Don Quichotte

Conceiving originally Don Quichotte to be a three-act opera, Massenet started to compose it in 1909 at a time when, suffering from acute rheumatic pains, he spent more of his time in bed than out of it, and composition of Don Quichotte became, in his words, a sort of "soothing balm". In order to concentrate on that new work, he interrupted composition of another opera Bacchus.[1] Despite its five acts, there is under two hours of music in the opera.

Massenet identified personally with his comic-heroic protagonist, as he was in love with Lucy Arbell who sang Dulcinée at the first performance. He was then 67 and died just two years later. The role of Don Quichotte was one of the most notable achievements of the Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin, for whom the role was specifically conceived. The opera was one of six commissioned from Massenet by Raoul Gunsbourg for the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.

Don Quichotte was premiered in Monte Carlo on 19 February 1910,[2] followed by stagings in Brussels that May, and Marseille and Paris in December 1910. Its première at the Opéra-Comique in October 1924 was followed by over 60 performances during the succeeding quarter of a century; Arbell sang in the 1924 and 1931 runs, and Chaliapin appeared there in 1934, while the conductors included Maurice Frigara, Paul Bastide and Roger Désormière.[3]

In 1912 it was presented at the French Opera House in New Orleans (27 January), and the London Opera House (17 May).[4] On 15 November 1913 the work was presented in Philadelphia. The Chicago premiere of the work (by the Chicago Grand Opera Company) took place at the Auditorium Theatre on 27 January 1914 and featured Vanni Marcoux and Mary Garden in the lead roles.[5] Marcoux reprised the title role in Chicago with Coe Glade during the inaugural season of the Chicago Civic Opera House in December 1929.[5] Don Quichotte received its premiere in Budapest in 1917, and the Opéra-Comique in Paris presented it in 1924 with Marcoux in the title role, Arbell and Fugère; Chaliapin sang it there in 1934.[6] The Metropolitan Opera in New York City performed it nine times in 1926, but after devastating reviews of those performances in particular, and criticisms of Massenet's music in general by Lawrence Gilman in the Herald Tribune, the opera has never been revived at the Met.[7] It was performed by the Opera Company of Boston (staged and conducted by Sarah Caldwell) in 1974 (with Noel Tyl, Donald Gramm, and Mignon Dunn), and the New York City Opera in 1986.[7][8]

Besides frequent and periodic revivals at Monte Carlo and in France, it was also shown with great success in Italy (Catania in 1928, Turin in 1933 (Teatro Regio), Bologna in 1952, Venice in 1982, Florence in 1992). The Polish premiere was at the Kraków Opera in 1962, and Baltic State Opera premiere was in 1969. Nicolai Ghiaurov sang the title role to great acclaim at Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1974 and again in 1981, and Lyric Opera mounted the work again in 1993 with Samuel Ramey, Jean-Philippe Lafont and Susanne Mentzer. The first revival in Britain since 1912 was given by English National Opera in October 1994, with Richard Van Allan as Quixote.[9] The production was presented again in 1996.[10]

More recently, it was staged in Paris in 2000 (with Samuel Ramey in the title role), in San Diego in 2009 starring Ferruccio Furlanetto and Denyce Graves, in 2010 in Brussels with José van Dam and in Palermo with Ferruccio Furlanetto and Arutjun Kotchinian. The opera was performed at the Seattle Opera in February/March 2011 with John Relyea in the title role. In 2012 the Mariinsky Theatre of Saint Petersburg staged a new production, also featuring Furlanetto. The Lyric Opera of Chicago mounted a newly-staged production in 2016 with sets and costumes from the San Diego production.,[11] and the work was also staged by Opera Australia in Sydney in March 2018.[12]

Place: Spain[15]

Act 1

A square in front of Dulcinée's house

A festival is being celebrated. Four hopeful admirers of Dulcinée serenade her from the street. Dulcinée appears and explains philosophically that being adored is not enough, "Quand la femme a vingt ans" (When a woman is twenty). She withdraws and a crowd, largely of beggars, acclaim the arrival of the eccentric knight Don Quichotte (riding on his horse Rossinante) and his comic squire Sancho Panza (on a donkey). Delighted by their attention, Don Quichotte tells a reluctant Sancho to throw them money. After the crowd disperse, Don Quichotte himself serenades Dulcinée, "Quand apparaissent les étoiles" (When the stars begin to shine) but he is stopped by Juan, a jealous admirer of the local beauty. A sword fight follows, interrupted by Dulcinée herself. She is charmed by Don Quichotte's antique attentions, chides Juan for his jealousy and sends him away. The old man offers her his devotion and a castle. She suggests instead that he might retrieve a pearl necklace of hers stolen by Ténébrun, the bandit chief. He undertakes to do so, and Dulcinée quickly rejoins her men friends.

Feodor Chaliapin as Don Quichotte by Alexandre Jacovleff

Act 2

In the countryside

A misty morning, Don Quichotte and Sancho enter with Rossinante and the donkey. Don Quichotte is composing a love poem. Sancho delivers a grand tirade against their expedition, against Dulcinée, and against women in general. "Comment peut-on penser du bien de ces coquines" (How can anyone think anything good of those hussies). The mists disperse revealing a line of windmills that Don Quichotte takes for a group of giants. To Sancho's horror, Don Quichotte attacks the first one, only to be caught up in one of the sails and hoisted up in the air.

Lucien Fugère as Sancho, Paris 1910.

• "Quand la femme a vingt ans" (Dulcinée) – act 1
• "Lorsque le temps d'amour a fui" (Dulcinée) – act 4
• "Riez, allez, riez du pauvre idéologue" (Sancho) – act 4
• "O mon maître, o mon grand!... Ecoute, mon ami" (Sancho, Don Quichotte) – act 5

Sources

• Macdonald, Hugh (2001). "Jules Massenet". In Amanda Holden (ed.). The New Penguin Opera Guide. New York: Penguin Putnam. pp. 542–554. ISBN 0-14-029312-4.
• Massenet, Jules (1910). Don Quichotte, comédie héroique en cinq actes, poème de Henri Cain, d'après Le Lorrain (piano–vocal score). Paris: Heugel.
• Milnes, Rodney (1992). "Don Quichotte". In Stanley Sadie (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Vol. 1. London: Macmillan. pp. 1226–1228. ISBN 978-1-56159-228-9.

• Upton, George P.; Borowski, Felix (1928). The Standard Opera Guide. New York: Blue Ribbon Books. pp. 193–194.
• Kobbé, Gustav (1976). The Complete Opera Book. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, pp. 875–876.
• Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5.

• Don Quichotte: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Don Quichotte, Vocal score (piano reduction), French and English libretto
• Review of 2009 San Diego production