Legato LCD 229-3	Dynamic CDS 368/1-3
Isabelle	June Anderson	Patrizia Ciofi
Alice	Michele Lagrange	Annalisa Raspagliosi
Robert	Alain Vanzo	Warren Mok
Raimbaut	Walter Donati	Alessandro Codeluppi
Bertram	Sam Ramey	Giorgio Surjan
Conductor	Thomas Fulton	Renato Palumbo
Recorded in	Paris	Martina Franca
Date	1985	2000

Much has been written about Meyerbeer's one time enormous popularity during his lifetime, and his eventual fall from grace during the twentieth century. Many explanations have been proffered for this fall from grace--changes in taste, a shortage of the singers who can execute the music, costs of mounting them, and the like. His detractors, including Schumann, and others were noted for their jibes, such as the anti-Semitic Wagner's "Effects without causes". Be that as it may, the effects have lingered, and, as Michael Scott says in his notes for the Opera Rara recording of Dinorah, "we are still living in the wake of these prejudices. The German ideal has triumphed, the opera house has ceased being a place of entertainment, and has become a temple of enlightenment, with the composer as high priest, where formerly the prima donna had been mistress of ceremonies."

Actually, the last statement does not really hold for French grand opera, since the tenor is frequently the main protagonist, as in Les Huguenots and La juive. But, in the case of Robert le Diable, it is generally considered to be the bass. Robert le Diable has become a rarity during the 20th century, although it was given in Barcelona in 1917 with Jose Palet, in Bordeaux in 1928 with Alexandre Guys, and in Florence in 1967 with Boris Christoff and Renata Scotto. The latter was brutally cut, with the result that the opera is almost ruined, although there is enough there for me to have fallen in love with the music, when I first heard it years ago. Then it was given in Paris with June Anderson, Alain Vanzo and Sam Ramey in 1985, and issued on LP. Now that this is available on CD, I can fall in love with it all over again. But more recent performances in NYC with Chris Merritt (conducted by Eve Queler), in Berlin, and finally in Martina Franca with Warren Mok, Giorgio Surjan and Patrizia Ciofi are even more exciting. The opera is also available on a commercial CD recording (Dynamic), which can be highly recommended. It was composed by Meyerbeer a few years after William Tell, and, while it still shows many influences of Rossini, there are substantial departures. These are primarily in the greater values attached to the dramatic side, and the greater importance given to the bass and his music.

While William Tell is is four acts, Robert le Diable has five. The highlights of Act I are a fine aria for Alice, another one for Rambaud, and the Sicilienne sung by Robert. The best music in Act II, the tenor's grand aria, was not composed until several years after the premiere, and is omitted from the Paris performance, but included as a bonus on the Legato recording, and was also performed in Berlin. Things really start moving in Act III: first there is a fine duet for Bertram and Raimbaut, then the wonderful "Valse infernale" for bass and chorus, followed by a second aria for Alice, a striking duet for Robert and Bertram, and finally the highlight of the opera, Bertram's "Nonnes qui reposez".

Act IV is even better, and consists primarily of an extended duet for Isabelle and Robert (Anderson and Vanzo) which includes the justly famous, and strikingly beautiful "Robert, toi que j'aime". But Robert's music in this duet is also of the highest quality. Act V has a major trio for Alice, Robert and Bertram, which can be viewed as a precursor of the great Act IV duet from Les Huguenots.

When this opera was performed in 1985, June Anderson was at the peak of her powers, and sings beautifully. Michele Lagrange was at the beginning of her career, but is a fine Alice, and has since reached near stardom. Vanzo has long been regarded as the finest French tenor of the post-war era, although he really lacks the brilliant top notes required for some of the music. Rockwell Blake, who sang some later performances, has the top, but is far too "white voiced" for the role. Vanzo, on the other hand has a strikingly beautiful voice, and is quite effective in the dramatic sections. As for the bass, Sam Ramey, the role is almost perfect for him. The conducting is fine, and the Legato recording is in decent sound.

Finally, there is a major bonus-----Chris Merritt in the big tenor aria composed for Mario, and sung only a few times until then. In fact, there is a good chance that Mario never sang the cabaletta, which would make this the world premiere of that particular piece of music. It was, however, sung when the opera was performed in Berlin in 2000.

Both the Paris set and the one from Martina Franca can be highly recommended to all opera fans. If you already love Meyerbeer, as I do, either will become one of your favorites. If you have not yet experienced this wonderful nineteenth century composer, this is probably the best way to start.

The Legato recording of the Paris performance and the Dynamic recording from Martina Franca have so many advantages over the earlier Florence version; being more complete, being in French, and being being generally better sung, that it is impossible to seriously recommend the Italian version at this time, except to fans of the singers involved. Choosing between them may be difficult--and depend on one's preferences for the singers involved.

Among historical issues of excerpts from Robert le Diable which are of a caliber that will not soon be duplicated, I would like to cite the following:

"Sicilienne" sung by Leon Escalais on Symposium 1126 , available from

Symposium Records

110 Derwent Avenue

East Barnet, Hertfordshire EN48LZ

England

"Di mia patria" sung by Antonio Paoli, recently issued on Pearl GEM 0028

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