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Bru Zane
Jules Massenet: Grisélidis
Vannina Santoni, soprano; Julien Dran, tenor; Thomas Dolié, Tassis Christoyannis and Thibault de Damas, baritones; Antoinette Dennefeld and Adèle Charvet, mezzo-sopranos; Adrien Fournaison, bass. Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie; Choeur Opéra National Montpellier Occitanie; Jean-Marie Zeitouni, conductor
Bru Zane, 2024
Grisélidis is a conte lyrique in three acts with prologue by Jules Massenet. It premièred at the Opéra Comique in 1901 and enjoyed considerable success before dropping out of the repertoire. It’s peculiar in a couple of ways. Despite being written for the Comique, it’s mostly through-sung with just a few instances in which the singers switch to speech for effect. It’s also an odd mix of the comic and the serious, one might almost say “the sublime.” A story of marital fidelity in the 14th century has a rather jolly Devil and his shrewish wife inserted for comic effect.
The plot is straightforward enough. We start with a shepherd, Alain, pining for the beautiful and virtuous Grisélidis. The local magnate, the Marquis, shows up and decides to marry her which she dutifully agrees to. Fast-forward a few years and she has a young son, but the Marquis is off on crusade. Rather foolishly he makes a bet with the Devil that Grisélidis will remain faithful.
The Devil, of course, has a cunning plan. He shows up as a merchant with a “slave girl” (his wife) saying that the Marquis bought the girl and intends to marry her on his return but for now she’s the chatelaine. He is stymied when Grisélidis dutifully accepts the orders of her Lord and Master but decides to remain chaste despite Alain’s entreaties.
Supernatural high jinks
Plan B involves kidnapping the son, Loÿs who pretends he is being held by a pirate who will ransom him for a kiss which, of course, would count as “infidelity.” The Marquis shows up and realizes he is being tricked by the Devil. He and his wife pray at the shrine of St. Agnes for the return of the boy. The saint’s statue has mysteriously disappeared from her chapel but following fervent prayer she reappears with the child. The Devil decides to retire and become a hermit. Along the way there’s a fair amount of supernatural high jinks with holy water, flaming swords and such.
The score is very effective. It’s colourful and has some excellent arias for all the principals. Alain, a typical French tenor role sung here by Julien Dran, has the lyrical aria “Voir Grisélidis, c’est connaître” which requires both a fair degree of power and clean high notes. The Marquis, sung by lyric baritone Thomas Dolié, and Grisélidis, a lyric soprano role sung with sweetness and purity of tone by Vannina Santoni, have some really nice duets, especially in the big reconciliation scene in Act 3.
A Comic Devil
The Devil, as intended by the composer, is sung by an older baritone, here Tassis Christoyannis. His music and text can be hammed up, though he does not do so excessively. He’s nicely supported by mezzo Antoinette Dennefeld as his wife, Fianina. There are other idiomatically francophone cameos from Adèle Charvet as the maid/confidante Bertrade and Adrien Fournaison as the Marquis’s squire. Thibault de Damas sings the Prior who marries the Marquis and Grisélidis.
The orchestra and chorus are from Opéra national Montpellier Occitanie. The chorus doesn’t have a whole lot to do but is adequate. The orchestra is excellent and is heard to especially good advantage in the Act 1 prelude evoking the spirit of Occitanie with some nice modal touches. Jean-Marie Zeitouni conducts and navigates skilfully between lush and delicate, with a light touch in the comic elements.
The recording is available as two CDs, or digitally as a standard resolution or 96kHz/24 bit download. I listened to the standard resolution version and it’s very good, especially in its treatment of the voices. This is a Palazetto Bru-Zane release with the usual 100-page bilingual book full of all sorts of fascinating information as well as text and English translation.
All in all, this is another successful attempt by Bru Zane to rescue a largely forgotten but rather good opera from the Valley of Lost Things.
