here translated from the original score)
The Fable of Orpheus and Eurydice is well enough
known to avoid our entering into great detail about it.
The Poets tell us that Eurydice died in the Thracian
Countryside from the bite of a Serpent several days
after her marriage to Orpheus.
To retain the unity of place in this Poem, it is supposed
that she is dead and buried in the Countryside near Lake
Avernus, which leads to the entrance of Hades. The
Gods are touched by Orpheus’ despair and permit him
to enter the Elysian Fields to take Eurydice away — on
the condition that he not look at her until he has
returned to earth. Before leaving Hades, Orpheus is so
moved by his intense Passion that he forgets the law
which had been imposed on him and causes Eurydice to
die by daring to look at her.
To adapt this Fable to our Stage, it has been necessary
to change the catastrophe and to add the episode in
which Love reunites Husband and Wife. Ovid treats
this subject in the 10th Book of his Metamorphoses;
Virgil mentions it in the Fourth Canto of his Georgica
and in the Sixth of his Aeneid.
CD 1
1 Overture
A solitary, agreeable wood,
with the tomb of Eurydice
ACT ONE
The stage is filled with shepherds and nymphs
from Eurydice’s train, who, walking behind
Orpheus carry floral wreaths and some garlands
of myrtle. Others burn fragrances, cover the tomb
with wreaths and throw flowers onto the marble.
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 10
8.660185-86 18
Air
ORPHÉE
La tendresse
Qui me presse
Calmera votre fureur.
Oui, mes larmes,
Mes alarmes
Fléchiront votre rigueur.
LE CHOEUR
Quels chants doux et touchants,
Quels accords ravissants!
De si tendres accents
Ont su nous désarmer
Et nous charmer.
Qu’il descende aux enfers,
Les chemins sont ouverts.
Tout cède à la douceur
De son art enchanteur;
Il est vainqueur!
Danse des Furies
(Les portes de l’enfer s’ouvrent: Orphée passe au
milieu des spectres, enchantés par les sons de sa
lyre, et il entre dans les enfers.)
CD 2
1 SCÈNE II
La scène représente les Champs Elysées.
Troupe d’Ombres Heureuses
Danses des Ombres Heureuses
Lent et très doux
Même mouvement
Lent et très doux
Dolce con espressione
Air
ORPHEUS
The tender love
which I feel
will calm your fury.
Yes, my tears,
my unhappiness
will cause your harshness to relent.
CHORUS
What sweet and affecting singing,
What entrancing harmonies!
Such tender sincerity
disarms us
and charms us.
He may enter Hades,
The way lies open.
Everything surrenders to the gentleness
of his bewitching art;
he has conquered!
Dance of the Furies
(The gates of Hades open up; Orpheus passes
through the group of spirits, who are entranced by
the sounds of his lyre, and enters into the
underworld)
CD 2
1 SCENE II
The scene represents the Elysian Fields.
A group of Blessed Spirits.
Dances of the Blessed Spirits
Lent et très doux
Même mouvement
Lent et très doux
Dolce con espressione
8.660185-8611
2 SCENE 1
Orphée, le choeur des bergers et des nymphes
LE CHOEUR
Ah, dans ce bois tranquille et sombre,
Euridice, si ton ombre
Nous entend . . .
ORPHÉE
Euridice!
LE CHOEUR
Sois sensible à nos alarmes!
Vois nos peines, vois les larmes
Que pour toi l’on répand!
ORPHÉE
Euridice!
LE CHOEUR
Ah, prends pitié du malheureux Orphée!
Il soupire, il gémit, il plaint sa destinée.
ORPHÉE
Euridice!
LE CHOEUR
L’amoureuse tourterelle,
toujours tendre, toujours fidèle,
Ainsi soupire et meurt
De douleur.
Récit
ORPHÉE
Vos plaintes, vos regrets
augmentent mon supplice!
Aux mânes sacrés d’Euridice
Rendez les suprêmes honneurs
Et couvrez son tombeau de fleurs.
2 SCENE 1
Orpheus, Chorus of Shepherds and Nymphs
CHORUS
Ah, in this tranquil, sombre wood,
Eurydice, if your spirit
hears us . . . .
ORPHEUS
Eurydice!
CHORUS
Be moved by our affliction!
See our unhappiness, see the tears
which are shed for you!
ORPHEUS
Eurydice!
CHORUS
Ah, take pity on the unfortunate Orpheus!
He sighs, he moans, he bewails his fate.
ORPHEUS
Eurydice!
CHORUS
The loving turtle-dove,
ever tender, ever faithful,
sighs thus and dies
of sorrow.
Recitative
ORPHEUS
Your lamentations and your regrets
increase my torment!
To the sacred spirit of Eurydice
render the highest honour
and cover her tomb with flowers.
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 18
8.660185-8617
ORPHÉE
Ombres terribles. . .
LE CHOEUR
Non!
ORPHÉE
Soyez sensibles
A l’excès de mes malheurs.
LE CHOEUR
Non, non, non!
ORPHÉE
Laissez-vous toucher par mes pleurs, etc.
LE CHOEUR
Qui t’amène en ces lieux,
Mortel présomptueux?
C’est le séjour affreux
Des remords dévorants,
Et des gémissements
Et des tourments.
Qui t’amène en ces lieux, etc.
Air
ORPHÉE
Ah, la flamme qui me dévore
Est cent fois plus cruelle encore.
L’enfer n’a point de tourments
Pareils à ceux que je ressens.
LE CHOEUR
(attendri par le chant d’Orphée)
Par quels puissants accords,
Dans le séjour des morts,
Malgré nos vains efforts,
Il calme la fureur de nos transports.
Par quels puissants accords, etc.
ORPHEUS
Awful shades . . .
CHORUS
No!
ORPHEUS
Give way
to my overwhelming unhappiness.
CHORUS
No, no, no!
ORPHEUS
Let me move you by my tears, etc.
CHORUS
What brings you here,
arrogant mortal?
This is the frightful sojourn
of devouring remorse,
of moaning
and of anguish.
What brings you here, etc.
Air
ORPHEUS
Oh, the fire which devours me
is a hundred times more painful.
Hades has no tortures
like those I feel!
CHORUS
(mollified by Orpheus’ singing)
By what poweful harmonies,
in the realm of the dead,
and despite our vain efforts,
he calms the violence of our hatred.
By what powerful harmonies, etc.
8.660185-86 12
Pantomime
(des nymphes et des bergers)
Récit
ORPHÉE
(à la suite)
Eloignez-vous, ce lieu convient à mes douleurs,
Et je veux sans témoins y répandre des pleurs.
LE CHOEUR
Ah, dans ce bois tranquille et sombre,
Euridice, si ton ombre
Nous entend,
Sois sensible à nos alarmes!
Vois nos peines, vois les larmes
Que pour toi l’on répand!
(La suite d’Orphée se retire avec les nymphes
et ils se dispersent dans le bois.)
3 SCÈNE II
Air
ORPHÉE
Objet de mon amour,
Je te demande au jour
Avant l’aurore;
Et quand le jour s’enfuit,
Ma voix pendant la nuit
T’appelle encore.
Récit
Euridice, Euridice! Ombre chère,
Ah, dans quels lieux es-tu?
Ton époux gémissant, interdit, éperdu
Te demande sans cesse à la nature entière.
Les vents hélas emportent sa prière!
Air
Accablé de regrets,
Je parcours des forêts
La vaste enceinte.
Touché de mon destin,
Pantomime
(of nymphs and shepherds)
Recitative
ORPHEUS
(to his attendants)
Go now. This wood is becoming to my misery,
and I wish to shed tears without being seen.
CHORUS
Ah, in this doleful and sombre wood,
Eurydice, if your spirit
hears us,
be moved by our affliction!
See our unhappiness, see the tears
which are shed for you!
(Orpheus’ train retires with the nymphs
and disperses in the wood.)
3 SCENE II
Air
ORPHEUS
Object of my love,
I call to you
before dawn;
and when day has gone,
my voice all night
still calls for you.
Recitative
Eurydice, Eurydice, beloved spirit,
Ah, where are you?
Your crying, stunned, distraught husband
endlessly seeks you in nature’s realm.
The winds, alas, bear off his prayer!
Air
Overwhelmed with regret,
I roam through
the vastness of the woods.
Touched by my fate,
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 12
8.660185-86 16
DEUXIÈME ACTE
Le théâtre représente l’entrée des enfers: un lieu
caverneux effroyable au-delà du Cocyte,
caché dans le lointain par une fumée ténébreuse.
6 Introduction
SCÈNE 1
Le choeur des spectres et des furies,
Orphée avec sa lyre
LE CHOEUR
Quel est l’audacieux
Qui, dans ces sombres lieux,
Ose porter ses pas
Et devant le trépas
Ne frémit pas?
Air des furies
LE CHOEUR
Quel est l’audacieux, etc.
Que la peur, la terreur
S’emparent de son coeur
A l’affreux hurlement
Du Cerbère écumant
Et rugissant!
Air
ORPHÉE
(il s’approche avec sa lyre)
Laissez-vous toucher par mes pleurs,
Spectres. . .
LE CHOEUR
Non!
ORPHÉE
Larves. . .
LE CHOEUR
Non!
ACT TWO
The entrance of Hades: a grim landscape with
caves beyond the Cocytus, concealed in the
distance by a dark pall of smoke.
6 Introduction
SCENE 1
Chorus of Spirits and Furies,
Orpheus with his lyre
CHORUS
What man so audacious
into this darkness
dares to come
and confronted by death
does not shudder?
Air of the Furies
CHORUS
What man so audacious, etc.
May fear and terror
seize upon his heart
at the frightful roaring
of Cerberus, who rages
and howls!
Air
ORPHEUS
(approaching with his lyre)
Let me move you by my tears,
spectres . . .
CHORUS
No!
ORPHEUS
Frightening ghosts . . .
CHORUS
No!
8.660185-8613
Echo répète en vain
Ma triste plainte.
Récit
Euridice, Euridice! De ce doux nom
Tout retentit, ces bois, ces rochers, ce vallon;
Sur ces troncs dépouillés, sur l’écorce naissante
On lit ces mots gravés par une main tremblante!
Euridice n’est plus, et je respire encor!
Dieux, rendez-lui la vie ou donnez-moi la mort!
Air
Plein de trouble et d’effroi,
Que de maux loin de toi
Mon coeur endure;
Témoin de mes malheurs,
Sensible à mes douleurs,
L’onde murmure
4 Récit
ORPHÉE
Divinités de l’Achéron,
Ministres redoutés de l’empire des Ombres,
Vous qui dans les demeures sombres
Faites exécuter les arrêts de Pluton,
Vous que n’attendrit point la beauté, la jeunesse,
Vous m’avez enlevé l’objet de ma tendresse.
Oh cruel souvenir!
Eh quoi! les grâces de son âge
Du sort le plus affreux n’ont pu la garantir!
Implacable tyrans, je veux vous la ravir!
Je saurai pénétrer jusqu’au sombre rivage.
Mes accents douloureux fléchiront vos rigueurs.
Je me sens assez de courage
Pour braver toutes vos fureurs.
(L’Amour apparaît)
Echo vainly repeats
my sorrowful complaint.
Recitative
Eurydice, Eurydice! With this sweet name
everything echoes; the woods, the rocks, the valley;
on the bare trunks, on the early bark of the trees
can be read this word traced by a trembling hand!
Eurydice is no more, and I still have breath!
O gods, give her back life or bring me death!
Air
Troubled and frightened,
far from you how many pains
my heart endures;
A witness to my misery,
sympathetic to my wretchedness,
the water murmurs.
4 Recitative
ORPHEUS
Divinities of Hades,
fearful ministers of the realm of death,
you who in those gloomy abodes
have Pluto’s decrees carried out,
you whom beauty and youth do not move,
you have taken from me the one I loved.
O, cruel memory!
What? Her tender years
could not protect her from the most dreadful fate!
Implacable tyrants! I will carry her off from you!
I will find my way to the dark shore.
My pleading shall overcome your severity.
I feel courageous enough
to confront your fury.
(Love appears.)
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 16
8.660185-8615
Air
L’AMOUR
Soumis au silence,
Contrains ton désir,
Fais-toi violence;
Bientôt à ce prix tes tourments vont finir.
Tu sais qu’un amant
Discret et fidèle,
Timide et tremblant,
Auprès de sa belle
en est plus touchant.
Soumis au silence, etc.
(Il s’éloigne.)
5 SCENE IV
Récit
ORPHÉE
Impitoyables dieux, qu’exigez-vous de moi!
Comment puis-je obéir à votre injuste loi?
Quoi, j’entendrai sa voix touchante,
Je presserai sa main tremblante
Sans que d’un seul regard. . .
Ô ciel, quelle rigueur!
Eh bien, j’obéirai, je saurai me contraindre,
Et devrais-je encore me plaindre
Lorsque j’obtiens des dieux
la plus grande faveur?
Ariette
L’espoir renaît dans mon âme
pour l’objet qui m’enflamme.
L’Amour accroît ma flamme
je vais revoir ses appas.
L’enfer en vain nous sépare
Les monstres du tartare ne m’épouvantent pas
L’Amour accroît ma flamme.
je vais revoir ses appas.
L’espoir renaît…..
Air
LOVE
Accepting to remain silent,
restrain your love.
Force yourself to obey;
If so, your torments will soon end.
You know that a lover
who is discreet and faithful,
timid and trembling,
is to his beloved
only more touching.
Accepting to remain silent, etc.
(Love withdraws.)
5 SCENE IV
Recitative
ORPHEUS
Pitiless gods, you demand so much of me!
How can I obey your unjust decree?
What? I shall hear her touching voice,
I shall hold her trembling hand
without a single glance at her. . .
Heavens! How demanding!
I will obey! I will constrain myself,
How can I complain
when the gods have granted me
the highest favour?
Ariette
Hope stirs in my soul
for the object of my passion.
Love increases my ardour,
I will again see her charms.
In vain does Hades separate us
Tartarus’ monsters do not frighten me
Love increases my ardor.
I will again see her charms.
Hope stirs. .
8.660185-86 14
SCÈNE III
L’AMOUR
L’Amour vient au secours de l’amant
le plus tendre.
Rassure-toi, les dieux sont touchés de ton sort;
Dans les enfers tu peux descendre.
Va trouver Euridice au séjour de la mort.
Air
L’AMOUR
Si les doux accords de ta lyre,
Si tes accents mélodieux
Appaisent la fureur des tyrans de ces lieux
Tu la ramèneras du ténébreux empire.
ORPHÉE
Dieux, je la reverrais!
L’AMOUR
Si les doux accords de ta lyre, etc.
Récit
ORPHÉE
Dieux, je la reverrais!
L’AMOUR
Oui, mais pour l’obtenir,
Il faut te résoudre à remplir
L’ordre que je vais te prescrire.
ORPHÉE
Ah, qui pourrait me retenir!
A tout mon âme est préparée.
L’AMOUR
Apprends la volonté des dieux:
Sur cette amante adorée,
Garde-toi de porter un regard curieux,
Ou de toi, pour jamais, tu la vois séparée.
Tels sont de Jupiter les suprêmes décrets.
Rends-toi digne de ses bienfaits.
SCENE III
LOVE
Love comes to the help of the most tender heart.
Do not worry, the gods have been moved
by your fate;
You may descend to Hades.
Go and find Eurydice in the sojourn of death.
Air
LOVE
If the sweet music of your lyre,
and your melodious singing
calm the anger of the tyrants of that realm
you will bring her back from the kingdom of darkness.
ORPHEUS
Heavens, I may see her again!
LOVE
If the sweet music of your lyre, etc.
Recitative
ORPHEUS
Heavens, I may see her again!
LOVE
Yes, but to obtain her,
you must resolve to fulfill
the command which I shall give you.
ORPHEUS
Oh, what could hold me back!
I am resolved to do anything.
LOVE
Hear the will of the gods:
towards your true beloved
you must refrain from looking,
or you will be forever separated from her.
Thus does Jupiter decree.
Be worthy of his generosity.
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 14
8.660185-8615
Air
L’AMOUR
Soumis au silence,
Contrains ton désir,
Fais-toi violence;
Bientôt à ce prix tes tourments vont finir.
Tu sais qu’un amant
Discret et fidèle,
Timide et tremblant,
Auprès de sa belle
en est plus touchant.
Soumis au silence, etc.
(Il s’éloigne.)
5 SCENE IV
Récit
ORPHÉE
Impitoyables dieux, qu’exigez-vous de moi!
Comment puis-je obéir à votre injuste loi?
Quoi, j’entendrai sa voix touchante,
Je presserai sa main tremblante
Sans que d’un seul regard. . .
Ô ciel, quelle rigueur!
Eh bien, j’obéirai, je saurai me contraindre,
Et devrais-je encore me plaindre
Lorsque j’obtiens des dieux
la plus grande faveur?
Ariette
L’espoir renaît dans mon âme
pour l’objet qui m’enflamme.
L’Amour accroît ma flamme
je vais revoir ses appas.
L’enfer en vain nous sépare
Les monstres du tartare ne m’épouvantent pas
L’Amour accroît ma flamme.
je vais revoir ses appas.
L’espoir renaît…..
Air
LOVE
Accepting to remain silent,
restrain your love.
Force yourself to obey;
If so, your torments will soon end.
You know that a lover
who is discreet and faithful,
timid and trembling,
is to his beloved
only more touching.
Accepting to remain silent, etc.
(Love withdraws.)
5 SCENE IV
Recitative
ORPHEUS
Pitiless gods, you demand so much of me!
How can I obey your unjust decree?
What? I shall hear her touching voice,
I shall hold her trembling hand
without a single glance at her. . .
Heavens! How demanding!
I will obey! I will constrain myself,
How can I complain
when the gods have granted me
the highest favour?
Ariette
Hope stirs in my soul
for the object of my passion.
Love increases my ardour,
I will again see her charms.
In vain does Hades separate us
Tartarus’ monsters do not frighten me
Love increases my ardor.
I will again see her charms.
Hope stirs. .
8.660185-86 14
SCÈNE III
L’AMOUR
L’Amour vient au secours de l’amant
le plus tendre.
Rassure-toi, les dieux sont touchés de ton sort;
Dans les enfers tu peux descendre.
Va trouver Euridice au séjour de la mort.
Air
L’AMOUR
Si les doux accords de ta lyre,
Si tes accents mélodieux
Appaisent la fureur des tyrans de ces lieux
Tu la ramèneras du ténébreux empire.
ORPHÉE
Dieux, je la reverrais!
L’AMOUR
Si les doux accords de ta lyre, etc.
Récit
ORPHÉE
Dieux, je la reverrais!
L’AMOUR
Oui, mais pour l’obtenir,
Il faut te résoudre à remplir
L’ordre que je vais te prescrire.
ORPHÉE
Ah, qui pourrait me retenir!
A tout mon âme est préparée.
L’AMOUR
Apprends la volonté des dieux:
Sur cette amante adorée,
Garde-toi de porter un regard curieux,
Ou de toi, pour jamais, tu la vois séparée.
Tels sont de Jupiter les suprêmes décrets.
Rends-toi digne de ses bienfaits.
SCENE III
LOVE
Love comes to the help of the most tender heart.
Do not worry, the gods have been moved
by your fate;
You may descend to Hades.
Go and find Eurydice in the sojourn of death.
Air
LOVE
If the sweet music of your lyre,
and your melodious singing
calm the anger of the tyrants of that realm
you will bring her back from the kingdom of darkness.
ORPHEUS
Heavens, I may see her again!
LOVE
If the sweet music of your lyre, etc.
Recitative
ORPHEUS
Heavens, I may see her again!
LOVE
Yes, but to obtain her,
you must resolve to fulfill
the command which I shall give you.
ORPHEUS
Oh, what could hold me back!
I am resolved to do anything.
LOVE
Hear the will of the gods:
towards your true beloved
you must refrain from looking,
or you will be forever separated from her.
Thus does Jupiter decree.
Be worthy of his generosity.
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 14
8.660185-86 16
DEUXIÈME ACTE
Le théâtre représente l’entrée des enfers: un lieu
caverneux effroyable au-delà du Cocyte,
caché dans le lointain par une fumée ténébreuse.
6 Introduction
SCÈNE 1
Le choeur des spectres et des furies,
Orphée avec sa lyre
LE CHOEUR
Quel est l’audacieux
Qui, dans ces sombres lieux,
Ose porter ses pas
Et devant le trépas
Ne frémit pas?
Air des furies
LE CHOEUR
Quel est l’audacieux, etc.
Que la peur, la terreur
S’emparent de son coeur
A l’affreux hurlement
Du Cerbère écumant
Et rugissant!
Air
ORPHÉE
(il s’approche avec sa lyre)
Laissez-vous toucher par mes pleurs,
Spectres. . .
LE CHOEUR
Non!
ORPHÉE
Larves. . .
LE CHOEUR
Non!
ACT TWO
The entrance of Hades: a grim landscape with
caves beyond the Cocytus, concealed in the
distance by a dark pall of smoke.
6 Introduction
SCENE 1
Chorus of Spirits and Furies,
Orpheus with his lyre
CHORUS
What man so audacious
into this darkness
dares to come
and confronted by death
does not shudder?
Air of the Furies
CHORUS
What man so audacious, etc.
May fear and terror
seize upon his heart
at the frightful roaring
of Cerberus, who rages
and howls!
Air
ORPHEUS
(approaching with his lyre)
Let me move you by my tears,
spectres . . .
CHORUS
No!
ORPHEUS
Frightening ghosts . . .
CHORUS
No!
8.660185-8613
Echo répète en vain
Ma triste plainte.
Récit
Euridice, Euridice! De ce doux nom
Tout retentit, ces bois, ces rochers, ce vallon;
Sur ces troncs dépouillés, sur l’écorce naissante
On lit ces mots gravés par une main tremblante!
Euridice n’est plus, et je respire encor!
Dieux, rendez-lui la vie ou donnez-moi la mort!
Air
Plein de trouble et d’effroi,
Que de maux loin de toi
Mon coeur endure;
Témoin de mes malheurs,
Sensible à mes douleurs,
L’onde murmure
4 Récit
ORPHÉE
Divinités de l’Achéron,
Ministres redoutés de l’empire des Ombres,
Vous qui dans les demeures sombres
Faites exécuter les arrêts de Pluton,
Vous que n’attendrit point la beauté, la jeunesse,
Vous m’avez enlevé l’objet de ma tendresse.
Oh cruel souvenir!
Eh quoi! les grâces de son âge
Du sort le plus affreux n’ont pu la garantir!
Implacable tyrans, je veux vous la ravir!
Je saurai pénétrer jusqu’au sombre rivage.
Mes accents douloureux fléchiront vos rigueurs.
Je me sens assez de courage
Pour braver toutes vos fureurs.
(L’Amour apparaît)
Echo vainly repeats
my sorrowful complaint.
Recitative
Eurydice, Eurydice! With this sweet name
everything echoes; the woods, the rocks, the valley;
on the bare trunks, on the early bark of the trees
can be read this word traced by a trembling hand!
Eurydice is no more, and I still have breath!
O gods, give her back life or bring me death!
Air
Troubled and frightened,
far from you how many pains
my heart endures;
A witness to my misery,
sympathetic to my wretchedness,
the water murmurs.
4 Recitative
ORPHEUS
Divinities of Hades,
fearful ministers of the realm of death,
you who in those gloomy abodes
have Pluto’s decrees carried out,
you whom beauty and youth do not move,
you have taken from me the one I loved.
O, cruel memory!
What? Her tender years
could not protect her from the most dreadful fate!
Implacable tyrants! I will carry her off from you!
I will find my way to the dark shore.
My pleading shall overcome your severity.
I feel courageous enough
to confront your fury.
(Love appears.)
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 16
8.660185-8617
ORPHÉE
Ombres terribles. . .
LE CHOEUR
Non!
ORPHÉE
Soyez sensibles
A l’excès de mes malheurs.
LE CHOEUR
Non, non, non!
ORPHÉE
Laissez-vous toucher par mes pleurs, etc.
LE CHOEUR
Qui t’amène en ces lieux,
Mortel présomptueux?
C’est le séjour affreux
Des remords dévorants,
Et des gémissements
Et des tourments.
Qui t’amène en ces lieux, etc.
Air
ORPHÉE
Ah, la flamme qui me dévore
Est cent fois plus cruelle encore.
L’enfer n’a point de tourments
Pareils à ceux que je ressens.
LE CHOEUR
(attendri par le chant d’Orphée)
Par quels puissants accords,
Dans le séjour des morts,
Malgré nos vains efforts,
Il calme la fureur de nos transports.
Par quels puissants accords, etc.
ORPHEUS
Awful shades . . .
CHORUS
No!
ORPHEUS
Give way
to my overwhelming unhappiness.
CHORUS
No, no, no!
ORPHEUS
Let me move you by my tears, etc.
CHORUS
What brings you here,
arrogant mortal?
This is the frightful sojourn
of devouring remorse,
of moaning
and of anguish.
What brings you here, etc.
Air
ORPHEUS
Oh, the fire which devours me
is a hundred times more painful.
Hades has no tortures
like those I feel!
CHORUS
(mollified by Orpheus’ singing)
By what poweful harmonies,
in the realm of the dead,
and despite our vain efforts,
he calms the violence of our hatred.
By what powerful harmonies, etc.
8.660185-86 12
Pantomime
(des nymphes et des bergers)
Récit
ORPHÉE
(à la suite)
Eloignez-vous, ce lieu convient à mes douleurs,
Et je veux sans témoins y répandre des pleurs.
LE CHOEUR
Ah, dans ce bois tranquille et sombre,
Euridice, si ton ombre
Nous entend,
Sois sensible à nos alarmes!
Vois nos peines, vois les larmes
Que pour toi l’on répand!
(La suite d’Orphée se retire avec les nymphes
et ils se dispersent dans le bois.)
3 SCÈNE II
Air
ORPHÉE
Objet de mon amour,
Je te demande au jour
Avant l’aurore;
Et quand le jour s’enfuit,
Ma voix pendant la nuit
T’appelle encore.
Récit
Euridice, Euridice! Ombre chère,
Ah, dans quels lieux es-tu?
Ton époux gémissant, interdit, éperdu
Te demande sans cesse à la nature entière.
Les vents hélas emportent sa prière!
Air
Accablé de regrets,
Je parcours des forêts
La vaste enceinte.
Touché de mon destin,
Pantomime
(of nymphs and shepherds)
Recitative
ORPHEUS
(to his attendants)
Go now. This wood is becoming to my misery,
and I wish to shed tears without being seen.
CHORUS
Ah, in this doleful and sombre wood,
Eurydice, if your spirit
hears us,
be moved by our affliction!
See our unhappiness, see the tears
which are shed for you!
(Orpheus’ train retires with the nymphs
and disperses in the wood.)
3 SCENE II
Air
ORPHEUS
Object of my love,
I call to you
before dawn;
and when day has gone,
my voice all night
still calls for you.
Recitative
Eurydice, Eurydice, beloved spirit,
Ah, where are you?
Your crying, stunned, distraught husband
endlessly seeks you in nature’s realm.
The winds, alas, bear off his prayer!
Air
Overwhelmed with regret,
I roam through
the vastness of the woods.
Touched by my fate,
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 12
8.660185-86 18
Air
ORPHÉE
La tendresse
Qui me presse
Calmera votre fureur.
Oui, mes larmes,
Mes alarmes
Fléchiront votre rigueur.
LE CHOEUR
Quels chants doux et touchants,
Quels accords ravissants!
De si tendres accents
Ont su nous désarmer
Et nous charmer.
Qu’il descende aux enfers,
Les chemins sont ouverts.
Tout cède à la douceur
De son art enchanteur;
Il est vainqueur!
Danse des Furies
(Les portes de l’enfer s’ouvrent: Orphée passe au
milieu des spectres, enchantés par les sons de sa
lyre, et il entre dans les enfers.)
CD 2
1 SCÈNE II
La scène représente les Champs Elysées.
Troupe d’Ombres Heureuses
Danses des Ombres Heureuses
Lent et très doux
Même mouvement
Lent et très doux
Dolce con espressione
Air
ORPHEUS
The tender love
which I feel
will calm your fury.
Yes, my tears,
my unhappiness
will cause your harshness to relent.
CHORUS
What sweet and affecting singing,
What entrancing harmonies!
Such tender sincerity
disarms us
and charms us.
He may enter Hades,
The way lies open.
Everything surrenders to the gentleness
of his bewitching art;
he has conquered!
Dance of the Furies
(The gates of Hades open up; Orpheus passes
through the group of spirits, who are entranced by
the sounds of his lyre, and enters into the
underworld)
CD 2
1 SCENE II
The scene represents the Elysian Fields.
A group of Blessed Spirits.
Dances of the Blessed Spirits
Lent et très doux
Même mouvement
Lent et très doux
Dolce con espressione
8.660185-8611
2 SCENE 1
Orphée, le choeur des bergers et des nymphes
LE CHOEUR
Ah, dans ce bois tranquille et sombre,
Euridice, si ton ombre
Nous entend . . .
ORPHÉE
Euridice!
LE CHOEUR
Sois sensible à nos alarmes!
Vois nos peines, vois les larmes
Que pour toi l’on répand!
ORPHÉE
Euridice!
LE CHOEUR
Ah, prends pitié du malheureux Orphée!
Il soupire, il gémit, il plaint sa destinée.
ORPHÉE
Euridice!
LE CHOEUR
L’amoureuse tourterelle,
toujours tendre, toujours fidèle,
Ainsi soupire et meurt
De douleur.
Récit
ORPHÉE
Vos plaintes, vos regrets
augmentent mon supplice!
Aux mânes sacrés d’Euridice
Rendez les suprêmes honneurs
Et couvrez son tombeau de fleurs.
2 SCENE 1
Orpheus, Chorus of Shepherds and Nymphs
CHORUS
Ah, in this tranquil, sombre wood,
Eurydice, if your spirit
hears us . . . .
ORPHEUS
Eurydice!
CHORUS
Be moved by our affliction!
See our unhappiness, see the tears
which are shed for you!
ORPHEUS
Eurydice!
CHORUS
Ah, take pity on the unfortunate Orpheus!
He sighs, he moans, he bewails his fate.
ORPHEUS
Eurydice!
CHORUS
The loving turtle-dove,
ever tender, ever faithful,
sighs thus and dies
of sorrow.
Recitative
ORPHEUS
Your lamentations and your regrets
increase my torment!
To the sacred spirit of Eurydice
render the highest honour
and cover her tomb with flowers.
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8.660185-8619
Air avec Choeur
UNE OMBRE HEUREUSE
Cet asile,
Aimable et tranquille,
Par le bonheur est habité.
C’est le riant séjour de la félicité.
Nul objet ici n’enflamme
L’âme.
Une douce ivresse
Laisse
Un calme heureux dans tous les sens;
Et la sombre tristesse
Cesse
Dans ces lieux innocents.
CHOEUR DES OMBRES HEUREUSES
Cet asile, etc.
(Les Ombres s’éloignent. Orphée entre)
2 SCÈNE III
Air
ORPHÉE
Quel nouveau ciel pare les lieux!
Un jour plus doux s’offre à mes yeux.
Quels sons harmonieux!
J’entends retentir ce bocage
Du ramage
Des oiseaux,
Du murure des ruisseaux
Et des soupirs de Zéphyre.
On goûte en ce séjour un éternel repos.
Mais le calme qu’on y respire
Ne saurait adoucir mes maux.
Chère épouse, objet de ma flamme,
Toi seule y peux calmer le trouble de mon âme!
Tes accents,
Tendres et touchants,
Tes regards séduisants,
Ton doux sourire
Sont les seuls biens que je désire.
Air with Chorus
A BLESSED SPIRIT (EURYDICE)
In this refuge,
pleasant and tranquil,
happiness dwells.
Happiness reigns in this agreeable place.
Here nothing troubles
the soul.
A sweet exhilaration
leaves
a happy calmness in all the senses;
and sombre sadness
ceases
in this guiltless place.
CHORUS OF BLESSED SPIRITS
In this refuge, etc.
(The Spirits withdraw. Orpheus enters.)
2 SCENE III
Air
ORPHEUS
What a pure sky adorns this realm!
Here a softer light meets my eyes!
What harmony!
From this coppice come the sounds
of the warbling
of birds,
of the murmur of brooks
and of the sighs of the breeze.
In this place one can enjoy eternal rest.
But the calm which I breathe here
cannot alleviate my pain.
Dear Wife, object of my passion,
only you can quiet the confusion of my soul!
Your voice,
so tender and touching,
your gentle glances,
and your sweet smile
are all that I desire.
8.660185-86 10
ARGUMENT
(tel qu’il figure dans la partition originale)
La Fable d’Orphée et d’Euridice est assez connüe pour
ne pas entrer dans un long détail à cet objet. Les Poëtes
nous ont appris qu’Euridice mourut dans les
Campagnes de Thrace de la morsure d’un Serpent
quelques jours après son mariage avec Orphée.
Pour conserver l’unité de lieu dans ce Poëme, on
suppose qu’elle est morte et ensevelie dans une
Campagne voisine du Lac d’Averne qui conduit à
l’entrée des Enfers. Les Dieux touchés du désespoir
d’Orphée lui permettent de pénétrer dans les Champs
Elysées pour en retirer Euridice à condition qu’il ne la
regarderoit point qu’il ne soit de retour sur la terre.
Orphée avant de sortir des Enfers pressé par la violence
de son Amour oublie la loy qui lui est imposée et donne
la mort à Euridice en osant la regarder.
Pour adapter cette Fable à notre Scène on a été obligé
de changer la catastrophe, et d’y ajouter l’épisode de
l’Amour qui réunit les Epoux. Ovide rapporte ce sujet
dans le X. livre de ses Métamorphoses; Virgile en fait
mention dans le quatrième chant de ses Géorgiques, et
dans le sixième de son Eneïde.
CD 1
1 Ouverture
Un bois agréable et solitaire
où se trouve le tombeau d’Euridice.
PREMIER ACTE
La scène est occupée par les bergers et les
nymphes de la suite d’Euridice qui, derrière
Orphée, portent des couronnes de fleurs et des
guirlandes de myrte. D’autres brûlent des
parfums, recouvrent le tombeau de couronnes et
jettent des fleurs sur le marbre.
THE STORY
(here translated from the original score)
The Fable of Orpheus and Eurydice is well enough
known to avoid our entering into great detail about it.
The Poets tell us that Eurydice died in the Thracian
Countryside from the bite of a Serpent several days
after her marriage to Orpheus.
To retain the unity of place in this Poem, it is supposed
that she is dead and buried in the Countryside near Lake
Avernus, which leads to the entrance of Hades. The
Gods are touched by Orpheus’ despair and permit him
to enter the Elysian Fields to take Eurydice away — on
the condition that he not look at her until he has
returned to earth. Before leaving Hades, Orpheus is so
moved by his intense Passion that he forgets the law
which had been imposed on him and causes Eurydice to
die by daring to look at her.
To adapt this Fable to our Stage, it has been necessary
to change the catastrophe and to add the episode in
which Love reunites Husband and Wife. Ovid treats
this subject in the 10th Book of his Metamorphoses;
Virgil mentions it in the Fourth Canto of his Georgica
and in the Sixth of his Aeneid.
CD 1
1 Overture
A solitary, agreeable wood,
with the tomb of Eurydice
ACT ONE
The stage is filled with shepherds and nymphs
from Eurydice’s train, who, walking behind
Orpheus carry floral wreaths and some garlands
of myrtle. Others burn fragrances, cover the tomb
with wreaths and throw flowers onto the marble.
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 10
8.660185-86 20
CHOEUR DES OMBRES HEUREUSES
(entrant sur scène)
Viens dans ce séjour paisible,
Époux tendre, amant sensible.
Viens bannir tes justes regrets.
Euridice va paraître,
Euridice va renaître
Avec de nouveaux attraits.
Danse des Ombres Heureuses
Récit et Choeur
ORPHÉE
Ô vous, ombres que j’implore,
Hâtez-vous de la rendre à mes empressements!
Ah, si vous ressentiez le feu qui me dévore,
Je jouirais déjà de ses embrassements.
Offrez à mes désirs la beauté que j’adore!
Hâtez-vous de me rendre heureux!
CHOEUR DES OMBRES HEUREUSES
Le destin répond à tes voeux.
SCÈNE IV
(Euridice entre.)
CHOEUR DES OMBRES HEUREUSES
(à Euridice)
Près du tendre objet qu’on aime
On jouit du bien suprême.
Goûtez le sort le plus doux,
Va renaître pour Orphée;
On retrouve l’Elysée
Auprès d’un si tendre époux.
(Le choeur conduit Euridice auprès d’Orphée,
lequel prend sa main et l’entraîne.)
CHORUS OF BLESSED SPIRITS
(entering)
Come into this peaceful abode,
tender husband, kind lover.
Rid yourself of all regrets.
Eurydice is about to appear,
Eurydice will live again
even more beautiful than before.
Dance of the Blessed Spirits
Recitative and Chorus
ORPHEUS
Oh, spirits whom I implore,
by my entreaties return her quickly!
Ah, if you felt the fire devouring me,
I would already be enjoying her affections.
Fulfill my longing for the beauty I love!
Hasten to make me happy once more!
CHORUS OF THE BLESSED SPIRITS
Destiny answers your wishes.
SCENE IV
(Eurydice enters)
CHORUS OF BLESSED SPIRITS
(to Eurydice)
Near the tender object of one’s love
one feels the highest bliss.
Enjoy the happiest fate,
live again for Orpheus;
One finds Elysium again
with such a tender husband.
(The chorus lead Eurydice to Orpheus,
who takes her hand and leads her away.)
.
8.660185-869
CD 1
1 Ouverture
ACTE PREMIER
SCÈNE I
2 Choeur Ah! Dans ce bois
Récit Vos plaintes, vos regrets (Orphée)
Pantomime
Récit Eloignez-vous (Orphée)
Choeur Ah! Dans ce bois
SCÈNE II
3 Air Objet de mon amour! (Orphée)
Récit Euridice! Euridice! (Orphée)
Air Accablé de regrets (Orphée)
Récit Euridice! Euridice! (Orphée)
Air Plein de trouble et d’effroi (Orphée)
4 Récit Divinités de l’Achéron (Orphée)
SCÈNE III
Récit L’Amour vient au secours (L’Amour)
Air Si les doux accords de ta lyre
(L’Amour, Orphée)
Air Soumis au silence (L’Amour)
5 SCÈNE IV
Récit Impitoyables Dieux! (Orphée)
Ariette L’espoir renaît dans mon âme (Orphée)
ACTE DEUXIEME
SCÈNE I
6 Maestoso
Prélude
Choeur Quel est l’audacieux
Air de Furie
Choeur Quel est l’audacieux
Orphée et Choeur Laissez vous toucher
Choeur Qui t’amène en ces lieux
Air Ah! La flamme qui me dévore (Orphée)
Choeur Par quels puissants accords
Air La tendresse qui me presse (Orphée)
Choeur Quels chants doux et touchants!
Air de Furies
CD 2
SCÈNE II
1 Ballet des Ombres heureuses
Air Cet asile aimable (Euridice, Choeur)
Danse des Héros et Héroïnes
SCÈNE III
2 Récit Quel nouveau ciel (Orphée)
Choeur Viens dans ce séjour paisible
Danse des Ombres Heureuses
Orphée et Choeur O vous ombres
SCENE IV
Choeur Près du tendre objet qu’on aime
ACTE TROISIEME
SCÈNE I
3 Récit Viens, viens, Euridice (Orphée, Euridice)
Duo Viens, suis un époux qui t’adore
(Orphée, Euridice)
Récit Mais, d’où vient qu’il persiste (Euridice)
Air Fortune ennemie (Euridice)
Duo Je goûtais les charmes (Euridice, Orphée)
Air Fortune ennemie (Euridice)
Récit Quelle épreuve cruelle! (Orphée, Euridice)
Air J’ai perdu mon Euridice (Orphée)
4 Récit Ah! Puisse ma douleur (Orphée)
SCÈNE II
Récit Arrête, Orphée!
(L’Amour, Orphée, Euridice)
SCÈNE DERNIERE
Choeur L’Amour triomphe
(Orphée, L’Amour, Euridice)
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 20
8.660185-8621
TROISIÈME ACTE
Une caverne sombre, en forme de labyrinthe,
couverte de rochers et de plantes sauvages,
qui conduit hors des enfers
3 SCÈNE I
Récit
ORPHÉE
(conduisant Euridice sans la regarder)
Viens, viens, Euridice, suis-moi,
Du plus constant amour, objet unique et tendre.
EURIDICE
C’est toi. . . je te vois!
Ciel, devais-je m’attendre. . .
ORPHÉE
Oui, tu vois ton époux: c’est moi: je vis encore
Et je viens t’arracher au séjour de la mort.
Touché de mon ardeur fidèle,
Jupiter au jour te rappelle.
EURIDICE
Quoi, je vis! et pour toi?
Ah, grands dieux, quel bonheur!
ORPHÉE
Euridice, suis-moi. . .
Hâtons-nous de jouir de la faveur céleste.
Sortons de ce séjour funeste.
Non, tu n’es plus une ombre
Et le dieu des amours
Va nous réunir pour toujours!
EURIDICE
Qu’entends-je! Ah, se peut-il?
Heureuse destinée!
Eh quoi, nous pourrons resserrer
Les noeuds d’amour et d’hyménée.
ORPHÉE
Oui, suis mes pas sans différer.
ACT THREE
A dark cavern leading out of Hades.
It is in the form of a labyrinth and is covered
by rocks and wild plants.
3 SCENE 1
Recitative
ORPHEUS
(leading Euridice, without looking at her)
Come, come, follow me, Euridice,
only object of my constant love.
EURIDICE
It is you . . . I see you!
Heavens, how I am moved . . .
ORPHEUS
Yes, you see your husband, I am still alive
and I have come to take you from the realm of death.
Touched by my faithful ardour,
Jupiter allows you to return to life.
EURIDICE
What? I live! and for you?
Ah, kind gods, what happiness!
ORPHEUS
Euridice, follow me . . .
Let us hasten, while the gods favour us.
Let us leave this evil place.
You are no longer a shade
and the god of love
will reunite us forever!
EURIDICE
What do I hear! Ah, can it be?
Happy destiny!
What, we can tie once more
the bonds of Amor and of Hymen?
ORPHEUS
Yes. Follow me quickly.
8.660185-86 8
VIOLIN I
Claire Jolivet,
concertmaster
Nina Falk †
Alexandra Eddy
Christof Richter
Risa Browder
VIOLIN II
Elizabeth Field *
June Huang †
Melissa Dougherty
Sarah Wetherbee
VIOLA
Anthony Martin *
Peter Bucknell
Scott McCormack †
VIOLONCELLO
Loretta O’Sullivan *
John Moran
Nancy Jo Snider †
BASS
Anne Trout
FLUTE
Colin St. Martin
Kathryn Roth
OBOE
Geoffrey Burgess †
Sarah Davol
CLARINET
Nina Stern
Robert Adelson
BASSOON
James Bolyard
Marilyn Boenau
HORN
Richard Sarasinoff
Linda Dempf
TRUMPET
Barry Bauguess
Stanley Curtis
TROMBONE
Terry Pierce
Greg Ingles
Mack Ramsey
TIMPANI and
PERCUSSION
Thomas Jones
HARP
Alison Attar
HARPSICHORD
Andrew Appel
* Principal
† Second Orchestra
Nancy Jo Snider,
orchestra personnel
manager
SOPRANO
Kathryn Aaron
Gisèle Becker
Susan Bender
Joan McFarland
ALTO
Marta Kirilloff Barber
Marjorie Bunday
Roger Issacs
TENOR
Wayne Glass
Tony Boutté
Michael Harrison
BASS
Charles Bowers
William Brubeck
Steven Combs
Guy Lushin
Michael Harrison,
chorus personnel
mananger
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 8
8.660185-86 22
EURIDICE
Mais, par ta main, ma main n’est plus pressée. . .
Quoi, tu fuis ces regards que tu chérissais tant!
Ton coeur pour Euridice est-il indifférent?
La fraîcheur de mes traits serait-elle effacée?
ORPHÉE
(Ô dieux, quelle contrainte!)
Euridice, suis-moi. . .
Fuyons de ces lieux, le temps presse.
Je voudrais t’exprimer l’exès de ma tendresse. . .
(Je ne le puis, ô trop funeste loi!)
EURIDICE
Un seul de tes regards. . .
ORPHÉE
Tu me glaces d’effroi!
EURIDICE
Ah, barbare!
Sont-ce là les douceurs que ton coeur me prépare?
Est-ce donc là le prix de mon amour?
Ô fortune jalouse!
Orphée, hélas, se refuse en ce jour
Aux transports innocents de sa fidèle épouse.
ORPHÉE
Par tes soupçons, cesse de m’outrager!
EURIDICE
Tu me rends à la vie, et c’est pour m’affliger!
Dieux, reprenez un bienfait que j’abhorre!
Ah, cruel époux, laisse-moi!
Duo
ORPHÉE
Viens, suis un époux qui t’adore.
EURIDICE
Non, ingrat, je préfère encore
La mort qui m’éloigne de toi!
EURIDICE
But you are no longer holding my hand . . .
What, you avoid the glances which once you loved!
Is your heart indifferent to Euridice?
Has the bloom of my youth faded?
ORPHEUS
(O gods! How I must restrain myself!)
Euridice, follow me . . .
Let us flee this place, time is passing.
I wish I could express my love. . .
(I cannot! Oh, harsh decree!)
EURIDICE
A single glance from you . . .
ORPHEUS
You make me shudder!
EURIDICE
Barbarian!
Is this the gentleness which your heart will grant me?
Is this then the reward for my love?
Oh jealous Fortune!
Orpheus, alas, refuses
the innocent love of his faithful wife.
ORPHEUS
Cease to insult me with your suspicions!
EURIDICE
You give me life again only to make me suffer!
Gods, take back your generous gift. I now abhor it!
Cruel husband, leave me!
Duo
ORPHEUS
Come, follow the husband who loves you.
EURIDICE
No, ungrateful one! I prefer
death, which separates me from you!
8.660185-867
Suzie Le Blanc
The soprano Suzie LeBlanc has established a distinguished career specialising in music of the baroque and classical
periods. Her schedule is an enviable mix of concert and opera performances, festival appearances and recording
projects both on video and for the CD market. She has been involved in a number of critically acclaimed productions
including Sartorio’s Orfeo, a recording awarded the Cini prize for Best Opera CD of 1999, Poppea in Monteverdi’s
L’incoronazione di Poppea for Opéra de Montréal, and the same composer’s Orfeo for Netherlands Opera, the Vienna
Konzerthaus and Festival Vancouver. Solicited by some of the most distinguished period orchestras, she has performed
with Teatro Lirico, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, La Petite Bande, Tafelmusik, Musica Antiqua Köln, the Australian
Brandenburg Orchestra, NY Collegium, l’Académie Baroque de Montréal (which she founded in 2001), as well as with
Les Violons du Roy, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Orchestra of Montreal. In the more
intimate setting of chamber music, she performs and records with Tragicomedia, Les Voix Humaines, the Purcell
Quartet, Theatre of Early Music and forms a duo with the lutenist Stephen Stubbs, with whom she has recorded several
discs. Her impressive discography, ranging from medieval to contemporary music, includes Handel’s Gloria with
l’Académie Baroque de Montréal, Bach’s Coffee and Peasant Cantatas with Tafelmusik, Vivaldi motets with Teatro
Lirico (awarded Best Canadian Vocal recording by Opus Magazine), Amour Cruel, French airs de cour with Stephen
Stubbs and Les Voix Humaines (awarded the Prix Opus for the Early Music Recording of the Year 2000).
Opera Lafayette
In 1994 the Artistic Director Ryan Brown founded The Violins of Lafayette, a Washington DC-based periodinstrument
ensemble dedicated to the great wealth of music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In its
opening season, VOL produced a series of chamber concerts in the Salon Doré, an eighteenth-century drawing-room
in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. In the following seasons the ensemble grew to produce larger works such as Rebel’s
Les Eléments and concerti grossi of Handel and Corelli. Collaborations resulted in performances of the complete
Brandenburg Concertos of Bach with Dumbarton Concerts as well as a programme of Purcell’s theatrical music with
texts by Congreve, Shakespeare, and Dryden with the Olney Theatre. VOL also produced a programme of sacred music
by Schmelzer and Biber in collaboration with the Choir of St Ignatius Loyola in New York and at the Austrian Embassy
in Washington, and an orchestral concert of works by Rameau, J.C. Bach, Mozart, and Gluck at the Embassy of France.
As part of its artistic development, The Violins of Lafayette has given particular attention to performances of opera,
both semi-staged and in concert. In 1998 VOL produced Charpentier’s Actéon, and in 1999, in the statuary hall of the
Corcoran Gallery, Rameau’s Pygmalion. This performance featured both the tenor Jean-Paul Fouchécourt and dancerchoreographer
Catherine Turocy, and the critical response to the quality and individuality of the opera was exceptional.
Subsequently VOL invited both artists, along with the NY Baroque Dance Company and many other distinguished
singers to collaborate with the ensemble on Lully’s opera-ballet Acis et Galatée, an event that won critical praise. In
the same year VOL complemented this production with Handel’s Acis and Galatea in collaboration with The Four
Nations Ensemble. In 2001, encouraged by its success in presenting opera and recognizing an opportunity to present
this literature on both coasts, The Violins of Lafayette and The Redwoods Festival, a summer festival in Sonoma
County, California, joined as one organization called Opera Lafayette. In its first season Opera Lafayette and guests
from Le Neon Theatre produced a programme that included scenes from Charpentier and Molière’s comedy Le malade
imaginaire. In early 2002 Opera Lafayette produced the 1774 Paris version of Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice in
collaboration with the new Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Maryland. Opera
Lafayette’s début recording is of this version of Gluck’s masterpiece. In 2003 Opera Lafayette produced Rameau’s
Hippolyte et Aricie, again to high praise, and in 2004, Haydn’s Il mondo della luna, with staging by Leon Major and
featuring François Loup, also to great critical acclaim.
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 22
8.660185-8623
ORPHÉE
Vois ma peine!
EURIDICE
Laisse Euridice!
ORPHÉE
Ah, cruelle, quelle injustice!
Je suivrai toujours tes pas!
EURIDICE
Parle, contente mon envie!
ORPHÉE
Dût-il m’en coûter la vie,
Non je ne parlerai pas.
EURIDICE, ORPHÉE
(chacun à part)
Dieux, soyez-moi favorables!
Voyez mes pleurs,
Dieux secourables!
Quels tourments insupportables,
Quelles rigueurs
Mêlez-vous à vos faveurs.
EURIDICE
Parle, etc.
ORPHÉE
Dût-il m’en coûter la vie, etc.
Récit
EURIDICE
Mais d’où vient qu’il obstine à garder le silence?
Quels secrets veut-il me cacher?
Au séjour du repos devait-il m’arracher
Pour m’accabler de son indifférence!
Ô destin rigoureux!
Ma force m’abandonne.
Le voile de la mort retombe sur mes yeux;
Je frémis, je languis,
ORPHEUS
See how miserable I am!
EURIDICE
Leave Euridice!
ORPHEUS
Ah, cruel one, what injustice!
I will always follow your steps!
EURIDICE
Speak, fulfill my desire!
ORPHEUS
Even at the cost of my life,
I will not speak!
EURIDICE, ORPHEUS
(together, aside)
Gods, be favourable to me!
See my tears,
gracious gods!
What unbearable torture,
what severity
come with your favours.
EURIDICE
Speak, etc.
ORPHEUS
Even at the cost of my life, etc.
Recitative
EURIDICE
But why does he remain so obstinately silent?
What secrets is he trying to hide from me?
Did he have to tear me from the sojourn of rest
only to afflict me with his indifference!
Oh, cruel destiny!
My strength is leaving me.
The veil of death is falling once more across my eyes;
I shiver, I languish,
8.660185-86 6
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt is known as a tenor, but his work in the Baroque repertoire also qualifies him as an exponent
of haut-contre. After studying the classical saxophone and conducting, he decided to become a singer after taking
part in a workshop with Cathy Berberian. William Christie invited him to join his ensemble Les Arts Florissants in
1986, and with that ensemble he appeared in concerts in Europe and the United States, the Soviet Union, South
America, Australia and Japan, and made many recordings. Many of the highlights of Jean-Paul Fouchécourt’s career
thus far have come from his appearances with Marc Minkowsky and his Musiciens du Louvre. These include the
principal rôles of Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, Mondonville’s Titon et l’Aurore, Lully’s Acis et Galatée and
Handel’s Resurrezione. He has also sung with other Baroque ensembles, directed by Philippe Herreweghe, René
Jacobs, Sigiswald Kuijken, Nicholas McGegan, Hervé Niquet and Christophe Rousset. His gradually expanded
repertoire includes such composers as Berlioz, Britten, Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov and Szymanowski, and he has also
been invited to sing with such conductors as Franz Brüggen, Myung-Wun Chung, Andrew Davis, Charles Dutoit,
John Eliot Gardiner, James Levine, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, Michel Plasson, Simon Rattle,
G. Rozhdestvensky and many others. On stage his most important rôles have included Rameau’s Platée, Arnalta in
Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, the husband in Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, the four servants in
Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann, Bardolfo in Verdi’s Falstaff and Goro in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, a rôle which
he has performed with leading international opera companies including Covent Garden, the Paris Opéra, the
Metropolitan Opera of New York, New York City Opera, Netherlands Opera, Geneva Opera, and the Festivals of
Salzburg, Edinburgh and Aix-en- Provence. He has also performed opera in concert with the orchestra of Saito
Kinen (Japan), the Boston Symphony, the National Orchestra of France, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio
France, and the Berlin Philharmonic. Jean-Paul Fouchécourt devotes a large part of his time to French song, from
the baroque Air de cour and classical Romance to the romantic mélodie, and has performed in recital in France and
abroad, including Warsaw, Abu Dhabi, Moscow, Caracas, San Francisco, Tokyo, New York and London. His
discography already includes some 75 recordings. He has been honoured as a Chevalier dans l’ordre national du
mérite by the French Government.
Catherine Dubosc
Catherine Dubosc has appeared on the major French stages, the Opéra Comique, Théâtre du Châtelet, Théâtre des
Champs-Elysées, Opéra de Strasbourg, Toulouse, Nice, Opéra de Montpellier, and at the Aix-en-Provence, Vaisonla-Romaine,
Saint-Denis, La Chaise Dieu, Innsbruck and Edinburgh festivals. She has sung under many famous
conductors, including John Eliot Gardiner, René Jacobs, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Harry Christophers, Semyon
Bychkov, Charles Dutoit, Sylvain Cambreling and Christoph Eschenbach. Recent performances include the rôle of
the child in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges in concert at the London Royal Albert Hall and La Vierge by Massenet
at the Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona. She made her début as Musette in La Bohème with the Netherlands Opera and
was heard in L’enfant et les sortilèges in Santiago de Compostela. In Tours and Rennes she appeared in Gluck’s
Orphée et Euridice. She sang a series of concert performances of L’enfant et les sortilèges and Le rossignol with the
Fribourg SWR and Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil with the Wiener Klangforum in Vienna and Graz. She also
performed Orphée aux enfers in Cologne.
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 6
8.660185-86 24
Je frissonne, je tremble, je pâlis;
Mon coeur palpite,
Un trouble secret m’agite.
Tous mes sens sont saisis d’horreur
Et je succombe à ma douleur.
Air et Duo
EURIDICE
Fortune ennemie,
Quelle barbarie!
Ne me rends-tu la vie
Que pour les tourments?
Fortune ennemie, etc.
Je goûtais les charmes
D’un repos sans alarmes.
ORPHÉE
Ses injustes soupçons
Redoublent mes tourments.
Que dire, que faire?
Elle me désespère!
EURIDICE
Le trouble, les larmes
Remplissent aujourd’hui
Mes malheureux moments.
Je goûtais les charmes, etc.
ORPHÉE
Ne pourrais-je calmer
Le trouble de ses sens?
Que mon sort est à plaindre,
Je ne puis me contraindre.
EURIDICE
Je frissonne, je tremble!
Fortune ennemie, etc.
I shudder, I tremble, I blanch;
my heart throbs,
a secret confusion agitates me.
All my senses are horror-stricken
and I am overcome by grief.
Air and Duet
EURIDICE
Oh, unkind fortune,
what ruthlessness!
Are you giving me back life
only so that I may suffer?
Oh, unkind Fortune, etc.
I was enjoying
an untroubled happiness.
ORPHEUS
Her unjust suspicions
increase my torment.
What shall I say? What shall I do?
She is driving me to despair!
EURIDICE
Afflictions, tears
today fill
my unhappy moments.
I was enjoying, etc.
ORPHEUS
Can I not calm
her troubled mind?
How piteous is my fate,
I cannot bear it.
EURIDICE
I shudder, I tremble!
Oh, unkind fortune, etc.
8.660185-865
4 Now he only wants to follow her back to Hades, to
join her in death.
Scene 2
As he is about to kill himself, Love intervenes, disarming
him and bringing a reward for his love and constancy.
Eurydice shall live again, and she comes to life again,
waking as from a deep sleep. They are now re-united.
Scene 3
At a sign from Love the scene changes to the temple of
Love, where nymphs and shepherds celebrate the return
of Eurydice, joined in their rejoicing by Orpheus.
Synopsis and additional note by Keith Anderson
Opera Lafayette would like to extend its thanks to the following people for their extraordinary support of this
debut recording:
The Ambassador and Mrs. Francois Bujon de l’Estang
Sandra and Tom Jordan and the Jordan Vineyard and Winery
Mike and Foster Beigler
Bill and Cari Gradison
G. Lewis and Ingrid B. Meyer
Melissa Monson and Monson Communications LLC
Opera Lafayette also extends its thanks to all of its supporters who have given of themselves in countless ways in
order that our work can continue to flourish. Among the institutions who have provided major support to the
ensemble are The Florence Gould Foundation, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, The Helen
Sperry Lea Foundation, and The Marpat Foundation, Cogema, Inc., and Suzan Reed Graphics.
Opera Lafayette is indebted to the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts and to the Inn and Conference
Center at the University of Maryland for their assistance in making this project possible.
Naxos Radio
70 Channels of Classical Music • Jazz, Folk/World, Nostalgia
Accessible Anywhere, Anytime • Near-CD Quality
www.naxosradio.com
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 24
8.660185-8625
Récit
ORPHÉE
(Quelle épreuve cruelle!)
EURIDICE
Tu m’abandonnes, cher Orphée!
En ce moment ton épouse désolée
Implore en vain ton secours!
Ô dieux, à vous seuls j’ai recours!
Dois-je finir mes jours
Sans un regard de ce que jaime?
ORPHÉE
(Je sens mon courage expirer
Et ma raison se perd.
Dans mon amour extrême
J’oublie et la défense, Euridice et moi-même.
Ciel!)
(Il fait un mouvement pour se retourner
et tout à coup se retient.)
EURIDICE
Cher époux, je puis à peine respirer.
ORPHÉE
Rassure-toi, je vais tout dire.
Apprends. . .
(Que fais-je? Justes dieux,
Quand finirez-vous mon martyre?)
EURIDICE
Reçois donc mes derniers adieux,
Et souviens-toi d’Euridice. . .
ORPHÉE
(Où suis-je? Je ne puis résister à ses pleurs.)
Non, le ciel ne veut pas un plus grand sacrifice!
Ô ma chère Euridice!
(Il se retourne impétueusement.)
EURIDICE
Orphée, ô ciel, je meurs!
Recitative
ORPHEUS
(What cruel tribulation!)
EURIDICE
You are forsaking me, dear Orpheus!
In this moment your wretched wife
begs in vain for your help!
O gods, you are my only refuge!
Must I end my days
without one look from the object of my love?
ORPHEUS
(I feel my courage dying,
and I am losing my reason.
In the passion of my love
I am forgetting the decree, Euridice, and myself.
Heavens!)
(He starts to turn around
and suddenly stops himself)
EURIDICE
Dear husband, I can scarcely breathe.
ORPHEUS
Console yourself, I shall tell you everything.
It happened that . . .
(What am I doing? O gods,
When will you end my martyrdom?)
EURIDICE
Receive then my last farewell,
and remember Euridice . . .
ORPHEUS
(Where am I? I cannot bear her tears.)
No, the gods do not require such a sacrifice!
O my beloved Euridice!
(He turns around impetuously)
EURIDICE
Orpheus, heavens, I’m dying!
8.660185-86 4
CD 1
1 The overture touches briefly on something of the
drama to come.
ACT I
Scene 1
2 Solemn music at the rise of the curtain reveals a
lonely grove of laurels and cypresses, with the tomb of
Eurydice, around which nymphs and shepherds lament,
while Orpheus calls on his beloved. He bids his
companions to desist and leave him alone to mourn. The
nymphs and shepherds disperse.
Scene 2
3 Orpheus calls out the name of his beloved Eurydice,
weeping for her loss.
4 He bitterly inveighs against the powers of the
Underworld.
Scene 3
The god of Love appears, offering help. Orpheus will be
allowed to bring Eurydice back from the dead, if he can,
with his music, placate the furies and spirits of Hades. In
bringing her back, he must not turn to look at her, as she
follows him back to the land of the living, nor may he
explain to her the reason for his actions. Love urges
Orpheus to follow this decree, reminding him that his
suffering will be transitory and that lovers are sometimes
without words.
Scene 4
5 Orpheus now has hope again, but foresees the
difficulties he will encounter in vuew of the restrictions
placed upon him.
ACT II
Scene 1
6 The scene is set in the dreaded caverns of Hades.
Furies and spectres dance their infernal dance, interrupted
by the sound of the lyre of Orpheus. The spirits seek to
know who dares to enter Hades. Orpheus pleads with
them, but they are adamant, and repeat their question,
asking why he has come. Orpheus seeks to calm the
Furies and spirits, who are partially placated by his pleas,
and give way, allowing Orpheus to enter the gates of their
realm. They dance, and Orpheus passes through the gates.
CD 2
Scene 2
1 The scene changes to a verdant countryside,
meadows covered in flowers, arbours and murmuring
streams. Orpheus is joined by the blessed spirits, who
dance.
Scene 3
2 Orpheus delights in the scene, but Elysium is not for
him: his paradise is Eurydice, whom he now seeks. The
spirits praise Orpheus, and promise that Euridice will
soon be with him again.
Scene 4
The spiritis lead Eurydice in. Orpheus takes her hand and
leads her away.
ACT III
Scene 1
3 Orpheus leads Eurydice on the path to the upper
world, always without looking at her. She is at first
delighted and then puzzled and angry at the failure of her
husband to embrace her or even look at her. He remains
steadfast, still leading her on. Both are distressed by the
situation, Eurydice by her husband’s seemingly unfeeling
behaviour, and Orpheus by her importunity. Eurydice
foresees future unhappiness and declares herself now
unused to the troubles of humanity. She pleads with
Orpheus, who finally can resist no longer. He turns to
look at her, and she dies, leaving him to lament the second
death of his beloved.
Synopsis
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 4
8.660185-86 26
ORPHÉE
Malheureux, qu’ai-je fait!
Et dans quel précipice
M’a plongé mon funeste amour!
Chère épouse. . .Euridice!
Euridice. . . chère épouse!
Elle ne m’entend plus, je la perds sans retour!
C’est moi qui lui ravis le jour!
Loi fatale!
Cruel remords!
Ma peine est sans égale,
Dans ce moment funeste,
Le désespoir, la mort
Est tout ce qui me reste.
Air
ORPHÉE
J’ai perdu mon Euridice,
Rien n’égale mon malheur.
Sort cruel, quelle rigueur!
rien n’égale mon malheur.
Je succombe à ma douleur.
Euridice. . .Euridice. . .
Réponds-moi, quel supplice!
C’est ton époux fidèle;
Entends ma voix qui t’appelle. . .
J’ai perdu mon Euridice, etc.
Euridice. . .Euridice. . .
Mortel silence, vaine espérance,
Quelle souffrance!
Quel tourment déchire mon coeur!
J’ai perdu mon Euridice, etc.
4 Récit
ORPHÉE
Ah, puisse ma douleur finir avec ma vie!
Je ne survivrai pas à ce dernier revers.
Je touche encore aux portes des enfers;
J’aurais bientôt rejoint mon épouse chérie.
ORPHEUS
Wretched man, what have I done!
Over what precipice
has my tragic love thrown me!
Dear wife . . . Euridice!
Euridice . . . dear wife!
She no longer hears me. I have lost her forever!
It was I who took away her life!
Fatal decree!
Cruel remorse!
My pain is unequalled,
In this tragic moment
despair and death
are all that remain for me.
Air
ORPHEUS
I have lost my Euridice,
Nothing equals my despair.
Cruel fate, what severity!
Nothing equals my despair.
I am overwhelmed by grief.
Euridice . . . Euridice . . .
Answer me, what torture!
I am your faithful husband;
Listen to my voice calling you. . .
I have lost my Euridice, etc.
Euridice. . . Euridice. . .
Deathly silence, vain hope,
what suffering!
What torment tears my heart!
I have lost my Euridice, etc.
4 Recitative
ORPHEUS
May my pains end, and my life also!
I cannot survive this last reversal of fate.
I am still on the threshold of Hades;
I will soon rejoin my beloved wife.
8.660185-863
French opera. We hope that it will breathe new life into
Gluck’s magnificent retelling of a myth which has been
so central to our collective imagination for many
centuries.
Ryan Brown
Gluck and Reform Opera
The son of a forester who, by 1727, was in the service of
Prince Philipp Hyazinth von Lobkowitz, Christoph
Willibald Gluck was born in 1714 and spent his
childhood in his native Bohemia, with its strong musical
traditions. He studied at the University of Prague, while
continuing his own musical activities, and by 1734 was
in Vienna, it is supposed with the patronage of the
Lobkowitz family. There followed a period in Italy,
chiefly in Milan, during which he began to establish
himself as a composer of opera. It was perhaps through
his connection with the Lobkowitz family that he found
himself in 1746 in London, commissioned to provide
opera for the King’s Theatre, and the following years
brought employment in various cities of Europe. In 1750
he married in Vienna and in the next years wrote operas
on libretti by Metastasio for that city, for Prague, Naples
and Rome, while serving first as Konzertmeister and
then as Kapellmeister to the Prince of SaxeHildburghausen.
For this patron he set Metastasio’s
libretto Le cinesi, a sumptuous performance of which for
the Emperor brought a satisfactory reward, not least in
establishing Gluck in court circles. During the decade he
collaborated with Count Durazzo, who had been
appointed in 1754 to take charge of the two principal
theatres of Vienna, particularly in the provision of
adaptations of French opéra comique for the Viennese
stage.
The collaboration with Durazzo was of great
importance both for Gluck and for the history of opera.
In 1755 he became court composer and in 1759
composer of ballets, with responsibility in the following
year for theatre music. In 1761 he collaborated with the
dancer and ballet-master Gasparo Angiolini in a new
ballet d’action, a ballet with a story, following now
current fashions, Don Juan ou Le festin de pierre (Don
Juan or The Stone Guest). The arrival in Vienna that year
of Ranieri de’ Calzabigi was the catalyst for a change of
course for opera, now abandoning the conventions of
Metastasian opera seria in favour of a new simplicity
and a measure of dramatic realism. The first result of the
joint work of Calzabigi, Angiolini and Gluck, under the
encouragement of Count Durazzo, was Orfeo ed
Euridice. There were to be two further ‘reform’ operas
with Calzabigi, in 1767 Alceste (Naxos 8.66066-68) and
in 1770 Paride ed Elena. Between 1774 and 1779 Gluck
enjoyed considerable success in Paris, where a French
version of Orfeo ed Euridice, with a libretto adapted by
Pierre Louis Moline, was staged in August, 1774, and an
adaptation of Alceste two years later. The failure of his
Ovidian Echo et Narcisse and ill-health brought him
back to Viennain 1779, where he remained until his
death in 1787.
Gluck later credited Calzabigi with the inspiration
for Orfeo ed Euridice (Naxos 8.660064), a judgement in
which the librettist himself fully concurred. Calzabigi
laid particular stress on the relationship between opera
and declamation, in one sense a return to the very origins
of the form in its late sixteenth-century association with
rhetoric. In his introduction to the work he explains that
he has changed the scene of Eurydice’s death from
Thrace to Campania, near to the reputed entrance to the
Underworld near Lake Averno, thus preserving the
Aristotelian unity of place. He further adapted the
legend, according to which Orpheus had lost Eurydice
by disobeying the prohibition laid on him not to look
round at her as he left the Underworld, by conforming
with the happy ending expected of the modern stage and
avoiding the harsher ending outlined in his classical
sources, Vergil’s fourth Georgic and the sixth book of
the Aeneid.
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 26
8.660185-8627
Oui, je te suis, tendre objet de ma foi,
Je te suis, attends-moi!
Tu ne me seras plus ravie
Et la mort pour jamais va m’unir avec toi.
(Il sort son épée pour se donner la mort.
L’Amour apparaît.)
SCÈNE II
Récit
L’AMOUR
Arrête, Orphée!
ORPHÉE
Ô ciel, qui pourrait en ce jour
Retenir le transport de mon âme égarée?
L’AMOUR
Calme ta fureur insensée.
Arrête et reconnais l’Amour,
Qui veille sur ta destinée.
ORPHÉE
Qu’exigez-vous de moi?
L’AMOUR
Tu viens de me prouver
ta constance et ta foi.
Je vais soulager ton martyre.
(Il touche Euridice et la ranime.)
Euridice. . . respire!
Du plus fidèle époux
viens couronner les feux.
ORPHÉE
Mon Euridice!
EURIDICE
Orphée!
Yes, I am following you, tender object of my love,
I am following you, wait for me!
You shall never again be taken from me
and death shall unite us forever.
(Orpheus draws his sword to kill himself.
Love appears.)
SCENE II
Recitative
LOVE
Stop, Orpheus!
ORPHEUS
Heavens, who could now
restrain the ardour of my distraught soul?
LOVE
Calm your mad frenzy,
stop and recognise Love,
who watches over your destiny.
ORPHEUS
What do you demand of me?
LOVE
You have proved
your constancy and your faithfulness.
I shall end your martyrdom.
(Love touches Euridice and brings her back to life.)
Euridice. . . Live again!
Come reward the passion
of the most faithful of husbands.
ORPHEUS
My Euridice!
EURIDICE
Orpheus!
8.660185-86 2
There have been three significantly different versions of
Gluck’s work before the public since Orfeo was first
produced in 1762. Gluck composed his first version in
Vienna and in Italian. The second he revised (in French)
and expanded for Paris in 1774, and the third is one which
Gluck’s admirer Hector Berlioz revised in Paris in 1859.
Of the many differences between these versions, the most
prominent is the voice used for Orpheus: in 1762 Gluck
wrote the rôle for a castrato, in 1774 he rewrote it for a
tenor, and in 1859 Berlioz rewrote it again for a female
alto. It is a variant of the Berlioz version, though
translated back into Italian, which has been heard most
often in the opera house of the last century. More recently
the 1762 version has been recreated with a counter–tenor
in the title rôle. The 1774 Paris version, however, which
was the most popular version in the eighteenth and early
nineteenth century, is only now receiving its due.
The high tenor, or haut-contre, was a voice that
French composers of the eighteenth century cultivated
and challenged, and which Gluck made remarkable use of
in this version of Orphée. The relatively low pitch of the
Paris Opera orchestra in the eighteenth century, and its
apparent flexibility, helped make the tenor’s high tessitura
possible. (Rousseau and others said that the Opera
orchestra actually varied its pitch depending on the needs
of the singers.) Period-instrument orchestras today again
play at these lower pitches (ours is A=392), and they offer
a different and more comfortable set of sonorities and
articulations with which to accompany this vocal range.
In addition to rewriting the title rôle for tenor,
Gluck’s other changes to the 1774 version of Orphée et
Euridice involved the incorporation of new dances and
airs for the Parisian stage. The flute solo from the Ballet
des Ombres Heureuses is certainly the most famous of
these. Additionally Gluck reworked and orchestrated the
opera’s recitatives.
Our recording is based upon the very first Paris
performance on 2nd August, 1774. In addition to
fragments of an autograph score, we consulted the
performance materials for this Parisian début found in the
Bibliothèque Nationale, including the conductor’s score,
a choral score, and the livret (the pre-prepared text for the
audience.) We compared each of these to the Bärenreiter
edition, a kind of compendium of various Paris
performances in the late eighteenth century. Not only was
the conductor’s score in particular very helpful with
regard to interpretive matters, but it also indicated ways in
which the 2nd August 1774 performance was shorter than
subsequent eighteenth-century versions. These initial
performance materials suggested, for instance, that at the
end of Act I, Scene 1, the récit ‘Eloignez-vous’ directly
follows the Pantomime, which then proceeds directly to
the Chœur, without a ritournelle. The materials also
indicated that the tenor Legros decided not to attempt the
ariette ‘L’espoir renaît’ at the end of Act I. (Legros was
known for his beautiful high notes but not, it seems, for
his agility). We have decided to keep it, however, as JeanPaul
Fouchécourt negotiates it with ease. In Act III, Scene
2, the conductor’s score suggests that L’Amour’s récit
with Orphée and Euridice moves directly into the final
chorus, without an additional trio, and that the chorus
finishes the work without an additional ballet. These
indications preserve a direct and dramatic finish, at least
within the conventions of late eighteenth-century opera.
The greatest conventional change to the story is of course
the one described in the Argument of the livret, which
states that ‘to adapt this fable to our stage, it has been
necessary to change the catastrophe and to add the
episode in which Love reunites husband and wife’.
Soon after the 1774 début, more dances were added
for other Parisian performances. Most of these dances
Gluck borrowed from his earlier works. In 1776 Orphée
et Euridice was choreographed by the famous JeanGeorges
Noverre. For our public performance of the work
we engaged the choreographer Catherine Turocy and the
New York Baroque Dance Company, and added a final
ballet, or divertissement.
For this recording we are pleased to be able to
present the 1774 version of Orphée as sung by a tenor
experienced in the major rôles of eighteenth-century
Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787)
Orphée et Euridice
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 2
GLUCK
Orphée et Euridice
(1774 Paris Version)
Fouchécourt • Dubosc • Le Blanc
Opera Lafayette Orchestra and Chorus
Ryan Brown
8.660185-86 28
ORPHÉE
Ah, justes dieux!
Quelle est notre reconnaissance!
L’AMOUR
Ne doutez plus de ma puissance.
Je viens vous retirer de cet affreux séjour.
Jouissez désormais des faveurs de l’amour.
SCÈNE III
Temple magnifique dédié à l’Amour. Orphée,
Euridice et l’Amour, précédés de bergers et de
nymphes qui viennent fêter le retour d’Euridice.
ORPHÉE
L’Amour triomphe,
Et tout ce qui respire
Sert l’empire de la beauté.
Sa chaîne agréable
Est préférable à la liberté.
LE CHOEUR
L’Amour triomphe, etc.
L’AMOUR
Dans les peines, dans les alarmes
Je fais souvent languir les coeurs.
Mais, dans un instant, mes charmes
Font pour jamais oublier mes rigueurs.
LE CHOEUR
L’Amour triomphe, etc.
EURIDICE
Si la cruelle jalousie
A troublé mes tendres désirs,
Les douceurs dont elle est suivie
Sont des chaînes de plaisirs.
LE CHOEUR
L’Amour triomphe, etc.
ORPHEUS
Ah, just gods!
How grateful we are!
LOVE
No longer doubt my power.
I have come to take you from this dreary abode.
Enjoy henceforth the favour of love.
SCENE III
Magnificent temple dedicated to Love. Orpheus,
Euridice and Love, preceded by shepherds and
nymphs coming to celebrate Euridice’s return.
ORPHEUS
Love is triumphant,
and all living things
are servants of beauty.
Its pleasant bonds
are preferable to liberty.
CHORUS
Love is triumphant, etc.
LOVE
In pain and in worry
I often cause hearts to languish.
But, in an instant, my magic
causes my severity to be forgotten forever.
CHORUS
Love is triumphant, etc.
EURIDICE
If cruel jealousy
troubled my tender desires,
the joys which followed it
are bonds of pleasure.
CHORUS
Love is triumphant, etc.
660185-86bk Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 28
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CMYK
h&g2005NaxosRightsInternationalLtd.
BookletnotesandsynopsisinEnglish
FrenchLibrettoandEnglishtranslationincluded
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Playing Time
1:25:43
GLUCK:OrphéeetEuridiceNAXOS
GLUCK:OrphéeetEuridiceNAXOS
Gluck’s best-known work has been part of the operatic repertory for nearly two centuries,
today performed principally in the more familiar 1762 Vienna version, Orfeo ed Euridice, sung
in Italian. The later Orphée et Euridice was revised (in French) and extended for Paris in 1774,
with the rôle of Orphée now performed by an haut-contre, or high tenor voice. This was the
most popular version of the 18th and early 19th century, but is only now receiving its full due.
Other principal changes include a full-length ballet with its popular Dance of the Blessed Spirits.
Christoph Willibald
GLUCK
(1714–1787)
Orphée et Euridice (1774 Paris Version)
(Opera in Three Acts)
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, Orphée • Catherine Dubosc, Euridice
Suzie Le Blanc, Amour
Opera Lafayette Orchestra and Chorus • Ryan Brown
Recorded in the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts, University of Maryland, USA
from 11th to 15th January, 2002 • Producer: Max Wilcox • Engineers: Max Wilcox & Antonino D’Urzo
Editor: Antonino D’Urzo • Publishers: Bärenreiter Verlng • Booklet Notes: Ryan Brown
Please see booklet for a complete track list
Cover Picture: Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld, 1861 by Jean Baptiste Camille Corot
(1796-1875) (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA / Bridgeman Art Library)
CD 1 41:03
1 Overture 3:20
2-5 Act One 23:38
6 Act Two 14:05
CD 2 44:40
1-2 Act Two (cont.) 21:29
3-4 Act Three 23:11
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660185-86rear Gluck US 11/01/2005 03:04pm Page 1