B-52's

[9/16/2012] Taking a closer look at Schumann's "Carnaval" [continued]

Charles Rosen -- "not only a pianist but perhaps
the most illuminating writer on music in our time"

BEFORE WE HEAR "PIERROT" AND "ARLEQUIN"
AGAIN, HERE'S A NOTE BY CHARLES ROSEN

Rosen is not only a pianist but perhaps the most illuminating writer on music in our time.

2. "Pierrot" (Moderato) is a revolutionary work of pure instrumental music in its use of the grotesque. It is a character piece: relentless, deliberately monotonous, but with sudden jerky movements like the personage of the commedia dell'arte; it makes no pretensions to beauty or charm. The drama arises from the cumulative crescendo towards the end with a final and very original pedal effect, as the penultimate chord gradually frees itself of all the heavy pedal sonority.

3. "Arlequin" (Vivo) is also a grotestque character piece, with sudden changes of dynamics, and with a dancing charm.

Let's hear our earlier performances again, properly identified:

SCHUMANN: Carnaval, Op. 9:
2. Pierrot: Moderato (2/4)
3. Arlequin: Vivo (3/4)
[A]

Nelson Freire, piano. Decca, recorded in Lugano, Dec. 18-22, 2002
[B]

Yevgeny Kissin, piano. BMG, recorded in Freiburg, 2001

(Not to worry, by the way, we're going to hear Charles Rosen's performances below.)

I THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE INTERESTING TO HEAR
THE "EUSEBIUS"-"FLORESTAN" PAIRING AGAIN

First, here's another note from Charles Rosen (whose performances, again, we're going to hear later):

5. "Eusebius" (Adagio) is the first half of a double self-portrait. Schumann directs the pianist to play the beginning and end absolutely without pedal; the middle section not only is marked to be played with pedal, but it must swim in pedal in order to sustain the long rolling chords. "Eusebius" is the introverted side of Schumann, and the repressed emotion breaks out freely in the middle only to be pushed back once more.

6. "Florestan" (Passionato) is the passionate extrovert side of Schumann, capricious, moody, and unpredictable. A half-remembered echo of an earlier work keeps breaking in and interrupting the waltz, which finishes -- or, better, cannot finish at all -- in a paroxysm of rage.

SCHUMANN: Carnaval, Op. 9:
5. Eusebius: Adagio; Più lento molto teneramente (2/4)
6. Florestan: Passionato (3/4)


Nelson Freire, piano. Decca, recorded in Lugano, Dec. 18-22, 2002

Yevgeny Kissin, piano. BMG, recorded in Freiburg, 2001

NOW WE'RE GOING TO PUT THESE PIECES

TOGETHER, WITH SOME ADD-INS

We'll have the whole opening of the piece by adding the "Valse noble," which follows them (and which we heard Friday), adding the rousing "Préambule," which we haven't heard before.

SCHUMANN: Carnaval, Op. 9:
1. Préambule: Quasi maestoso; Più moto; Animato; Presto (3/4)
2. Pierrot: Moderato (2/4)
3. Arlequin: Vivo (3/4)
4. Valse noble: Un poco maestoso (3/4)
5. Eusebius: Adagio; Più lento molto teneramente (2/4)
6. Florestan: Passionato (3/4)


Claudio Arrau, piano. Philips, recorded in Amsterdam, September 1966

Alicia de Larrocha, piano. Decca, recorded in London, November 1987


NOW WE'RE GOING TO SKIP TO THE END

We pick up with No. 16, the "Valse allemande," which we heard Friday night, though this time we're going to hear the following "Intermezzo," a portrait of the composer Nicolò Paganini, which is followed by a partial reprise of the "Valse allemande," only indicated to be played faster this time. Then we hear three pieces we haven't heard yet, "Aveu" ("Confession"), "Promenade," and the most unpauselike "Pause" you're likely ever to hear, which leads us straight into the concluding "March of the League of David Against the Philistines."

SCHUMANN: Carnaval, Op. 9:
16. Valse allemande (German Waltz): Molto vivace (3/4)
17. Intermezzo: Paganini Presto (2/4)
(reprise of Valse allemande: Tempo I ma più vivo)
18. Aveu (Confession): Passionato (2/4)
19. Promenade: Con moto (3/4)
20. Pause: Vivo, precipitandosi (3/4)
21. Marche des Davidsbündler contre les Philistins (March of the League of David Against the Philistines): Non allegro (3/4)


Alicia de Larrocha, piano. Decca, recorded in London, November 1987

Wilhelm Kempff, piano. DG, recorded in Hannover, March 1971

LET'S JUMP AHEAD AND HEAR ALL OF CARNAVAL

Here's the complete suite in Charles Rosen's later recording, from the three-LP set Schumann: The Revolutionary Masterpieces released by Nonesuch in 1982, which is also the source for the Rosen program notes quoted above.

SCHUMANN: Carnaval, Op. 9:
1. Préambule: Quasi maestoso; Più moto; Animato; Presto (3/4)
2. Pierrot: Moderato (2/4)
3. Arlequin: Vivo (3/4)
4. Valse noble: Un poco maestoso (3/4)
5. Eusebius: Adagio; Più lento molto teneramente (2/4)
6. Florestan: Passionato (3/4)
7. Coquette: Vivo (3/4)
8. Réplique: L'istesso tempo (3/4)
9. Papillons: Prestissimo (2/4)
10. A.S.C.H. -- S.C.H.A. (Lettres dansantes) (Dancing Letters): Presto (3/4)
11. Chiarina: Passionato (3/4)
12. Chopin: Agitato (6/4)
13. Estrella: Con affetto; Più presto molto espressivo; Tempo I (3/4)
14. Reconnaissance: Animato (2/4)
15. Pantalon et Colombine: Presto (2/4)
16. Valse allemande (German Waltz): Molto vivace (3/4)
17. Intermezzo: Paganini Presto (2/4)
(with reprise of Valse allemande: Tempo I ma più vivo)
18. Aveu (Confession): Passionato (2/4)
19. Promenade: Con moto (3/4)
20. Pause: Vivo, precipitandosi (3/4)
21. Marche des Davidsbündler contre les Philistins (March of the League of David Against the Philistines): Non allegro (3/4)


Charles Rosen, piano. Nonesuch, recorded in the Netherlands, c1981

COMING UP IN SUNDAY CLASSICS

Next week I thought we'd continue with "The Story of Manon Lescaut," then the week after finish up (or try) with Carnaval.


RETURN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE POST

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[9/9/2012] Do I hear a waltz? (Tchaikovsky edition) [continued]

We hear the operatic version of the Yevgeny Onegin Waltz in this English-language recording conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras.


In Friday's preview I used the word "dynamic" to describe Fricsay, and that still seems to me a pretty good characterization. Of course that's not all he was as a conductor. But it's a quality that lingers in my ears after most of the performances of his I've heard: a sense of purposely directed musical energy. It's a quality not always valued by performers of Tchaikovsky, though it's very much to the point. Even in (very good) mono sound, his performances hold their own against some pretty stiff competition here.

1. WALTZ FROM ACT II OF YEVGENY ONEGIN

(1) "Concert" version


Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ferenc Fricsay, cond. DG, recorded Sept. 10-12, 1957

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Sir Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded December 1977

(2) As the waltz is heard in the opera

TCHAIKOVSKY: Yevgeny Onegin, Op. 24:
Act II, Entr'acte and Waltz

The principal reception room of the Larins' house, where a ball is in progress. The room is brightly lit by a central chandelier and candles in sconces along the wall. Uniformed officers are among the guests. As the curtain rises, the younger people are dancing a waltz while the older ones watch admiringly. ONEGIN is dancing with TATIANA and LENSKI with OLGA. MADAME LARINA bustles about with the air of an anxious hostess.

GUESTS: Well, what a surprise!
We never expected a military band!
Revelry, and to spare!
A long time has passed
since we were so entertained!
A marvelous party, would you not all agree?
[Repeated]
Bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo!
What a lovely surprise for us!
ELDERLY LANDOWNERS: In our estates we seldom see
the joyous glitter of a merry ball.
Hunting is our only entertainment.
We love the hubbub and clatter of the hunt.
LADIES: Fun indeed:
They ride all day
along thickets, fields, bogs, bushes;
they lie down when tired
and pause for a rest.
A fine entertainment for poor ladies indeed!
[The CAPTAIN appears. The young ladies flock around him.]
YOUNG LADIES: Oh, Trifon Petrovich,
how kind you are indeed!
We are so grateful to you!
CAPTAIN: That's quite enough!
The pleasure's mine!
YOUNG LADIES: We'll dance to our heart's content!
CAPTAIN: That's my intention too!
Let's start the dance!
[The dances begin again. TATIANA and ONEGIN are among the dancers and they attract the attention of the ladies.]
A GROUP OF LADIES: Look, look,
the fops are dancing!
ANOTHER GROUP: High time too!
FIRST GROUP: Fine suitor indeed!
SECOND GROUP: Pity for Tanyusha!
FIRST GROUP: He'll marry her.
TOGETHER: And tyrannize her.
They say that he's a gambler.
[After finishing the dance, ONEGIN walks slowly through the hall, listening to conversations.]
LADIES: He's a dreadful ignoramus and behaves extravagantly.
He doesn't kiss a lady's hand,
he's a freemason and only drinks
red wine by the glass!
ONEGIN: That's a nice opinion!
I've had enough of listening
to spiteful gossip.
It serves me right.
Why did I come
to this silly ball? Why?
I won't forgive Vladimir [Lenski] for this!
I'll court Olga.
I'll drive him thorougly mad!
There she is!
[ONEGIN approaches OLGA. LENSKI approaches her at the same time.]
ONEGIN [to OLGA]: Please!
LENSKi [to OLGA]: You promised me this dance!
[to LENSKI]: You must have made a mistake.
[OLGA dances with ONEGIN.]
LENSKI: Oh, what's wrong?
I don't believe my eyes! Olga!
Gd, what's wrong with me?
GUESTS: A splendid feast!
What a surprise!
What a treat!
There's no end to the fun!
A splendid feast!
What a surprise!
We never expected
a military band!
There's no end to the fun!
Bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo!
Bravo! Isn't that so?
A splendid feast, isn't it?
No, we never did expected
a military band!
A splendid feast, splendid, splendid!
There's no end to the fun!
A splendid feast! A splendid feast!

Hervé Hennequin (bs), A Captain; Dmitri Hvorostovsky (b), Yevgeny Onegin; Neil Shicoff (t), Lenski; St. Petersburg Chamber Choir, Orchestre de Paris, Semyon Bychkov, cond. Philips, recorded October 1992

Stoil Georgiev (bs), A Captain; Yuri Mazurok (b), Yevgeny Onegin; Nicolai Gedda (t), Lenski; Sofia National Opera Chorus, Sofia Festival Orchestra, Emil Tchakarov, cond. Sony, recorded Jan. 15-21, 1988

[in English] Richard Van Allan (bs), A Captain; Thomas Hampson (b), Eugene Onegin; Neil Rosenshein (t), Lenski; Welsh National Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. EMI/Chandos, recorded June 29-July 6, 1992

2. WALTZ FROM ACT I OF SWAN LAKE

From those opening descending string pizzicatos, nobody matches the the effortless grandeur and everything-in-its-place, full-bodied sense of proportion of Eugene Ormandy in this music, though for energy and technicolor orchestral splendor, there's never been another Stokowski.

Swan Lake, Op. 20: Act I, Waltz


Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ferenc Fricsay, cond. DG, recorded Sept. 10-12, 1957

Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded 1961

New Philharmonia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, cond. Decca, recorded September 1965

3. WALTZ FROM THE PROLOGUE OF SLEEPING BEAUTY

Again the inclusion of the gorgeous Ormandy performance is a no-brainer. I don't think I've ever heard anyone take the waltz itself as broadly as Leonard Bernstein did in this 1971 recording -- I think it's quite wonderful. The Stoky recording may not be as distinctive as his Swan Lake Waltz (and it omits the rousing introduction), but it's pretty wonderful in its own right; note the delicious ascending woodwind chatter leading up to the reprise of the waltz theme, which itself seems to take on a little more swagger the second time. And anyway, I already made the audio file.

The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66: Prologue, Waltz


Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ferenc Fricsay, cond. DG, recorded Sept. 10-12, 1957

Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded 1961

New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Jan. 12, 1971

[minus the introduction] New Philharmonia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, cond. Decca, recorded September 1965

4. "WALTZ OF THE FLOWERS" FROM
ACT II OF THE NUTCRACKER

Some of you will recall that we actually did a complete Nutcracker last Christmastime, and for the ever-familiar and ever-cherishable "Waltz of the Flowers," I really don't think we can do better -- by way of supplements to the Fricsay version -- with the two performances we heard then, by William Steinberg and Charles Dutoit, whose performances of the Miniature Overture we also heard, of which I wrote (in a preview devoted to the composer's own Nutcracker Suite) that Steinberg takes "a rather spritelier approach," Dutoit "a more buoyant, caressing one," and "both the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Montreal Symphony play utterly delectably" and both were dazzlingly recorded in the very different modes of Mercury's Living Presence technology and Decca's vivid, famously audiophile-quality Montreal ambience.

The Nutcracker, Op. 71: Act II, No. 13, Waltz of the Flowers


Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ferenc Fricsay, cond. DG, recorded Sept. 10-12, 1957

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, William Steinberg, cond. Command, recorded c1963

Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit, cond. Decca, recorded c1985


COMING SOON . . .

It occurred to me after finishing this post that we can't brush up this close against the Letter Scene from Onegin without entering. So that's what we're going to do, probably the week after next.


RETURN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE POST

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[9/7/2012] Sunday Classics preview: Do I hear a waltz? (Tchaikovsky edition) [continued]

Valery Gergiev conducts the Act II Entr'acte and opening waltz scene from Tchaikovsky's Yevgeny Onegin at the Met (I guess they couldn't afford a set) in 2007, with Keith Miller as the Captain, Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Onegin, Ramón Vargas as Lenski, and Elena Zaremba as Olga. (If the French subtitles don't do it for you, we've got an English rendering below.)


YES, THE WONDERFUL YEVGENY ONEGIN WALTZ
IS EMBEDDED IN THE OPENING SCENE OF ACT II

It's way too complicated to go into more than basic plot details here, but Yevgeny Onegin has accompanied his friend Vladimir Lenski to the provincial home of Madame Larina and her daughters Olga (Lenski's fiancée) and Tatiana. The opening of the Entr'acte evokes the unforgettable Letter Scene of Act I, Scene 2, in which a madly infatuated Tatiana, unable to sleep, poured out her passion in a letter to Onegin. (In Scene 3 Onegin coolly shot her down.) In Act II, at a ball thrown by Madame Larina, a deeply bored Onegin gets the jolly idea of getting back at Lenski for dragging him here by flirting with Olga -- a little joke that will have catastrophic consequences.

TCHAIKOVSKY: Yevgeny Onegin, Op. 24:
Act II, Entr'acte and Waltz

The principal reception room of the Larins' house, where a ball is in progress. The room is brightly lit by a central chandelier and candles in sconces along the wall. Uniformed officers are among the guests. As the curtain rises, the younger people are dancing a waltz while the older ones watch admiringly. ONEGIN is dancing with TATIANA and LENSKI with OLGA. MADAME LARINA bustles about with the air of an anxious hostess.

GUESTS: Well, what a surprise!
We never expected a military band!
Revelry, and to spare!
A long time has passed
since we were so entertained!
A marvelous party, would you not all agree?
[Repeated]
Bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo!
What a lovely surprise for us!
ELDERLY LANDOWNERS: In our estates we seldom see
the joyous glitter of a merry ball.
Hunting is our only entertainment.
We love the hubbub and clatter of the hunt.
LADIES: Fun indeed:
They ride all day
along thickets, fields, bogs, bushes;
they lie down when tired
and pause for a rest.
A fine entertainment for poor ladies indeed!
[The CAPTAIN appears. The young ladies flock around him.]
YOUNG LADIES: Oh, Trifon Petrovich,
how kind you are indeed!
We are so grateful to you!
CAPTAIN: That's quite enough!
The pleasure's mine!
YOUNG LADIES: We'll dance to our heart's content!
CAPTAIN: That's my intention too!
Let's start the dance!
[The dances begin again. TATIANA and ONEGIN are among the dancers and they attract the attention of the ladies.]
A GROUP OF LADIES: Look, look,
the fops are dancing!
ANOTHER GROUP: High time too!
FIRST GROUP: Fine suitor indeed!
SECOND GROUP: Pity for Tanyusha!
FIRST GROUP: He'll marry her.
TOGETHER: And tyrannize her.
They say that he's a gambler.
[After finishing the dance, ONEGIN walks slowly through the hall, listening to conversations.]
LADIES: He's a dreadful ignoramus and behaves extravagantly.
He doesn't kiss a lady's hand,
he's a freemason and only drinks
red wine by the glass!
ONEGIN: That's a nice opinion!
I've had enough of listening
to spiteful gossip.
It serves me right.
Why did I come
to this silly ball? Why?
I won't forgive Vladimir [Lenski] for this!
I'll court Olga.
I'll drive him thorougly mad!
There she is!
[ONEGIN approaches OLGA. LENSKI approaches her at the same time.]
ONEGIN [to OLGA]: Please!
LENSKi [to OLGA]: You promised me this dance!
[to LENSKI]: You must have made a mistake.
[OLGA dances with ONEGIN.]
LENSKI: Oh, what's wrong?
I don't believe my eyes! Olga!
Gd, what's wrong with me?
GUESTS: A splendid feast!
What a surprise!
What a treat!
There's no end to the fun!
A splendid feast!
What a surprise!
We never expected
a military band!
There's no end to the fun!
Bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo!
Bravo! Isn't that so?
A splendid feast, isn't it?
No, we never did expected
a military band!
A splendid feast, splendid, splendid!
There's no end to the fun!
A splendid feast! A splendid feast!

Jürgen Hartfiel (bs), A Captain; Thomas Allen (b), Yevgeny Onegin; Neil Shicoff (t), Lenski; Leipzig Radio Chorus, Staatskapelle Dresden, James Levine, cond. DG, recorded June 1987

Vladimir Silayev (bs), A Captain; Yuri Mazurok (b), Yevgeny Onegin; Alexander Fedin (t), Lenski; USSR State Radio and Television Large Chorus and Large Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev, cond. Audiophile Classics, recorded 1986


IN THIS WEEK'S SUNDAY CLASSICS POST

As noted, we're going to listen to those other Tchaikovsky waltzes, and maybe another odd or end or two.


RETURN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE POST

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[9/2/2012] "The (Hi)story of the Chévalier des Grieux and of Manon Lescaut" (continued)

Anna Netrebko as Manon arrives in Amiens "all dazed" and "all numb," at the Met earlier this year.

I'm only a poor girl.
I'm not bad,
but often they accuse me in my family
of liking pleasure too much.
They're putting me in the convent right away.
And there it is, the story of Manon!

-- Manon, to des Grieux, in Act I

BACK IN ACT I, ENTER MANON

Manon: Act I, Manon, "Je suis encor tout étourdie" ("I am still all dazed")

MANON: I am still all dazed,
I am still all numb!
Ah, my cousin, excuse me!
excuse me for a moment of emotion.
I am still all dazed.
Pardon my chattering,
I'm on my first journey!
The coach had hardly set off
when I was admiring wide-eyed
the hamlets, the great forests, the plains,
the travelers young and old!
Ah, my cousin, excuse me!
It's my first journey!
I watched, curious, the fleeing
of the trees waving in the wind!
And I forgot, all joyful,
that I was setting out for the convent!
In the face of so many new things,
don't laugh if I tell you
that I thought I had wings
and was flying to Paradise!
Yes, my cousin!
Then I had a moment of sadness . . .
I wept . . . I don't know why . . .
The next instant, I confess,
I was laughing, ah! ah! ah! ah! I was laughing,
but without knowing why!
Ah, my cousin, excuse me!
Ah, my cousin, pardon . . .
I am still all dazed,
I am still all numb!
Pardon my chattering,
I'm on my first journey!

[in Italian] Mirella Freni (s), Manon; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Peter Maag, cond. Live performance, June 3, 1969

Renée Fleming (s), Manon; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. Decca, recorded July 1999

In Friday night's preview, when we heard the "Nous vivrons à Paris" duet-fragment from Act I of Manon that our hero and heroine, now heading off for a life together in Paris, had "only just met." We need to back up now and fill in a bit.

Act I is set in the courtyard of an inn in the city of Amiens, north of Paris, which happens also to be the coach stop, which accounts for the presence of two of the three presences fate has brought together this day:

* a pair of Parisian noblemen come a-carousing at the inn

* 16-year-old Manon Lescaut, who is deposited here from a coach from her hometown, where she is to be met by a cousin she's never met, who is charged with packing her off to a convent

* the young Chévalier des Grieux, who is waiting for a coach to take him to, or at least toward, his ancestral home and the company of his father, the Count des Grieux

The chance meeting of Manon and des Grieux is one of the great instances of what we call rather prosaically "love at first sight," which the French call so much more descriptively coup de foudre, or lightning bolt -- except that it's even more descriptive, since French lightning comes not in a bolt but in a blow. It's such an epic moment that it really requires music, which, thankfully, both Massenet and Puccini supplied.

What I've been trying to suggest, in the excerpts we heard Friday night (the opera's brief Prelude as well as the "Nous vivrons à Paris" duet fragment) and are hearing today, is Massenet's ability to make us care about -- no, love, or perhaps even treasure, his protagonists. I'm not sure we really get that from the performances of just the aria I've plunked atop this page. I'm afraid I've gone lazy and drawn the line re. source material: only what I've got on CD.

I'm especially disappointed by Renée Fleming's performance, and I'd like to think that in her performances of the role she gets a little closer than she did in this recital recording: to the reality of Manon: a 16-year-old girl from the sticks who, though she has seen and experienced very little so far, has blossomed early and has only begun to discover the doors that can open to her thanks to the power over men which comes with her physical beauty. She is also, as she tells des Grieux her family is prone to say of her, a girl who likes pleasure too much.

In the booklet note for the DG reissue of the 1970 Sills-Gedda-Rudel Manon recording, Roger Pines writes of the Prévost novel:

Des Grieux himself narrates the sad tale of his relationship with a selfish young woman who does comparatively little to earn the reader's affection. That one responds quite differently to the operatic Manon is one of Massenet's greatest achievements.

I've never read Prévost, so I'll take Pines on faith there, but I certainly second his tribute to our composer.

We're going to return to Manon's entrance song, and hear it now in fuller context, and also with singers who I think bring us a lot closer to Manon -- especially with three sopranos who were particularly known for their ability to establish a bond of intimacy with an audience: Beverly Sills, Victoria de los Angeles, and even more especially the beloved Brazilian soprano Bidú Sayão. (Note that that opening line for the chorus is sometimes there [the ABC-EMI-DG and EMI recordings] and sometimes not [the two Met performances]. It's not in my Schirmer vocal score.)

Manon: Act I, Crowd, "Voyez cette jeune fille" ("Look at this young girl"), Lescaut, "Eh! J'imagine que cette belle enfant" ("Hey, I imagine that this beautiful child") . . . Manon, "Je suis encor tout étourdie" ("I am still all dazed")

[MANON has just emerged from the crowd and considers the hurly-burly with astonishment.]
THE CROWD: Look at this young girl.
LESCAUT [looking at her]: Hey, I imagine that
this beautiful child is Manon, my cousin!
I am Lescaut.
MANON: You, my cousin?
Give me a kiss!
LESCAUT: But quite gladly, on my faith!
Morbleu! She's a beautiful girl
who does credit to the family.
MANON: Ah, my cousin, excuse me.
LESCAUT [turning away]: She's charming!
MANON: I am still all dazed,
I am still all numb!
Ah, my cousin, excuse me!
excuse me for a moment of emotion.
I am still all dazed.
Pardon my chattering,
I'm on my first journey!
The coach had hardly set off
when I was admiring wide-eyed
the hamlets, the great forests, the plains,
the travelers young and old!
Ah, my cousin, excuse me!
It's my first journey!
I watched, curious, the fleeing
of the trees waving in the wind!
And I forgot, all joyful,
that I was setting out for the convent!
In the face of so many new things,
don't laugh if I tell you
that I thought I had wings
and was flying to Paradise!
Yes, my cousin!
Then I had a moment of sadness . . .
I wept . . . I don't know why . . .
The next instant, I confess,
I was laughing, ah! ah! ah! ah! I was laughing,
but without knowing why!
Ah, my cousin, excuse me!
Ah, my cousin, pardon . . .
I am still all dazed,
I am still all numb!
Pardon my chattering,
I'm on my first journey!

Gérard Souzay (b), Lescaut; Beverly Sills (s), Manon; Ambrosian Opera Chorus, New Phliharmonia Orchestra, Julius Rudel, cond. ABC-EMI-DG, recorded July 1970

Earle Patriarco (b), Lescaut; Angela Gheorghiu (s), Manon; Symphony Orchestra of the Monnaie (Brussels), Antonio Pappano, cond. EMI, recorded Apr.-May 1999

Fernando Corena (bs), Lescaut; Victoria de los Angeles (s), Manon; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, cond. Live performance, Dec. 18, 1954

John Brownlee (b), Lescaut; Bidú Sayão (s), Manon; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham, cond. Live performance, Jan. 16, 1943

NOW LET'S HEAR DES GRIEUX'S
"DREAM" IN FULLER CONTEXT

I note that translators casually substitute "daydream" for "dream" in des Grieux's narration of his dream, and since this particular dream came to him while he was walking, it does seem to have been a daydream. But does he really mean to tell us that he closed his eyes and had a dream while he was walking?

Manon: Act II, Scene, Manon, "C'est lui" ("it's him") . . . des Grieux, "Enfin, Manon, nous voilà seuls ensemble" ("Finally, Manon, here we are alone together") . . . "Instant charmant, où la crainte fait trêve" ("Enchanting moment, where fear is disspelled") . . . "En fermant les yeux" ("On closing my eyes")

DES GRIEUX has gone out to mail a letter he's written to his father about MANON. A great deal has happened in his absence, unbeknownst to him as he returns to their apartment and finds his beloved in tears.

MANON: It's him! Let my paleness not betray me!
DES GRIEUX: Finally, Manon, here we are alone together!
But what? Tears?
MANON: No.
DES GRIEUX: In fact, your hand is trembling.
MANON: Here is our meal.
DES GRIEUX: It's true . . . my head is mad . . .
but happiness is fleeting,
and heaven has made it so flimsy
that one always fears that it will fly away.
To the table!
MANON: To the table!
DES GRIEUX: Enchanting moment, where fear is dispelled,
where we are just the two of us.
Listen, Manon, while walking
I just had a dream.
MANON [aside]: Alas! Who doesn't have dreams?
DES GRIEUX: On closing my eyes, I see
in the distance a humble retreat,
a little house,
all white, in the depths of the woods.
In its tranquil shadows
clear and joyous streams,
in which leaves are reflected,
sing with the birds.
It's Paradise. Oh, no!
Everything there is sad and morose,
for there's one thing lacking there.
Still needed there is Manon!
MANON: It's a dream, a madness.
DES GRIEUX: Our life will be there,
if you wish it, o Manon!

Nicolai Gedda (t), Chévalier des Grieux; Beverly Sills (s), Manon; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Julius Rudel, cond. ABC-EMI-DG, recorded July 1970

Roberto Alagna (t), Chévalier des Grieux; Angela Gheorghiu (s), Manon; Symphony Orchestra of the Monnaie (Brussels), Antonio Pappano, cond. EMI, recorded Apr.-May 1999

Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Chévalier des Grieux; Licia Albanese (s), Manon; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. Live performance, Dec. 15, 1951

Rolando Villazón (t), Chévalier des Grieux; Natalie Dessay (s), Manon; Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France, Evelino Pidó, cond. Virgin Classics, recorded March 2004


NO, WE HAVEN'T FINISHED WITH MANON

I think we can already see, from the state of mind Manon displays in her entrance song and the very different one des Grieux displays in his dream narrative, that there's a difference in their respective hopes and dreams, which doesn't bode well for the long-term success of their relationship. And that's without reckoning on outside forces, like the pressures of the chévalier's social class. But none of that explains why the result is so disastrous. We'll be looking into this more.


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