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Merci beaucoup pour votre message ! D'une manière générale, cette oeuvre a été servie avec une très belle distribution dans ce concert (Robert Massard, Janine Micheau, Solange Michel et Andrée Gabriel y ont également participé).

Oui, cet extrait est tiré d'une intégrale, que ne je possède malheureusement pas dans son entier. D'autres extraits sont disponibles sur TH-cam : th-cam.com/video/Wr8dXIBePdI/w-d-xo.html&pp=ygUkZGVuaXNlIHNjaGFybGV5IGwnZXNjbGF2ZSBjb3Vyb25uw6ll

"he wasn't always given enough time to rehearse the orchestra" exactly, they had very few rehearsing sessions, and it was the same for almost all the broadcasts (Same case for the singers and the choruses. What they wanted was talented sight-readers above all). I have never heard about I Cavailieri di Ekebu, I will look into it.

Thank you so much, it really warms my heart ! I still have plenty of interesting things, I hope you will like them. Very best wishes for 2025 !

Yes, I'm quite eager to ear this version (and read the booklet). It was recorded in July 2023.

About his voice, absolutely ! I read an interview made by the soprano Renée Doria where she talked about him : she had quite harsh words, not about his voice but rather about his behaviour, if I understood correctely.

@erlangerleretour3964 Really! Who would have guessed from a voice like that!

@@griselidis1 "De Massenet, Manon était mon grand rôle. Je l’ai chanté avec Henri Legay en Des Grieux. Legay était un peu répugnant, je ne l’aimais pas beaucoup, il n’était pas rigolo. A Genève, nous chantions Manon ensemble, et pour l’Hôtel de Transylvanie, j’avais une robe en lamé or, le devant était vert avec des ramages dorés. Lui est arrivé avec un costume dans les tons violets, alors il m’a dit : Ah non, nous ne pouvons pas entrer ensemble. Donc nous avons fait notre entrée chacun de son côté, c’était stupide." www.forumopera.com/renee-doria-lucia-est-une-andouille-gilda-une-poire-les-sopranos-sont-presque-toujours-des/ her interview is rather funny, she had a strong opinion about everything and didn't hesitate to make it known.

Yes, it is exactly what I was telling myself when I was making the video. How do you like the PBZ publication of Ariane ?

@erlangerleretour3964 I thought it was excellent, though not ideal. I'm not a big fan of Kate Aldrich.

J'ai bien peur que vous deviez la chanter vous-même ! J'ai peu de chances d'être un jour un mezzo du calibre de la créatrice Claire Croiza (ou même une cantatrice tout court d'ailleurs !) pour rendre justice à cette page et mon logiciel ne rend pas les voix d'une façon suffisamment satisfaisante (pour un choeur ça passe, mais pas pour un air). Avis aux mezzo interessées : cet air est magnifique.

@erlangerleretour3964 Je sonorise une chanteuse actuellement je vais lui montrer le topo et elle me dira ce qu'elle en pense ... vous redit ...

@@emmanuelpaxonndupasquier3094 ce serait vraiment énorme, merci !

It was amazing ! I liked the staging, the casting was stellar, the orchestra very colorful and very well conducted ! Plus, they gave pages that were never recorded, apparently (an interlude between Alexandrie and Thaïs's house and a second ballet just before the race of Athanael and the last tableau)

What surpised me was how much Erlanger was inspired by Thaïs when he wrote Aphrodite, there are so many similatities !

@@erlangerleretour3964 So is there yet more music beyond the ballet sequence depicting the temptation and fall of Athanael included on Patrick Gallois's Naxos disc?

@@griselidis1 It seems !

I would absolutely love to hear a complete version of this opera (this RTF recording misses the very colourful introduction of the 1st act, the divertissement of the 3rd act, the 1st tableau of the 5th act and the 3rd tableau of the 5th act) recorded in the same conditions as La sorcière, at least. I didn't know about this recording of Hérodiade, but it seems interesting (I also have the radio broadcast of the representation given at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées given in 2022). Next week I will go to Saint-Etienne, they are programming Thaïs !

@@erlangerleretour3964 Great. Have a good time! The Alexandria scene in "Thais" may just be the best thing Massenet wrote.

The captation doesn't do justice to Guy Chauvet's voice here : he was known to have a big voice, easily heard in the opera house - he was a good Othello or Radames (voice allegedly mesured at 140dB in an automobile factory). Here is a representation of Hérodiade recorded from the public (I think) : th-cam.com/video/WPb5olCpVcY/w-d-xo.html "ne pouvant réprimer les élans de la foi" is at 1:37:24 What do you think about La sorcière ?

I am so glad it was recorded in such conditions ! The orchestra is much clearer, everything is so crisp... I absolutely love it ! I hope more recording of Erlanger or other french composers of that period will follow. What do you think about this recording ?

​@@erlangerleretour3964 I haven't got the CDs yet but will soon. ( I'm away from home at the moment.) I've been listening to it on TH-cam. The performance does seem to be excellent. Some of the Bru Zane recordings have not always been as well sung as they might be.

It lets me wonder what his Vercingetorix sounded like... Canteloube was the first composer to include the Ondes Martenot in an operatic work (Prelude of the 2nd act of Vercingetorix) and the two extracts sung by Georges Thill with the composer at the piano don't really showcase the orchestration... As for this recording, the whole thing is available on TH-cam, I put the link at the bottom of the description below the video.

So you did. Th​anks! @@erlangerleretour3964

I am always amazed when I think of the huge size of Monmart's repertoire, she sung basically everything...

Oui, et avec Nadine Sautereau et Lucien Lovano. Un 3ème enregistrement existe, réalisé en 1949 avec le ténor Raymond Berthaud, Renée Mazella, Hélène Bouvier et l'éternel Lucien Lovano.

Yes, it will be released next month... I'm so eager to get it, the concert left such a strong impression on me !

Je vais essayer de mettre Guillaume Tourniaire sur le coup.... on lui doit déjà un très bel Ascanio, et cette prochaine Sorcière....

The whole opera is really beautiful, a shame that only around 20 minutes of it were recorded... it wouldn't be too difficult to produce because the work is quite short and only requires two principal singers, a soprano and a baritone.

Robert Massard must be the oldest male french singer, I posted this extract for his 99th birthday (August 15th). The oldest french singer is the soprano Jacqueline Silvy (who celebrated her 100th birthday on August 21st, and whose husband the tenor Gustave Botiaux turned 98 years old on July the 14th)

@@erlangerleretour3964Avec un peu de retard, mes souhaits les plus affectueux à Gustave et à Jacqueline que j'ai souvent rencontrés, il y a ...un certain temps

I don't know, they weren't in my recording (the one available on TH-cam)... maybe Andrew Corals knows what happened to them. It would indeed benefit from a better sound, but it is not so bad. I have a recording of Surya, the last major work of Bachelet, but the condition of the recording is so bad that we can hardly differentiate the parts of the orchestra playing, and the 2 first minutes are to soft too be heard...

​@@erlangerleretour3964 I double-checked the file, and it seems I received it that way... Shame that anything is lost in this score. On top of the scenes that were never recorded the disappearance of the last bars is an unfortunate cherry on top. As for the sound- I do wonder if there's enough there for a good audio engineer to restore it. So many recordings from this era could benefit. Maybe even the Surya recording could be made listenable...?

@@andrewcorals5006 Thank you for the precision, it is what i suspected... a shame, already so much have been cut in that recording. For the Surya recording, I removed a part of the noise and some clics but the sound is still muddy (for a comparison, the 1928 recording of Witkowski I posted some months is in much better condition). Send me an email if you want the recording, I plan to post it but I want to do it with the score, but I don't have it... (my adress is on the front page of my channel).

Oui, c'est fou le nombre de rôles qu'il a chanté ! Dans quel rôle l'avez-vous entendu à Marseille ?

@@erlangerleretour3964 Il était venu chanter Hoffmann, très correctement, en février 1963, à l a suite d'une bévue inexplicable de la direction qui avait prévu André Mallabréra, magnifique ténor léger, mais rien à, voir avec Hoffmann, donc il a fallu trouver un remplaçant. Il y avait aussi René Bianco, , et les 3;chanteuses étaient Janine Ervil, Marie Pétrignani et Adriana Maliponte

@@joaquimlechat4124 Ah oui, j'ai un peu du mal à imaginer Mallabrera dans Hoffmann. Ca a dû être une belle soirée.

Massard's interpretation of "Nemico della Patria" is outstanding. The ability to get the dramatic message across far exceeds the vocal limitations. These may and do happen to the best singers. The real talent is to perform well regardless of the limitations. Even the most gifted singers have off-days. Dealing with adversity is the litmus test of a true artist.

I never listened to La Cena delle Beffe, I lust give it a try then !

Oui, cette représentation est formidable !

Oui ! Heuseusement, il y a 3 lives d'elles dans ce rôle, dont 2 sont facilement accessibles. Je ne peux pas m'empêcher de penser que Crespin aurait fait une Ariane absolument exceptionnelle dans l'opéra de Dukas.

@@erlangerleretour3964 tout à fait d’accord 👍

Merci beaucoup pour ce beau commentaire, qui me touche vraiment. Le but de cette chaine est de mettre en valeur un patrimoine musical et une école de chant qu'on a un peu oublié (avec la partition quand c'est possible car cela apporte, je trouve, un vrai confort d'écoute pour qui sait les lire) et je suis heureux que vous y soyez sensible. Vous mentionnez l'enregistrement de Pénélope réalisé au Colón que j'ai inclus dans la vidéo, il est excellent et Guy Chauvet y est en grande forme. Je possède également l'enregistrement de Werther que vous mentionnez, quelle soirée ça a du être ! Enfin, concernant les extraits de Mignon, ils sont disponibles sur TH-cam en suivant ce lien : th-cam.com/video/rXRKhgJ48qE/w-d-xo.html Merci encore pour ce beau commentaire ! Bien cordialement, Erlanger Leretour.

It is a beautiful opera. Hüe was rather conservative in his musical writing, it is a reason explaining his lack of big success (his most successful work was Dans l'ombre de la cathédrale).

Et il avait raison, c'est un très bel opéra ! L'histoire partage quelques similarités avec Monna Vanna de Février (Giovanna accepte de se donner au chef des mercenaires pour sauver la ville, la courtisane Alix qui se donne au chef des bandits en échange de leur départ à l'insu des citoyens... à la différence qu'Alix veut être récompensée de son acte et veut que la statue de Sainte Agnès porte ses traits, ce qui déplaira fortement à la foule.) L'opéra a été repris en 1929 avec Marcelle Mahieu, Georges Thill et Marcellin Duclos (Georges Thill qui a d'ailleurs dit de cette reprise qu'elle était maudite, tout le monde étant tombé malade à un moment ou un autre).

@@erlangerleretour3964 C'est justement parce qu'il y avait Duclos que j'avais lu cette critique...

A big thank you for all these informations ! When I saw the distribution of the 75 recording, I saw that Monteil was not credited as Pénélope and I was thinking "there is a mistake here, she must be singing Pénélope" and I was really disapointed by Guitton. I plan to post further extracts from the 48 and 58 recordings (they are both complete but I don't have the whole thing). Balguerie could have recorded it around 45, as she did with Ariane et Barbe-Bleue (even if she was past her prime, her interpretation is splendid). I don't understand why Juyol was never recorded in the wagnerian repertoire... she apparently sung bits from Isolde for the radio but I don't know if it was preserved... as were all the pre-WW2 radio broadcasts...

@@erlangerleretour3964 Pre-WWradio broadcasts: Nagging problem. There were no reliable media (acetates) in France like those of the Germans, champions in this matter. And no question for Paris, to go buy (as the Swedes and the Danes) material from the defeated 1918 (who, in addition, did not pay their war debts...). The French manufacturer of acetates did not have the best chemical formula, and after 10/15 years, the etched material fell into dust. When it comes to opera music, in France (who doesn’t like it's music) she was far behind the political messages or the beloved entertainers of the public: Mistinguett, M.Chevalier, Jean Sablon, and much worse... In 1945, Americans brought the "Phillips-Miller" optical film recording (lamp apparatus) which gave good results and at a lower cost. (Act II of Ariane with Balguerie in May 45, the 1st act did not stand up to the time) After 1 year of utilisation, the recordings became worse and worse and went to the garbage can, without the technicians knowing how to solve the problem. Then, only the concerts considered really important, Carmen 1947, Juyol, Luccioni, Don Quichotte with A.Pernet were recorded on very expensive discs (after 1945, France mutilated by the Germans and the Americans, is economically exsanguinated). Around the beginning of 1950, a more clever french technician was able to change the lamps of the Phillips-Miller, and miracle, the device gave excellent results. But too late, the magnetic tape replaced it very quickly. (I know this from a technician of the Radio) I have only a few acetates from before 1939, an abridged 1936 of Lazzari’s Sauteriot with the creator Y.Brothier and Louis Arnoult, an aria of Castor & Pollux by Marthe Chenal (!!!), an interview of Sylvio Lazzari by Radio-Paris in 1938 (lent to Fr-Musique in 1979 for a rebroadcast of the 1958 Lépreuse, which was broadcast). But today I fear that a reading will reduce everything to dust... Juyol left a trace in Wagner: a Lohengrin (Ortrud) retransmitted from the Opera in 1953, with B.Monmart and R.Jobin (in French) but the Opera’s direct Broadcasts are not rediffuseable (syndic of the orchestra) and knowing it, the technicians did not fix or recopy the tapes... Juyol sang a lot in Monte-Carlo (Marguerite, Brunehilde, Isolde, etc.) but Radio Monte-Carlo destroyed all its archives. It should also be noted that the radio stations did not, in principle, record live, artists who had an exclusive contract with a records editor. In 1936, Ninon Vallin, was very strong against the Radios who recorded, without telling her, her concerts and rebroadcast them without paying her royalties. She threatened and makes process. As a result, no more Radio invited her and there is almost nothing live with her, while she sang everywhere. Same for G.Thill. Balguerie, too learned repertoire, did not interest the Radios. Let’s dream a little. A collector assures me to have seen on a US list, an abridged in fifteen discs, of Hérodiade, captured in Marseille around 1937, with G.Thill, the soprano Ollivier-Sportiello (a star from there) and G.Frozier-Marrot (Herodiade) recorded after the local radio. But he got nothing. And I myself asked, offered on a US list, some faces engraved at home after to the Radio, of a retransmission of Ariane (Massenet) in Paris in 1937, where one could hear a little of Lubin, Thill and K.Lapeyrette (Persephone) but another got it, not me. The Holy Grail is still to be found...

@@haraldlie9986 Thank you so much for all of this ! It really put in perspective the development of this technology. About the Lohengrin recording, it is sad that it is not accessible... I have a recording of Monmart singing Elsa's aria (1953), and what a great Elsa ! (well, she lost her voice at the end of the aria and could not continue the radio broadcast... she should have sung the duet with Romagnoni but she left and they played something else. It's why I hesitate to post it) I would kill for extracts of the 1937 Ariane, to be honest !

Oh thank you for the information !

It is a good recording but it is not the one I enjoy the most. I love the orchestra in the recording conducted by David Lloyd-Jones. I will post further excerpts from the 48, the 58 and the 2001 recording (a pity that Isabelle Vernet was so for from the mic). I really hope that the recording with Catherine Hunold will be broadcasted (with Jérôme Boutillier, Anaïk Morel ans Julien Henric, who was absolutely mind blowong in Guercoeur)

@@erlangerleretour3964 I haven't heard the D L-J version. His recording of "Herodiade", though, is excellent, though quite heavily cut.

@@griselidis1 As were all the recordings of this opera at the time, sadly... I think the D L-J recording of Pénélope is available on TH-cam, if not I can send you the audio file. The orchestra sounds fuller than in the Dutoit recording, and the direction seems more dramatic.

Do you mean the recording from Cardiff in its incarnation on the Gala label? If so, I'll get it.​@@erlangerleretour3964

Yes, he really nailed the cold and snowy ruin in that introduction. He used a very similar atmosphere in his songs "Le tsar des cieux" and, to a lesser extent, "Fedia".