Vasco de Gama

For the first time in my life I was able to hear this Opera as Meyerbeer intended it to be played. The singing was warm and full of passion. I do have the 1968 recording of the L'Africaine in a 3 act version. Now to hear it as the 5 act version, it shows me how poetic Meyerbeer could be in his operas. Meyerbeer has been put down too long as a composer. He had the gift to touch the human heart and mind. He was a star of the 19th century. The art of opera changed because of him. He needs his honor to be restored in the world's opera houses. The production done in Chemnitz has proven that fact by showing the world the glory that was Meyerbeer.

Certainly better than the botched "l'Africaine" it became after Meyerbeer's death. It's a great production with outstanding singers, chorus & orchestra. Also of course some lovely, beautiful, memorable music. After a century and a half it's wonderful to hear what Meyerbeer wrote without the posthumous changes. Meyerbeer was however well known for making numerous changes during rehersals of his operas. He apparently did a fair amount of "punching up" after seeing & hearing what he had written looked like in actual performance. This of course never happened with this opera as Meyerbeer died shortly after having written it. It is for this reason I suspect that Vasco isn't as good at Les Huguenots of Le Prophite. It's still an outstanding opera, it just needed Meyerbeer's final touch up to make it better.

Sad that a man who basically created a new style (French Grand Opera) that would go on to dominate the genre for nearly a century and be copied by the likes of Verde and even the young Richard Wagner, could be so completely and utterly ignored in this day and age. While Vasco de Gama is not his best, it does have splendid moments and overall I would say this is an excellent production. Can we please see more of Meyerbeer in the repertoire the way it used to be? Take an opera like Robert le Diable, only performed a handful of times in the last century, despite that unfortunate fact, it is still one of the most popular operas ever written because of the tremendous success it had for the first 75 years since it's inception. Can all the people of the 19th century have been wrong? Let's not forget, Meyerbeer was probably the most successful opera composer of the 19th century! He didn't get there by accident.

a stunning revival

A great introduction to Meyerbeer's music. It's long but didn't seem so.

Meyerbeer died before he could complete a final version of the opera that came to be called "L'Africaine," so others edited it for him and gave it a title which is meaningless since it involves and Indian maiden (Selika) and India and no one sets foot in Africa. Still, it was one of the great hits of the nineteenth century and has enjoyed occasional revivals in our time. This recording restores all of the music that was cut after Meyerbeer's death (a lot) and renames the opera after its hero, Vasco da Gama. This "original version" of "L'Africaine" had its world premiere in Chemnitz, Germany, in 2013, and the recording commemorates that world premiere. What we have seems to me to be superior to the traditional, cut, version and allows more character development. There are some surprises, such as the text of the opera's most famous aria, no longer "O paradis," but now "O doux climat!" The provincial ensemble from Chemnitz seems good to me, if it is not a cast of famous, top ranked singers. Frank Beermann leads the Robert-Schumann-Philharmonic orchestra and the Chemnitz opera chorus. Anyone who loves French grand opera or Meyerbeer in particular will want the recording.

Meyerbeer's 150th anniversary was marked almost to the day by the appearance of this very important set. It is the first ever proper studio recording of Meyerbeer's last opera, done in conjunction with the staging of the work at the Opera House in Chemnitz in February 2012. It is also the first time that the score has been performed as the composer left it. So this is a production of very considerable historical and artistic reasons.Meyerbeer had started writing the opera in 1838: the original libretto by Scribe had been set in Spain and West Africa, with Hernando de Soto as hero. But Meyerbeer was never completely happy with this version, and in 1852 Scribe provided a new scenario, this time set in Portugal and India, and featuring Vasco da Gama. Meyerbeer began composing the new text and was working on the opera until the end of his life. Scribe died in 1861, and for textual changes Meyerbeer turned to the dramatist Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer in March, April and May 1861; she provided German revisions which were then translated into French at different times during 1862 and 1863 by Joseph Duesberg (these were mainly in acts 2 and 4). The alterations included new passages in Sélika's death scene written by the composer himself during November and December 1863.The themes of the opera, the historical issues, exploration and aggressive colonialism, the depiction of whole societies and their mutually destructive interaction, could hardly be more epic. Issues of power, commerce, race, gender, slavery and humanity are tacit in the poet's imaginative and prophetic words and scenario.It is wonderful at long last to hear the opera as Meyerbeer actually left it, and as it was largely published in the Brandus full score. The `edition' presented here shows some elements of selection, really in the finale where an extra movement is added to Sélika's famous soliloquy under the Mancenillier Tree. Otherwise it means playing (often for the first time ever) those pieces omitted by the musicologist François-Joseph Fétis who was commissioned to make the performing edition used by the Paris Opéra in 1865 and which then spread all over the world as the standard text. No performance of the opera played in recent years has ever presented even this shortened edition in its entirety (although the famous Covent Garden revival of 1978 and 1981 presented the performing score with diligence and care). Other productions (Naples 1963, Barcelona 1972, Florence 1971, San Francisco 1972 & 1988, Venice 2013) have provided versions of the score so badly, often so savagely cut, that they cannot really be regarded as proper performances of the opera. The tragedy is that these travesties, invariably on private recordings, have been regarded as authentic expressions of Meyerbeer's art, and he has been judged negatively accordingly. The very issues that his critics have liked to focus on (brevity of melodic line, inability to develop musical ideas) are exactly the results of the ruthless and irresponsible butchering of the score. Now for the first time we can hear the whole of the final version of the opera as Meyerbeer left it, and without cuts. The great Council Scene in Act 1 unfolds in all its extended drama, variety and richness, its melodic plenitude and development a masterpiece of musical craftsmanship.The biggest benefit is the restoration of the original conception of Act 3. Here whole movements or pieces are restored, and whole scenes (the confrontational and reflective septet, the interaction between Sélika and Nélusko as they face imminent death) reestablishes the proper narrative, and provides us with music never heard before, and so striking in its dramatic power and beauty of conception. This also true of act 4 where the great scene for Vasco ("O Paradis") is now understood in a wider dramatic construct of the fate of the shipwrecked Portuguese prisoners, and the musical textures understood now as part of a greater architectural construction: the sublime and frightening Chorus of Sacrificers and their special motif frames the whole episode with strong structural-thematic recurrence. The first part of act 5 gives Inès a whole new dimension of characterization, while the famous scene under the Upas Tree has new sections and more examples of Meyerbeer's famous originality in orchestration. The whole experience is thrilling, new, fresh, and a revelation of the composer's full dramatic and musical capacities.The set is beautifully produced, with photos from the Chemitz production. The booklet provides the whole original libretto of the opera, in French (with German and English translations), and various introductory articles. All the cast sing their roles with verve and commitment. The four protagonists bring much skill and beautiful singing to this important undertaking. The French baritone Pierre-Yves Pruvot is particularly outstanding in his personification the wild and dynamic/demonic Nelusko. The conductor Frank Beermann, so adventurous in exploring the neglected repertory in both opera and symphonic works, has an intuitive sensitivity for the music and its style, especially in the scenes played for the first time. His tempi are measured and exciting, and only in the finale of the exotic Marche Indienne does he seem to take the pace too quickly. The orchestral playing is consistently good in bringing out the drama, rich textures and spectrum of iridescent colours in Meyerbeer's eloquent instrumental writing. This is an operatic experience not to be missed.

It is very interesting to read the reviews of this set as well as the comments on the opera itself but I have to say how much I enjoyed listening to the discs despite feelings about the performers. In 1970 I bought a copy, in Italian, of the Vocal Score and have marked this with the various cuts that I have heard in every performance since. Of course every time i wondered what the music would sound like if those cuts were not there. Imagine my great pleasure when the first act on this recording was exactly as I was seeing on the written page-----a first and how marvelous! During the work so many extra pieces began to appear that were not in my score and this added immeasurably to the listening experience. So all in all any one who is remotely interested in this work should have this set. What I particularly enjoyed was the sense of drama in the performance and although the singers might not reach the heights of some of the best, they all performed well as did the orchestra. Then there are the pleasures of Meyerbeer.......what a composer! I love his operas and the drama and the memerable melodies. I just wish we could hear more of the operas performed instead of the interminable Tosca/ Traviata bandwaggon! There is so much snobbery in the world of opera which is a shame when there are so many operas of worth to be performed. Well done to all concerned with this recording!!

Au-delà de savoir si on aime Meyerbeer ou non, de savoir si cette version de l'Africaine complétée par Joseph Fétis est au niveau de Robert le Diable ou des Huguenots, je dois dire que j'ai pris un grand plaisir à écouter cet enregistrement parce que les solistes, les chœurs et l'orchestre ont fait un boulot remarquable (et bravo pour la diction en français) et que la prise de son est d'une grande qualité. Je recommande ce coffret aux amateurs de Meyerbeer et même aux passionnés d'art lyrique en général. Dans le livret accompagnant les CD, les dialogues sont en français, mais l'introduction et les commentaires en anglais et en allemand seulement. On pourra toujours se référer aux (brefs) commentaires de Piotr Kaminski dans "Mille et Un Opéras" ou à ceux des magazines en ligne.

Sono stato più che favorevolmente colpito dal valore editoriale della pubblicazione in quanto si tratta della versione originale de L'Africaine senza i taglia perpetrati dal Fetis per la prima dell'Opera a Parigi.

19世紀フランスのオペラ界の最大の存在であったマイアベーアの最後のグランド･オペラの全容が明らかにされることになった重要な録音だと思います。『アフリカの女』は台本作家のスクリーブも作曲家のマイアベーアも二人とも初演を迎えずして、他界してしまったため、『ヴァスコ・ダ・ガマ』は『アフリカの女』と姿を変えてしまいましたが、この録音はドイツのユルゲン・シュレーダーが復元したクリティカル・エディションを使用して未完の原稿すらも復元して演奏されています。ドイツのオペラ雑誌「オペルンヴェルト（Opernwelt）」の2013年度の「その年の発見」として高く評価されたそうです。演奏の熱気や迫力ではヴァーレットとドミンゴなどが歌ったサンフランシスコ･オペラの88年のDVD（ Meyerbeer: L'africaine [DVD] [2006] by Shirley Verrett ）や72年のンフランシスコ･オペラのCDには及びませんが、完全全曲盤であることの文献的価値は否定できません。歌手ではイネスを歌った韓国のソプラノ、グィビー・ヤングが幼さが感じられるほどの健気な可愛らしい声で非常に印象に残ります。対するクラウディア・ソロキナは大人びた安定した歌唱でコントラストが明確になっています。男性陣のベルンハルト・ベルヒトルト（ヴァスコ・ダ・ガマ）とピエール＝イヴ・プリュヴォ（ネリュスコ）も概ね不足ない歌い振りです。ケムニッツ歌劇場合唱団とケムニッツ歌劇場専属のオーケストラであるロベルト・シューマン・フィルハーモニーも十分聴き応えのある演奏をしています。指揮のフランク・ベールマンも地味ながら丁寧な仕事をしています。211ページもあるブックレットも内容豊富で、上演の写真が多く添付され、仏、独、英の対訳によるリブレットも付いています。 Meyerbeer: L'africaine [DVD] [2006] by Shirley Verrett

C'est quand même triste qu'il faille des étrangers pour nous donner enfin une version intégrale de ce monument du "grand opéra" français ! Et ces étrangers en font une réussite. Malgré sa longueur, cet œuvre n'ennuie jamais tant l'intérêt de l'action ne se rel^che pas. La diction française des solistes est remarquable et leur talent rend toute l'histoire plausible et haletante. la direction est précise et enlevée, les choeurs de grande qualité; C'est un grand plaisir que d'écouter ce CD et plus on le fait plus on est conquis.