The new editorial project “Bizet’s Other Operas”

Fishergate Music is publishing successive critical new editions of Georges Bizet’s lesser-known operas, which are available in unreliable editions, if at all. The editor and publisher is the renowned British musicologist Hugh Macdonald, who has contributed significantly to the establishing of Hector Berlioz’s entire output in the musical repertoire in recent years with his “New Berlioz Edition”, published by Bärenreiter. This is also the aim of the series “Bizet’s Other Operas”. The first works, “Djamileh” and “Don Procopio”, are already available in score, vocal score and orchestral parts. “La Jolie Fille de Perth”, “La Maison du Docteur”, “Le Docteur Miracle” and “Ivan IV” will follow. The performance material, available on hire, can be obtained from Bärenreiter · Alkor.

The Emperor Napoleon, like Hernán Cortés, saw himself as the conqueror of great empires. Gaspare Spontini was intended to bring the fame of Cortés to the operatic stage. Hence the genesis of the opera “Fernand Cortez”. But when the Emperor was defeated, a complicated series of reworkings of the opera began. Theater Dortmund is now staging the third version of 1824 on 7 April 2022.

The idea of composing the opera “Fernand Cortez” was thanks to a commission from Emperor Napoleon I following the successful premiere of Gaspare Spontini’s “La Vestale” (1807). The intention was to pave the way for Napoleon’s Spanish campaign through a propaganda piece. The libretto by Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy was based on various historical and dramatic sources and took as its subject the conquest of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, by the Spanish commander Hernán Cortés. The autograph, which is preserved in Paris, reveals that Spontini first set the libretto in its original version. But shortly before rehearsals began, the interior minister demanded a reworking of the text, which was carried out in collaboration with Joseph-Alphonse d’Esménard, eliminating in particular the character of Montezuma as originally envisaged.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” is probably the most frequently-performed Russian opera. But its success was not assured from the outset. Now this stagework is being published by Bärenreiter in an edition reflecting the latest state of research, taking into consideration the somewhat complicated history of its composition. The new edition finally clears up the many mistakes and inconsistencies in the previous editions of the score. It follows the 1885 St Petersburg version which can be regarded as the final authorised version since Tchaikovsky prepared it for the second edition of the score published by Jürgenson in 1891.

Philipp Maintz places an instrumental protagonist from his chamber opera “Thérèse” after Émile Zola at the centre of his new ensemble work “c’est une volupté de plus”: the accordion, as the secret protagonist in the septet, forms a kind of musical continuation and a portrait of the main character Thérèse Raquin, whose affair ends in the murder of her husband and suicide: “her search, her hope for an escape and the associated futility which becomes despair – this all becomes ‘music out of music’”, says Philipp Maintz.

With the concert performance of Rameau’s opéra ballet “Les Surprises de l’amour” on 26 January in the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungarian conductor György Vashegyi and his Orfeo Orchestra continue the series of first performances using the “Opera Omnia Rameau”. The Centre de musique baroque de Versailles once again shares the production. The one-act “Adonis” from the little-known first version of 1748, not performed for another 274 years, is sure to be of particular interest to connoisseurs and admirers of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s work.

During the dramatic early months of the pandemic in 2020 Matthias Pintscher composed some highly expressive works. His concerto “Assonanza” for solo violin and chamber orchestra originated from a composition for Leila Josefowicz, a seemingly unending melody in a sweeping dramatic gesture which narrates the greatest tensions and inner turmoil. “Assonanza” receives its premiere on 28 January 2022 in Cincinnati and will also be live-streamed on 29 January. Shortly before this, Pintscher’s preceding work “Mar’eh” for violin and orchestra will be performed on 22 January in Berlin. The performers are Diego Tosi (violin) and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin conducted by the composer.

On 10 February 2022 Jules Massenet’s “Thaïs”, a major work of French 19th century opera, will be performed at La Scala, the legendary Italian opera house. Directed by star director Olivier Py, the conductor is Lorenzo Viotti, chief conductor at Dutch National Opera Amsterdam, and one of the most sought-after conductors of the up-and-coming generation. The main roles are luxuriously cast with Mariana Rebeca, Ludovic Tézier and Giovanni Sala. The production benefits from research findings made by the French musicologist  Fabien Guilloux, which are documented in his critical new edition in the series “L‘Opéra français”, and can now be evaluated for practical use for the first time.

Originally scheduled for May 2020 and postponed because of the Corona pandemic, Torsten Rasch’s new stage work “Die andere Frau” to a libretto by Helmut Krausser, commissioned by the Semperoper Dresden, will now receive its first performance on 22 January 2022. Immo Karaman directs the biblical love story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, sung by Markus Marquart, Magdalena Anna Hofmann and Stepanka Purcalkova. Michael Wendeberg conducts the Sinfoniechor and Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. Further performances follow on 30 January, and 2 and 9 February.

More information

Anna Skryleva, General Music Director in Magdeburg, made a virtue out of necessity brought about by the pandemic for the new production of Mozart’s last opera she conducted in May 2020, reducing the orchestral writing to just twenty musicians in a careful, yet sensitive arrangement. The result is a translucent chamber music version, which promises to become an attractive option for smaller opera houses well beyond the current restrictions. The performance material is now available on hire from Bärenreiter/Alkor.