Messiaen : Saint François d'Assise

[T-C]

Although he liked opera and delved into the operas of Mozart and Wagner, Messiaen never thought he would compose an opera himself because he believed that he is incompetent to do so. But after receiving a request for a new opera from the Paris opera, and with the encouragement of the French President Georges Pompidou he began working on his only operatic work Saint François d'Assise in 1975. He wrote the libretto and writing of the music continued until 1979. Orchestration of the new opera extended until 1983 and in this year, the opera was presented for the first time in Paris.

This month appeared on the Opus Arte label a new DVD version for Messiaen's opera that was recorded in June 2008 at the Dutch opera in Amsterdam (De Nederlandse Opera). The opera is set in the 13th century, and deals with episodes from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi: He teaches his fellow friars, heals a leper, has an encounter with an angel, gives a sermon to the birds, hears the sound of Christ and than receives the Stigmata and dies.

The opera is an enormous creation that lasts for over four hours and was written for a mammoth orchestra that includes nine percussion players, a huge choir and nine soloists. This opera has a meditative and philosophical character and expresses a deep religious feeling. Messiaen used in the opera a variety of the composition techniques that he was using during his life like birdsong, elements of Serialism, plainchant etc. Relatively to the length of the opera, there are not too many occurrences. The drama moves on a very slow time scale and is quite static. In this aspect reminds me of Wagner's Parsifal. The third act is the more dramatic part of the work.

The vocal writing for the singers derives from the French operatic tradition at the beginning of the 20th century – echoes of Debussy and especially it reminds me of the Ravel and Poulenc's operatic music. But in the orchestral writing it is definitely Messiaen's own sound that is familiar from other works I know like the Turangalîla-Symphonie. The vocal writing for the singers is in general slow and without pathos. Expressions of the emotion are very limited and almost everything is sung with some kind of a stoic tranquility. In particular the friars singing sounds more like ecclesiastical hymns than as operatic dialogues and monologues.

In contrast with the singing, the orchestral music is extremely vigorous, and complex. There are quite a few orchestral interludes. The orchestral sound is rich and varied and there is a great use of a big battery of percussion instruments from the xylophone family (xylophone, xylorimba, marimba, glockenspiel and vibraphone) especially in the first act. In the second act there is a long scene that deals Saint Francis preaching to the birds. Here Messiaen that was also an ornithologist, expresses his love for birds music and the orchestra mimics very impressively the sounds of different birds. In this act he makes a very prominent use of string glissandi that creates a special and bizarre feeling. In the first scene of the third act, where Saint Francis receives the stigmata, the orchestral sound becomes extremely vociferous and harsh and here one can hear clearly the sound of three Ondes Martenot (Messiaen said about this instrument that it is 'very rare in an opera!').

And now to the new DVD from Amsterdam:

Pierre Audi, which is one of my favorite opera directors, directed the opera in Amsterdam. Like in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen that he directed in the Dutch opera ten years ago, the colossal orchestra sits in center the stage and everything actually occur around it. The decor is made of a system of scaffolding and other items and has an abstract character that is quite hard to describe. There are a few other simple additional elements like trees or a big pile of metal crosses. Everything is symbolic and hinted. Normally with Audi, the costumes are made of crude and simple wool, and have a raw look. In Amsterdam Saint Francis gives his sermon to the birds that are actually children that are painting birds...

The Hague philharmonic orchestra is conducted by Ingo Metzmacher and undoubtedly he controls brilliantly this massive forces. The Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera contributes impressively in particular in the first scene of the third act when Saint Francis receives the stigmata. What an overwhelming piece of music this is!

The leading role St. Francis is sung by baritone Rodny Gilfry. This is an extremely difficult and exhausting role. He sings for almost three hours. In the interview with him that exists in the DVD he tells that this role was almost impossible to memorize and this is the most difficult role in his entire career. For my taste he is very impressive in particular in the last scene. Another excellent singer is soprano Camilla Tilling in the role of the angel. She has a beautiful voice with pure high notes. British tenor Tom Randle is very good as Frère Massée. Dutch baritone Henk Neven is an excellent Frère Léon. And one should mention Hubert Delamboye singing in the short but significant role of The Leper.

To sum up: This is a powerful rendition of a great opera, but it takes a lot of concentration and patience to enjoy it.
Highly recommended for those who like this kind of music.






St. François receives the stigmata




St. Francis is preaching to the birds:




Rod Gilfry as St. Francis:

[Wendell_E]

Can't wait to see this!  It comes out in the U.S. on April 28th.  Thanks for the review.

British tenor Tom Randle is very good as Frère Massée.

I know he sings a lot in the U.K., but I'm fairly certain he's still an American (born in Hollywood).

[bhodges]

Wow, what great news.  A friend of mine saw this last year (at the Holland Festival) and couldn't stop talking about it.  I'm so happy they filmed it (and happy they actually released it). 

PS, I gather the 1998 Salzburg production (with José van Dam) that was released on CD was not filmed--is that correct?  (Or if it was filmed, was not distributed).  I have searched high and low and can't seem to come up with a DVD of it anywhere.

--Bruce

[T-C]

Wendell_E,

Thanks for the correction.

I actually checked Tom Randle biography before posting. It doesn't say where he was born, but that he made his debut with the English National Opera and I know he appears very often in England, so naturally I supposed he is British... 



Bruce,

I don't know whether the 1998 production was filmed.
For certain, there isn't a commercial DVD of it.   

[MDL]

I saw the semi-staged production last year at the Proms. I've got Nagano's DG recording, and although I like it a lot, I've never sat down and listened to the whole thing in one sitting. So being "forced" to listen to the whole work without interrupting it with something else (be it Mahler, Stravinsky, X-Mal Deutschland... or Harry Hill's TV Burp for that matter) was quite an experience. It was a genuinely hypnotic and got a well-deserved five-star review in the Guardian.