Giacomo Meyerbeer - L'etoile du nord - "Oh, mon Dieu!... C'est bien lui..." (Elizabeth Futral)

I've already posted several pieces from Meyerbeer's repertoire, mostly, if I remember correctly, for the tenor voice, that I admire greatly; now comes the time of another piece (or, to be precise, a section of a much longer number), this time for soprano, which has never truly left the recording studio and the recital stage but which is practically the only piece to "survive" the centuries, while its' source still remains hidden in the shadows: I'm talking about Catherine's famous "trio" with two flutes from one of Meyerbeer's later works, "L'etoile du nord".

While the work itself is, at the very least, charming and melodious, the "trio" is, perhaps, the most interesting section in the whole opera, the two flute obbligato notwithstanding. It comes at the end of a very long and, to be honest, completely illogical mad scene for the heroine, Catherine, as Peter (the Tzar) plays and further develops the melody that has already appeared at the beginning of the heroine's opening cavatina to return her to sanity. The pretext doesn't really matter, as the scene's only function is to provide the primadonna with an even bigger vocal opportunity than she had up to this point (not counting ensembles and dialogue, two arias in the first act), still, the theme used is a marvellous one, so I'm not really complaining :). Though the piece is frequently referred to as a "trio", it's actually much more elaborate: first, the main melody (a stunningly melancholic tune) is played by solo flute over a confused dialogue; then Catherine follows the flute's line in a brilliant but somehow reflective cadential section; after a short pause, the piece continues with the two flutes repeating the previous duet over Catherine's unsure statements with the later adding her voice to the piece only at the very end; a full orchestrated arioso follows with the musical denouement again featuring a rising line for the flutes and Catherine over the other soloists rambling. Though the music is imaginative, and, certainly, the section is a most unusual finish to a mad scene, in my opinion, the number sadly manages to project the correct sombre atmosphere only in its' first half, up to the end of the first "trio" by which it seems to begin to fall somewhat apart: the final long coda calls for a virtuoso team but the music loses something that made the original statement so winning. Still, just my opinion :).

Elizabeth Futral sings the role of Catherine in this rendition, providing both vocal relish and a superbly human portrait, bringing credibility both to the absurd situation and the somewhat lacking final part of the piece. Enjoy :)!

P.S. The tenor singing Georges is bound to be familiar to many :).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Elizabeth
• Futral
• Meyerbeer
• coloratura
• belcanto
• classical

[MISTERMORNE]

Hello, you are kindly invited to watch

my home made (classical) recordings of songs.

Maybe you will like some of them.

Just type 'mistermorne' at youtube search page. Thanx. I appreciated your video as well

[Meyerbeer1]

Very beautiful as always with Meyerbeer!