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American Record Guide: (03/2021) 
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Château de Versailles
CVS027



Code-barres / Barcode : 3770011431304

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Between 1664 and 1666, Louis XIV had an artificial cave built at his country chateau, Versailles, but demolished it in 1684 to allow construction of the north wing. Soon after its completion, this grotto became the setting for Jean-Baptiste Lully’s first collaboration with the poet Philippe Quinault, Le Grotte de Versailles. This “eglogue en musique” was first performed at Versailles in 1667 or 1668 and was still being performed (with some  alterations) as late as 1728 at the Concerts Spirituels.

 

As a typical divertissement, it begins with a French overture, followed by songs and dances. The center point of the eclogue is the entry of Daphnis and the Nymphs, who were joined in the dance by Louis himself, and it concludes with an extended “echo” chorus and dance. This is the second complete recording I know; the earlier was by Hugo Reyne with La Simphonie du Marais (Accord 461811, 2001). Both reflect a sensitivity to the nuances of the French style, though the soloist for Iris in 2001 seems more comfortable with the intricate ornamentation written in the manuscript for the second verse of her lament. Unfortunately, the musettes mentioned in an original libretto are missing in both recordings, both of which attempt to recreate the original performance. Molière’s “comedie en musique”, George Dandin, was first performed at Versailles on 18 July 1668 with Lully’s incidental music. This divertissement was just one part of an extensive evening’s festivity, incorporating appetizers, wandering through the gardens, the play in a specially constructed outdoor theater, a large dinner followed by dancing and fireworks. The plot follows the plight of the rich peasant, George Dandin, and his  unfaithful wife, and the libretto was conceived “in the manner of an improvisation” with inserted interludes that form a miniature pastoral. These are now missing from most modern editions of Molière’s play, but this recording includes both the music that preceded the play, the two interludes between the three acts, and the final divertissement with its concluding double-chorus dialog between the followers of Bacchus and Love.

The booklet offers complete texts and translations for these musical additions and short summaries of how the music fits into the text of the play. The interpretation by Jarry and his musicians is fully in the French style, though his number of musicians does not match the 1668 description of the outdoor performance of Georges Dandin by André Felibien: “after beginning with one voice, it terminates with a concert of more than 100 people who can all be seen at the same time on the same stage joining together their instruments, their voices, and their dance-steps.” This recording does incorporate some adaptations from the original manuscript, including the subtle rewriting of a continuo part for a bass recorder that could not play all the original pitches. Around these two works Jarry has added at the beginning a shorten timpani solo by Claude Babelon followed by a prelude from the last act of Lully’s Psyche; and between the two major works he inserts two further excerpts from the same act of Psyche, all with trumpets, timpani, oboes and bassoon, and strings. It appears that the three trumpets only play in unison with timpani, since only one part in the original scores is written, with the restrictive pitches available in the 17th Century. I believe that this was only a short-hand notation, since some of the manuscripts used by the Louis XIV’s wind players indicate that with timpani, the trumpets would play different parts in consort. The missing parts could easily have been reconstructed for this recording. It also should be noted that the intonation of the “natural trumpets” is good, but do not expect them to be “in tune”, following a modern “historically informed” practice. All through the performance the continuo harpsichord is too busy and distracts from the voices. These are just minor caveats. This is a significant release and presented with a great deal of care. It also fills in an important gap in the sonic documentation of Lully’s creative work with Molière and would be an important addition to any baroque collection.

 

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