She is Lucie in Lucy of Lammermoor at the Grand Théâtre de Québec starting this Saturday evening. The first musical visit to Quebec by Belgian coloratura soprano Jodie Devos is a precious gift to music lovers from Jean-François Lapointe and the Opéra de Québec team.
The duty twice highlighted the exceptional achievements of Jodie Devos on record, for her recitals Offenbach Colorature And Lost jewelrythe latter appearing among our selection of the best records of the year 2022.
The role of Lucie de Lammermoor in French, Jodie Devos sang it last February at the Tours Opera: “It is a co-production between the Opéras de Québec and Tours, following an idea from the Opéra de Québec . The production has traveled and we are two survivors of the original cast,” comments Jodie Devos.
Adaptations
Lucia di Lammermoora masterpiece by Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848), was created in Naples in 1835. Lucy of Lammermoor is not a simple translation of the text, but a French adaptation carried out by Donizetti in Paris in 1839. Did the Italian version interfere with the learning of this Lucy for Jodie Devos? “I tried not to listen to it, because you have to keep a French style so that the text is as understandable as possible. There are the rules of bel canto that we are not going to change, but in the style, we feel from the first tune, Why don’t we have wings?which replaces the Regnava nel silence, that we are in a French coloratura style, a very light style. »
Jodie Devos considers the role “quite long in the range”. “You have to have a fairly powerful medium; we are not always in the treble and it travels a lot in the range. » She sees the challenge of the role: preserving lightness, especially since “the air of madness is transposed a tone higher than the Italian version”. This transposition towards the treble removes a dilemma: to sing or not to sing the counter-E flat at the end of the cadenza. “The counterfa in the voice held at the end of the cadenza, Natalie Dessay perhaps did them, but I no longer have them in the voice, or else I would have to seriously get back to it! » Jodie Devos sees in the higher vocal placement a “risk of pushing the voice a little too much in the ensembles”. “This could be dangerous for The air of madness, because we would lose the necessary crystal. My challenge is to sing with my voice from start to finish, not to exaggerate anything unnecessarily and to remain in the fragility that corresponds to Lucie’s character. »
Vocal Challenges
Jodie Devos considers that her record recitals Offenbach coloratura And Lost jewelry represent it well. “I presented myself a lot in the French repertoire. I could even have the label of “specialist”, because certain seasons, I only sing in French. I even sang Rossini in French. I am approaching bel canto with great strides: it is a repertoire that makes me feel good, in which I feel at ease. But I would like to defend this bel canto in the French repertoire. For the moment, I am lucky to have an eclectic career, to sing Rameau, contemporary opera, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti and Offenbach. »
For the moment, I am lucky enough to have an eclectic career, to sing Rameau, contemporary opera, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti and Offenbach.
In fact, Jodie Devos has always touched all repertoires. Also at the time of the Queen Elisabeth Competition (second prize, 2014) which revealed her. “Perhaps I am Mozartian first of all. Baroque came later with Leonardo García Alarcón and Christophe Rousset. I started my career with La Reine de la nuit, but with the French repertoire on the side. Leonardo García Alarcón, for his part, heard the Concert tunes of Mozart in my voice. » Subsequently, Alexandre Dratwicki, artistic director of the Palazzetto Bru Zane, introduced the young soprano to the comic opera repertoire: “I fell in love with it, but I like being able to keep one foot in all the directories. Some will say it is dangerous. It could be. You have to do it with full awareness. »
In the medium term, nothing changes. His roles taken? “One in Rameau, one in Mozart, one in Verdi. Maybe at some point, my voice will feel better in a certain style, and theaters will no longer ask me for that, but I feel lucky to be trusted with all these repertoires. I love singing Rameau, it’s so powerful and intelligent; Mozart challenges me vocally and brings me back to solid technique, and in Verdi I explore fabulous characters with the music I love most. I have to maintain my instrument to be up to the vocal challenges. And I like challenges. »