GREAT ROMANTIC DUETS OF FRENCH OPERA / H.Thébault, P.Y.Pruvot / Košice Philharmonic Orch.

1. Eh! Nuž čo, keď aj mŕtvi sa s pôžitkom búria... za víťazstvom, kde sa ženieme (duo Odetty a Kráľa, opera Karol VI, 1843, hudba: Fromental Halévy)

Fromental Halévy - Charles VI: Eh! bien, puisque les Morts au plaisir sont Rebelles… (Odette & Le Roi) 8:40

2. Ó, môj pane a vládca (dueto Kataríny a Henricha, opera Henrich VIII, 1833, hudba Camille Saint-Saens)

Camille Saint-Saens - Henry VIII: Ô mon Maître et Seigneur… (Catherine & Henry) 10:19

3. Človeče, už nie si sám! (prelúdium, scéna a dueto Evy a Adama, mystérium Eva, 1875, hudba Jules Massenet)

Jules Massenet - Eve: Homme, tu n'es plus seul!... (Eve & Adam) 11:51

4. Pauline! Bohovia!... Sévére! (dueto Paulíny a Sévéra, opeca Polyeucte, 1878, autor hudby: Charles Gounod)

Charles Gounod - Polyeucte: Pauline! Dieux!... Sévere!... (Pauline & Sévere) 12:27

5. Ach! Teraz je na mne! (dueto Dolorés a Rysoora, opera Vlasť!, 1886, hudba: Émile Paladilhe) 4:37

Émile Paladilhe - Patrie!: Ah! Maintenant a moi!... (Dolores & Rysoor)

6. Nebesá! Pred chvíľkou ste tak dobre spievali... Ó, moja gazela, moja hrdlička (recitatív a duo Fatmy a Michela, opera La Caid, 1849, hudba: Ambroise Thomas)

Ambroise Thomas - Le Caid: Ciel! Vous chantiez a l'Instant fort bien… (Fatma & Michel) 5:27

7. Ach! Ako mi trhajú srdce (introdukcia, ária a dueto Varedhy a Amroua, opera Mág, 1891, hudba: Jules Massenet)

Jules Massenet - Le Mage: Ah! Comme ils déchirent mon Coeur…(Varedha & Amrou) 13:11

Hjördis Thébault soprano

Pierre-Yves Pruvot baritone

Košice Philharmonic Orchestra

Didier Talpain conductor

Názov hovorí takmer všetko, ešte viac napovedia názvy skladieb. Ak máte aspoň štipku romantiky v tele alebo v duši, určite tu nájdete aj niečo pre seba... Hrá Štátna filharmónia v Košiciach pod taktovkou Didiera Talpaina, sólové party spievajú Hjordis Thébault(ová) a Pierre-Yves Pruvot.

In the 19th century, Paris consolidated its position as the leading city of opera. Composers from Germany (Meyerbeer, Paer and Wagner, who famously had a very unhappy time there) and Italy (Rossini, Verdi, Spontini, Cimarosa and Cherubini) worked there alongside native composers, vying for public favour in the years following the French Revolution.

Opera was performed in Paris’s major theatres (the Opera, Opera-Comique, Theatre-Lyrique and Theatre-Italien) and divided into two varieties – serious works on heroic themes and lighter works based on the lives of ordinary people or events. This divide developed into two fully defined styles: opera comiques and drama lyrique.

The programme of this new recording is shaped around rarities of the French operatic repertoire. Among these are the duet between Adam and Eve from Massenet’s Eve, a fascinating number with remarkable scoring for soprano saxophone, harp, woodwind, horns and cellos, giving the music a profoundly poetic and supremely lyrical quality. Also included is a duet from the second act of Gounod’s Polyeucte, a work that failed to gain widespread popularity due to its combination of opera and oratorio as well as its musical quality.

Track No.5 – Patrie! – is taken from an opera of the same name by the now-forgotten composer Émile Paladilhe. Cast in 5 acts and performed on a huge scale, this tale of the Flemish uprising against Spain was one of the Paris Opera’s most successful works, which continued to be staged until the 1920s, when it rapidly sank into obscurity. Heard on this disc is the supremely intense duet from the first scene of act two.

This recording features further duets by Halévy, Massenet, Gounod and Thomas, shedding light on a number of forgotten gems from French romantic opera.