Ariodant

The premiere took place on 11 October 1799. There were fears that the success of the opera might be damaged by the plot's similarity to Henri Montan Berton's Montano et Stéphanie, which had debuted on 15 April of the same year. In the event, the audience was warmly appreciative and Méhul appeared on stage at the end to take their applause (Hoffman had been kept at home by illness). Méhul dedicated the score to his friend Luigi Cherubini.[2][3]

Ariodant, with its sombre and dramatic character, is among the most highly regarded of Méhul's works.[2] Edward Dent wrote, "This is perhaps the best of all Méhul's operas, for it has consistency of style, and a plot which although wildly Romantic is not outrageously nonsensical and deals with very genuine human emotions. Moreover, it is not dependent, as some of these operas are, on scenic effects such as storms and avalanches."[9] Méhul scholar Elizabeth Bartlet describes it as "Mehul's best work of the decade and a highpoint of Revolutionary opera. It epitomises the major achievements of the genre: musical continuity and unification in spite of divisions caused by the spoken dialogue, the coordination of music and drama in the work as a whole, and inventiveness of form, orchestral treatment, and vocal writing to realise theatrical and musical aims."[10]

Ariodant had a profound influence on German Romantic opera, especially Weber's Euryanthe (1823), which has a very similar chivalric plot. But Weber also learned from Méhul's use of the orchestra to evoke atmosphere. As John Warrack writes: "Much of the opera is set by night or in underground rooms and labyrinthine passages or a thick forest and Méhul responds with some of the swarthiest orchestration he can contrive, setting the tone at once with an overture (brief, irregular in form, and ending in harmonic mid-air) beginning on three solo cellos and ending on unison double basses."[11] The opera also makes use of a "reminiscence motif" (the forerunner of the Leitmotiv), descending discords symbolising Othon's jealousy and anger which recur throughout the work.[11][10][12] According to Winton Dean, it occurs in "at least eight of the fifteen movements of the opera."[13]

The overture appears on: Méhul Overtures, Orchestre de Bretagne, conducted by Stefan Sanderling (ASV, 2002) Catalogue number CD DCA 1140.

The soprano Véronique Gens sings Ina's act 2 recitative, melodrama and aria "Quelle fureur barbare!...Mais, que dis-je?...Ô des amants le plus fidèle" on the album Tragédiennes Volume 3 with Les Talens Lyriques conducted by Christophe Rousset (Virgin Classics, 2011).

Sources

• Bartlet, Mary Elizabeth Caroline (1997). "Ariodant [Ina]". In Stanley Sadie (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. I. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2.
• — (1999). Etienne-Nicolas Méhul and Opera: Source and Archival Studies of Lyric Theatre During the French Revolution, Consulate and Empire. Heilbronn, Germany: Musik-Edition Galland. ISBN 3-925934-41-3.
• de Place, Adélaïde (2005). Étienne Nicolas Méhul. Bleu Nuit Éditeur.
• Dean, Winton (1988). "French Opera". In Gerald Abraham (ed.). The New Oxford History of Music Volume 8: The Age of Beethoven 1790–1830. Oxford University Press.
• Dent, Edward Joseph (1979). The Rise of Romantic Opera. Cambridge University Press.
• Méhul, Étienne (n.d.). Ariodant, Opéra en 3 actes. Paroles d'Hoffman. Musique de Méhul (Original printed score). Paris: Jmbault – via Gallica – B.N.F.
• Warrack, John (2001). German Opera from the Beginnings to Wagner. Cambridge University Press.

• General introduction to Méhul's operas in the introduction to the edition of Stratonice by Mary Elizabeth Caroline Bartlet (Pendragon Press, 1997)
• The Viking Opera Guide, ed. Amanda Holden (Viking, 1993)

• Ariodant (Méhul): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project