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O P E R A N O T E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O
February 22 - March 19, 2016
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Just before the premiere, Gounod was also
compelled to make quite a few major changes.
One addition was the
valse-ariette
“Je veux
vivre,” which was placed early in the first act.
Long the most popular and familiar music in
the opera, Juliet’s waltz aria didn’t arise out of
any inspiration from Shakespeare’s play; it was
inserted so that the soprano, wife of the first
director as well as a very popular singer, would
have an opportunity, early in the opera, to
demonstrate her coloratura finesse. In addition,
an extra duel in the Act Three street scene was
added to provide more action and excitement,
crucial for the opera’s potential success.
The premiere’s director also insisted
on adding the Act Four wedding tableau
with the bridal procession and the choral
“Epithalamium” ballet, and finale. Gounod
had to eliminate scenes as well, for example,
the
grand air
of Act Four, in which Juliet
contemplates and drinks the potion. Although
Gounod had to cut this exciting scene for
opening night, it was later restored (it will
be heard at Lyric, as it generally is nowadays
in productions internationally). Gounod
complained that excising material that he
strongly felt belonged in the opera made him
a “decomposer” of music, an experience he
found both difficult and humiliating.
The feeling of civil/familial friction and
conflict, linked in counterpoint to the main
concentration on the love of the two young
people, comes through vividly in the large
scenes involving the chorus: the prologue,
the party in Act One, the warring factions in
Act Three, and the wedding guests’ reaction
to Juliet’s “death.” Set against these large,
heavily populated scenes is an emphasis on
the intimate: the opera’s essential thematic
interests here become part of a seamless web
in which the action of the family/town and
the action of the lovers are joined. Act Two
introduces sensuality with a touching duet
demonstrating the protagonists’ growing
intimacy and confessions of love.
Most of Act Three is given over to
action, which Gounod’s music displays in a
carefully planned sequence containing violent
street scenes. Act Four takes us to Juliet’s
chamber, but the sweetness of the night is set
against the vanity of the daytime, in which
the world with its cares seems all too real.
In the opera’s post-wedding-night duet, the
tone becomes more and more passionate
before Romeo’s departure for exile. After he
leaves, when the nurse and Capulet appear,
the troubles of the world at large come to the
forefront again, but because Gounod doesn’t
include Shakespeare’s scene in which the two
families reconcile, the opera ends with a focus
Dina Kuznetsova and Matthew Polenzani played the title roles in Lyric’s 2009-10 production of
Roméo et Juliette
.
ROBERT KUSEL