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PROSERPINE

SAINT-SAËNS

Palazzetto Bru Zane: Opéra français, Vol. 15

Although Camille Saint- Saëns composed thirteen operas, Samson et Dalila tends to be the only one performed regularly today. Henry VIII, Les Barbares, Hélène, and many others have fallen into obscurity; however, Palazzetto Bru Zane has set out to revive lesser-known French operas from the 19th century, and the recent release of Saint- Saëns’ Proserpine is Vol. 15 in their series.

Based on an 1838 French play by Auguste Vacquerie, Proserpine is a 4-act tale of love and passion set in Renaissance Florence. The complicated plot deals with the courtesan Proserpine, who is secretly in love with the young aristocrat Sabatino. She conceals her love by rejecting him, but is jealous of Angiola, who Sabatino intends to marry. In the final act Proserpine attempts to stab her rival, when Sabatino interjects and Proserpine kills herself—but not before wishing the young couple eternal happiness together.

In Proserpine, Saint-Saëns adopts Wagner’s leitmotif techniques as well as some of his texture and chromaticism, but without losing the traditional French traits of clarity, order, balance and proportion. Dissonance is used to heighten the turmoil and despair in the story. Saint-Saëns was a master orchestrator and that’s evident here, particularly with his subtle, effective woodwind writing.

The cast is very strong, with Veronique Gens in the complex title role; she nicely captures the scorn and hard shell of the courtesan, as well as the frustration, passion and despair of the rejected lover. In stark contrast, Marie-Adeline Henry as her rival Angiola is angelic and virginal. With his light French tenor colour, Canadian Frédé ric Antoun is is an opera that should be heard. In this release, a 143-page hard-cover book comes with two CDs, a synopsis, the full French libretto with English translation, and several articles on the work and its history by noted scholars. —