Thursday evening took place, at the Palais Montcalm, in Quebec, the premiere of the opera Yourcenar – An island of passions by Éric Champagne, to a libretto by Hélène Dorion and the late Marie-Claire Blais. A work of undeniable interest of which it is obviously difficult for the moment to know if it will find its way into the lyrical repertoire.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
It is obviously difficult to evaluate a score on first hearing, all the more so when it is a staged opera. Here, three very distinct dimensions come together: the text, the music and the interpretation.
The libretto written by the two Quebec women of letters focuses on distinct episodes in the life of Marguerite Yourcenar, highlighting the two great loves of her American life, the translator Grace Frick and the young director Jerry Wilson, whom she both accompanied in death (one of cancer, the other of AIDS).
However, it is not easy to feel a real dramatic tension in the opera, which is understandable because of the biographical aspect of the work. Does a life have, after all, a stake, an Ariadne’s thread to follow imperiously? Despite everything, the text includes quite moving moments like the prologue and the epilogue, the last moments of the two lovers, the evocation of the Second World War by the chorus and the arguments Yourcenar had with Grace and Jerry.
We might have expected more poetry from the two librettists, whose pen is often quite descriptive, even somewhat didactic in certain choirs narrating the events.
The figure of the angel (birds as angels of life, Daniel, Jerry’s lover, as angel of death) is one of the rare incursions into symbolism.
The music of Éric Champagne, of which it was the first major opera, seemed to have displeased some of the listeners, according to several comments heard leaving the room. His language, however, remains quite accessible, especially if we compare it to The orange grovewhich premiered last fall in Montreal and Quebec City to arid music by Zad Moultaka.
We evolve in a quite moderately dissonant tonal world, with sustained or repeated notes in the strings in the passages closest to recitative. The writing of the winds is particularly neat (Champagne is a clarinettist by training) and contributes to give relief to the speech.
We note in particular the scene evoking the political ferment of the 1960s, where the orchestra becomes a fanfare, a moving flute solo accompanying Marguerite and Grace, the choral complexity of the scene of the reception of the writer at the French Academy and the fury accompanying amorous brawls. The choir scenes (12 singers) are also quite successful.
The 20 musicians composing the enlarged Violons du Roy are effectively led by the young conductor Thomas Le Duc-Moreau – who could however have accentuated the contrasts of tempos – at the back of the stage.
The orchestra is separated from the singers by a sort of long white bench, the color of which is that of the entire stage set-up, essentially made up of four huge stelae placed on the sides. Above the orchestra, a screen dispenses both surtitles and occasional projections (birds, domes of the Academy, etc.) accompanying the narration.
Accessories are also reduced to a minimum. Only a white trunk allows Marguerite to find the manuscript of what will become Memoirs of Hadrian. Overall, Angela Konrad’s staging is just right by its simplicity.
Of the singers, it is naturally the mezzo-soprano Stéphanie Pothier who imposes herself in the title role, with an assured voice and constant concentration. Baritone Hugo Laporte (Jerry) stands out with his powerful and mellow voice, as does soprano Suzanne Taffot in a short aria evoking the Vissi d’arte of the Tosca by Puccini. Hats off also to moving soprano Kimy McLaren as Grace.
Tenor Jean-Michel Richer (Daniel) and baritone Pierre Rancourt (a boat captain) also do very well in their short interventions, despite a sound volume that is not that of the main soloists.
The opera, a co-production of the Opéra de Montréal, the Festival d’Opéra de Québec and Les Violons du Roy, will be performed again at the Palais Montcalm on July 30 and at the Salle Pierre-Mercure, in Montreal, on August 4 and 6. .