Opera Lafayette’s mission is finding neglected opera gems of the 17th-19th centuries and performing them authentically on period instruments; there is an emphasis on French compositions of the 18th century. If you look closely, you will see that their new season is filled with such treasures. I say look closely because the works to be performed are offered under the umbrella of a theme this season as last. As part of the research done to find these gems, OL staff encounters examples of how the history of an era affects the music of that era, and significantly, how music influences history. For the first time last year, OL officially gave their season a theme, and revealed the themes for the following two years as well. Last season’s theme was the “Era of Marie Antoinette”, and the works of that era that were presented dealt in part with 18th century land ownership issues and the role of French music in colonialism. This year’s theme moves a few years back from Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI to the era of Madame de Pompadour and Louis XV, highlighting how music enabled musically talented French women to become influencers in the king’s court and in society beyond. In my comments below, I report some of the details I learned in a telephone conversation with OL’s Artistic Director, Ryan Brown. Enjoy the history lessons that will be offered by Opera Lafayette but go for the extraordinarily beautiful music you will hear in musical compositions you have not likely heard before.
Charles André Van Loo - Madame de Pompadour en belle jardinière - v.1754-1755. Image from Wikipedia is in the public domain.
Opera Lafayette’s 2022-2023 Season, the “Era of Madame Pompadour”:
In the Salons of Versailles (DC: Dec 2/NYC: May 10)
Pergolesi! (DC: Feb 2/NYC: May 11)
Opéra-ballet: Rameau’s Io and de La Garde’s Léandre et Héro (DC: May 2,3/NYC: May 9)
What first caught my eye for this year was the theme, the “Era of Madame de Pompadour”. I knew little about her beyond that she was famous as a celebrity in French history, and a hair style was named after her that Elvis wore; if you are over 50, you knew that. I had no idea that she had influenced French music, much less how. She was officially known as Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour and got her title from doing a swell job as chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751. Chief mistress? Yep, officially titled maîtresse-en-titre. As an aside, the king’s unofficial mistresses were known as petit-maîtresses; it must have stung to not only be labeled a consort, but a minor consort. If we had been a French colony, so much about America might have been different - croissants, not biscuits for example, but I digress.
So, it turns out that Madame de Pompadour was a more than passable soprano and musician; she played the harpsichord and enjoyed performing as a singer; these talents were enabling for her. Artistic Director Brown was familiar with her; she had performed in her day in an opera by composers Rebel and Francoeur named Zélindor roi des sylphs which OL performed in 2007. She also was a strong patron of the arts who wielded a lot of unofficial power because she had the ear of the king; even after her tenure as maîtresse-en-titre, her influence continued. Her ingratiating musicianship and patronage of the arts helped diffuse some of the grief directed towards her for being a commoner, a serious issue for some of the encrusted members of the court. Opera Lafayette’s theme is a celebration of the era, and only partially Madame Pompadour. Her support of the arts helped her gain acceptance and influence, but it was also valuable to the arts.
Logo courtesy of Opera Lafayette
In the Salons of Versailles:
Opera Lafayette leads off this season with “In the Salons of Versailles”. Invitations to salons in 18th century were coveted. OL’s program will present French salons as two different salonnières (organizers of the salon) might have organized them. The salons of that time were one area where women could hold the leadership position. The first salon will feature a bill of music that Madame de Pompadour might have selected. Mme. Pompadour was not the only influencer of her day. Another salonnière in the French court at that time who liked to organize salons in order to extend her favor and influence with the power brokers of the day was the Dauphine Marie-Josèphe de Saxe. She was an import from Dresden, the daughter of Augustus III of Poland, who had married Louis XV’s son, the Dauphin Louis, a marriage arranged to cement the alliance between France and Saxony; she also played the harpsichord.
Cast photo from OL’s performance in 2012 of Le Roi et le fermier by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny; this production included a performance at Opéra Royal de Versailles. Photo by Louis Forget; courtesy of Opera Lafayette.
Though both were talented musicians, Dauphine Marie-Josèphe de Saxe and Madame Pompadour were quite different in tastes and background; she was a cosmopolitan from upper crust nobility, and Mme. Pompadour was a French commoner with an unfashionable job. The program will begin with a Pompadour salon section featuring French composers, whom she favored rather strictly. Then, we will be presented with a Marie-Josèphe de Saxe salon with works from a multinational cast of composers such as Mozart, Hasse, and Pergolesi. Near the program’s end, the selections will revert again to Madame de Pompadour. The recitals will feature renown soprano Emmanuelle de Negri (for a treat and a sampling of her beautiful voice and artistry, click on this link) and will be under the musical direction of violinist Jacob Ashworth directing an ensemble of well-known early music specialists playing the harpsichord (Justin Jonathan Taylor), violin (June Huang), viola (Isaiah Chapman), and cello (Serafim Smigelskiy); the program was designed by Mr. Ashworth.
During Madame Pompadour’s era, a controversy known as the Guerre des Bouffons was brewing in Paris; the disagreement was over which was superior, French or Italian music. For OL’s exemplary salons, I don’t think scorecards will be handed out, but you can take mental notes for arguments on the way home. For me, I suspect it will be a tie; I like ciabatta and croissants.
Pergolesi!
Opera Lafayette’s second production planned this season is titled “Pergolesi!” and will present two compositions by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi; keep in mind that even though Italian, his music was quite the rage and had influence in Paris during Mme. Pompadour’s era. OL will first present a semi-staged performance of Pergolesi’s hit comedic opera, La serva padrona to be performed in the French version, La Servante maîtresse (The Maid Turned Mistress); in the opera, a trick by a servant woman leads to the discovery of true love. This 40-minute opera was created to play as an entertainment during the intermission of another opera by Pergolesi but came to be successful on its own. The opera helped kick off the Guerre des Bouffons when it became a hit after being used in Paris as an intermezzo for the performance of an opera by Lully as well as other performances. OL’s performance will be sung in French, but it will have a novel feature - Director Nick Olcott has composed rhymed dialog in English meant to better approximate rhymes of the original recitatives in order to recapture the humor for an English-speaking audience.
Personally, I am most excited about the second part of this program, a chance to hear in person Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater performed by Opera Lafayette. I find this piece extraordinarily beautiful and have listened to recordings of it multiple times every year since discovering it a few years ago. The concert rendition of Stabat Mater will be conducted by Patrick Dupré Quigley and feature soprano Gwendoline Blondeel and mezzo-soprano Sarah Mesko. La Servante Maîtresse will have musical direction by Conductor Quigley and feature soprano Hannah De Priest, bass-baritone Jonathan Woody, and tenor Patrick Kilbride.
Opéra-ballet: Rameau’s Io and de La Garde’s Léandre et Héro
The third OL production for this season will be two fully-staged actes des ballets, one-act operas that include divertissements with dancing and choruses at the end. The first will be a world premiere of the famous French composer Jean Phillipe Rameau’s Io. Rameau was a favorite of both Madame Pompadour and Marie-Josèphe de Saxe. This opera was unfinished by Rameau, as he set it aside to work on his opera Platée, his most famous comedy, and it has never been performed. Both plots deal with Jupiter’s philandering and Juno’s jealously and create the character of Folly (La Folie). Musicologist Sylvie Bouissou, who has written a biography of Rameau, completed this work with similar plotlines, principally by adding dancing and a chorus at the end taken from Platée.
Madame de Pompadour had an opera theater, the Théâtre des Petits Cabinets, constructed at Versailles early in her reign as chief mistress, where she frequently performed. The second opéra-ballet will be composer Pierre de la Garde’s Léandre et Héro. The composer taught music to Louis LXV, and this is an opera that Madame Pompadour played the lead in when performed at court. Both operas will be conducted by harpsichordist Avi Stein, with stage direction by Nick Olcott, and will have lead roles played by soprano Emmanuelle de Negri and tenor Maxime Melnik, his in American debut. The New York Baroque Dance Company and the Sean Curran Dance Company will both be performing in Léandre et Héro, and the Sean Curran Company will perform in Io.
Photo of Artistic Director, Conductor, and Violinist Ryan Brown. Photo courtesy of Opera Lafayette.
In concluding, let me ask if you have been aware of an apparent glaring omission thus far. Opera Lafayette’s Artistic Director and founder, Ryan Brown typically conducts these performances and most often is also featured as a violinist. For this season, he has chosen to remain on the sidelines to give additional leaders and conductors opportunities to gain experience and continue this work, perhaps also a concession to the COVID pandemic which limited opportunities for so many, with audiences still down over pre-pandemic levels. He also pointed out that Opera Lafayette has recently added three Artistic Associates: Jacob Ashworth who put together the opening recital for this season; Jonathan Woody who sings in La Servante Maîtresse and also organized the choruses for the operas to be performed in the Spring; and Columbia University musicologist, Julia Doe, who now is overseeing OL’s educational programs.
I hope this overview of Opera Lafayette’s 2022-2023 season has been helpful, but personally, I don’t need to know what’s playing when Opera Lafayette is performing. I just go, knowing that it will be played with the wholesomeness of authenticity and that I’m going to enjoy it. This has been true since I attended my first performance by Opera Lafayette over five years ago. Heck, if you don’t like Opera Lafayette performances, you don’t like ice cream (or sorbet).
The Fan Experience: All of Opera Lafayette’s productions for 2022-2023 will be performed in both Washington, DC (Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center) and New York City (El Museo del Barrio). In DC, they will be spread over the entire season and in NYC performed as a festival.
Washington, DC:
In the Salons of Versailles – December 2
Pergolesi! - February 2
Opéra-ballet - Rameau’s Io and de La Garde’s Léandre et Héro - May 2,3
New York City:
Opéra-ballet: Rameau’s Io and de La Garde’s Léandre et Héro - May 9
In the Salons of Versailles - May 10
Pergolesi! - May 11
I have not attended an OL performance in NYC, but my experience attending performances at the Kennedy Center is that they sometimes sell out; best to purchase tickets early to have the better choice of seating. OL’s next season will also be themed based, covering the “The Era of Madame de Maintenon” in 2023-2024.