On 26 January 2022 the one-act opera-ballet Adonis (from the first version of “Les Surprises de l’amour”) will be performed in the Liszt Academy in Budapest, conducted by György Vashegyi. It was first performed in 1748, then not for another 274 years. This small stage work, intimate in character, promises to make a great impact.


The three versions of “Surprises de l’amour”

The ballet “Les Surprises de l’amour” is based on a libretto by the poet of “Castor et Pollux” Gentil-Bernard and has a somewhat complex performance history. It is one of many works by Rameau which exist in two or even three versions. The first version, entitled divertissement, comprises a prologue “Le Retour d’Astrée” and two acts “La Lyre enchantée” and “Adonis”. It was commissioned for the celebrations marking the end of the War of the Austrian Succession. The first performance took place in the Théâtre des Petits Appartements de la Marquise de Pompadour in Versailles. The second version, performed in Paris in 1757, no longer had any connection with the original political events, which is why the Prologue was cut; “Adonis” became “L’Enlèvement d’Adonis” (“The Abduction of Adonis”) and a new introductory act, “Anacréon”, was added. Finally, in the course of the Paris performances, Rameau made further changes, until a new edition of “La Lyre enchantée” was published in 1758 and the ballet act “Les Sybarites” from “Sibaris”, premiered in 1753 in Fontainebleau, was added.


The historical context of the first Versailles version

After an eight-year-long international conflict, the opposing countries agreed to end the War of the Austrian Succession. The warring nations, first and foremost France and England, began negotiating the conditions of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle on 24 April 1748, which was signed after five months of negotiations on 18 October 1748. Whilst France retained the modest city of Louisbourg in New England, it relinquished the southern Netherlands in favour of Prussia, whose troops had paid the price of conquest with thousands of dead. Thus, although Louis XV and his advisers only achieved crumbs for France, the peace treaty was presented to the people as a flattering victory for their ruler. Rameau was asked for a “peace opera”, and “Naïs” was composed to a libretto by Louis de Cahusac which was performed in Paris. At court nothing seemed to have been planned, but the Marquise de Pompadour used the opportunity to publicly show her monarch her admiration and love. On 27 November 1748 the “Surprises de l’amour” was premiered in the newly-refurbished Théâtre des Petits Appartements. Also known as the Théâtre des Cabinets, this was henceforth capable of staging larger performances and of accommodating an audience of about a hundred people. For this important occasion, the King’s musicians returned specially from Fontainebleau for the first rehearsal on 8 November 1748, whilst the Marquise de Pompadour and her friends  ̶  the Duchess of Brancas, the Duke d’Ayen, the Marquis de La Salle, Madame de Marchais and the Vicomte de Rohan  ̶  sang the vocal parts. A few of the nobility, such as the Marquise de Courtanvaux and Langeron also joined the dancers, and the orchestra included the Prince de Dombes and the Marquis de Sourches.


The special features of the Versailles version

In the first version Rameau had to take into account the limited space available in the Theatre de la Pompadour, but above all the level of the ensemble. Although the chorus and orchestra largely comprised professionals, the vocal soloists were all amateurs, and it was close confidants of the Marquis who performed the roles of Uranie in “La Lyre enchantée” and Venus in “Adonis”. Amongst Pompadour’s friends, nobody had the high vocal range of a haute-contre, which is why this voice was omitted entirely. Incidentally, this is the only opera by Rameau in which this vocal register is not used. In the orchestra there are no violas (hautes-contre or tailles de violons), but two gambas instead which double the seven violoncelli. In the rest of the orchestra the scoring matched the intimate make-up of the Pompadour troupe, with just two flutes, two oboes, but three bassoons, with one desk occupied by the Prince de Dombes. The violin parts, always difficult in Rameau, were played by professional musicians either from the Académie royale de musique or the Musique du roi. And the trumpet part was played by François-Placide Caraffe, an oboist in the Opera, and from 1749 official trumpeter in the Musique du roi.

For the Paris version Rameau altered these special features and no longer had the male roles of Adonis and Linus sung by a bass, but Adonis as a soprano (as a trouser role) and Linus as a high tenor (haute-contre). In addition, he adjusted the scoring to that of the Paris Opera especially through the use of violas. The new edition therefore also provides optional viola parts in the Versailles sections which had been incorporated into the Paris version.


Adonis

In “Adonis” the librettist develops the legendary visceral struggle between Venus and Diana, the thesis and antithesis of love. The two goddesses compete for the affections of the beautiful young Adonis, with one (Venus) trying to emancipate him, whilst the other (Diana) attempts to bring him under her control. Venus effortlessly succeeds in manipulating and seducing the youth, and the opera celebrates this triumph of love.

The Overture follows the scheme of an Italian Sinfonia, comprising a lively movement, a Menuett and a Rondeau, perhaps to suit the tastes of the Marquise de Pompadour. The many simple recitatives which Rameau had almost banished from his compositions after “La Princesse de Navarre” (1745) are surprising and they lend the “Adonis” Act its intimate colour. The libretto particularly lends itself to stage performance and portrays a guileless, naive young man, a predecessor of Mozart’s Cherubino in “Le nozze di Figaro”, but whom Rameau casts as a bass. The musical-vocal texture of the first three scenes is very relaxed. The fourth scene then develops the hunt led by Diana in pursuit of Adonis, and contains an interesting contrast in colour and style which Rameau incidentally repeated in the Paris version, slightly altered. Before Diana accepts the triumph of love, she expresses her fury: “Jupiter, prends-tu sa défense” (“Jupiter, take her defence”), at which point the proud, threatening melody is supported by a rushing accompaniment and heady harmonies. Rameau entrusts Venus with a somewhat difficult arietta (“Vole Amour, prête-moi tes armes”), which shows that the Marquise had a good vocal technique. The final chorus “Chantons l’Amour et sa conquête” is structured as a Contredanse (as in “Platée”), but in a cheerful, radiant atmosphere.

The concert version realised by György Vashegyi represents an important step towards the rehabilitation of undervalued and unknown works by Rameau. The Hungarian conductor has been a devoted servant of Rameau for many years, and is using our new edition which reproduces the entirely unique Versailles version.

Sylvie Bouissou
(translation: Elizabeth Robinson)