Mireille (opera)

The opera premiered at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris on March 19, 1864; the first night was attended by Ivan Turgenev, who in a letter to Pauline Viardot, ridicules part of Act 3.[9]

As with the role of Marguerite in Faust, Gounod's demands on his principal soprano are particularly onerous – from light soprano in Act I to more dramatic singing in Act IV. Even before the premiere Gounod had been forced by his prima donna to make many changes to the form and content of his opera.[10] This caused vocal problems for Miolan-Carvalho - wife of the theatre director - who got Gounod to make the role easier for her and particularly more 'brilliant'. Gounod even marked in the manuscript that the roulades at the end of her Act 2 air were demanded by her.[11]

Critical reaction to the first performances was negative with accusations of Wagnerism.[12] The criticisms led to a revised version first presented on December 15, 1864, in three acts with a happy ending.[13] However, this version also failed to find an audience.[14][15] The December performances of Mireille also included a revised ending to the overture (which has been used ever since, although the original slower coda is printed in the 1970 vocal score) and the 'valse-ariette' "O légère hirondelle" for Mireille in Act I.[16]

After Carvalho's company went bankrupt in 1868, the opera transferred to the Opéra-Comique, where it has had a long and varied career. The first production at the Salle Favart was on November 10, 1874, in four acts, but was poorly received. This production featured Miolan-Carvalho again in the title role, Galli-Marié as Taven and Andreloun, and Ismael appeared this time as Ramon, while Léon Melchissédec sang Ourrias; Deloffre conducted, as in the premiere run.[17]

A revival on November 29, 1889, presented by the Opéra-Comique at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Place du Chatelet, with Cécile Simonnet as Mireille and Edmond Clément as Vincent, was in three acts with a happy ending in which Mireille and Vincent marry. This version did much better, and the opera became a repertory piece, receiving 226 performances by the end of 1894.[18]

The three-act version pleased some later writers, who admired "warmth and colour" and found it "glows with the life and sunlight of the south".[19]

A new production at the Opéra-Comique, which opened on March 13, 1901, was again in five acts (although acts 4 and 5 were both abridged), used spoken dialogue, and reinstated the tragic ending.[20] The 500th performance at the Opéra-Comique took place on the December 19, 1920.[17]

On June 6, 1939, Reynaldo Hahn and Henri Büsser mounted a new production at the Opéra-Comique (revived in Arles on June 28, 1941), in which an attempt was made to revert to Gounod's original thoughts.[21] Büsser edited the music and provided orchestrations for some passages for which Gounod's full scoring had been lost (most notably, much of the aria in the Crau scene, and Mireille's death in the finale).[21][22] Subsequent productions have generally followed Büsser's edition. Whether it is a true reflection of the original score is doubtful: spoken dialogue was probably used at the première rather than recitatives, and the end of Act II was originally a repeat of the concertato, not a recollection of the Chanson de Magali.[23] However, the work continued to be successful and by 1950 over 800 performances of Mireille had been given at the Opéra-Comique.[17]

Mireille was produced at the Gaîté-Lyrique on May 11, 1930.[24]

A notable production was given on July 24, 1954 at the Baux de Provence with five thousand seats borrowed from the arenas in Nîmes and Arles, as part of the Aix-en-Provence Festival; the same cast and orchestra recorded the work under Cluytens a few days later in Aix.[25]

Mireille was given its Paris Opera premiere in September 2009 in a production by the company's new director Nicolas Joël and was released on DVD.[26]

The opera was never as popular outside France. James Henry Mapleson produced the London premiere on July 5, 1864, at Her Majesty's Theatre (in Italian as Mirella). It was presented in five acts but with a new happy ending that Gounod later incorporated into the 3-act version at the Théâtre Lyrique in December. It was also likely the first version of the opera to include the recitatives (which Gounod originally intended for use in foreign productions). The cast included Thérèse Tietjens as Mireille (Mirella), Antonio Giuglini as Vincent (Vicenzo), Zelia Trebelli-Bettini as Taven (Tavena), Charles Santley as Ourrias (Urias), Mélanie-Charlotte Reboux as Vincennette (Vincenzina), Elisa Volpini as Andreloun (Andreluno), Marcel Junca as Ramon (Raimondo), and Édouard Gassier as Ambroise (Ambrogio), with Luigi Arditi as the conductor, but it was only a succès d'estime.[27] On April 29, 1887, Mapleson revived the opera with Emma Nevada as Mireille at the Covent Garden theatre, where it was also given in Italian with the happy ending, but in the compressed 3-act form.[28] On June 10, 1891, it was sung at the same theatre in French, and on December 4, 1899, at the Guildhall School of Music (in an English translation by Henry Fothergill Chorley[29]). It was seen in Dublin on September 29, 1864 (in Italian).[24]

Mireille was presented in French in Belgium: in Antwerp on March 10, 1865, and Brussels on May 12, with further performances in later years.[24] Adelina Patti sang the title role in an Italian production in St Petersburg on February 9, 1874, with her husband Nicolini as Vincent.[24][11]

The opera was first seen in the United States at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on November 17, 1864 (in German).[30] It was first given in Chicago on September 13, 1880 (in English), and in New York on December 18, 1884 (in Italian).[24] It was performed in the original French at the French Opera House in New Orleans on 29 January, 1885.[31] The Metropolitan Opera presented the opera on February 28, 1919, with Maria Barrientos as Mireille, Charles Hackett as Vincent, Kathleen Howard as Taven, and Clarence Whitehill as Ourrias and Pierre Monteux conducting. Despite the line-up, the production was only given four times, and the opera was never revived.[32]

A mulberry grove on Midsummer night (Fête de la Saint-Jean).

Girls sing as they pick the leaves to feed to silkworms. Taven, an old woman who lives in nearby caves, joins them and comments on their jollity, but they laugh at "the witch" and Clemence voices her wish for a rich husband. Mireille however wants to marry for love, even if her husband be poor and shy, but is teased by the other girls who know that she has set her heart on a poor basket-weaver, Vincent. Taven shares her forebodings with Mireille. Vincent passes by and Mireille gets him to confess his love. As they part, they swear to meet in the church of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer if anything befalls one of them. The girls are heard singing the opening chorus in the distance.

Act 2 finale in the original 1864 production

In front of the Arles Amphitheatre the same afternoon.

The crowd is singing and dancing a farandole as it waits for the start of a race. Mireille and Vincent arrive separately but they are greeted joyfully and sing the Song of Magali. After the race, Taven takes Mireille aside and tells her that she has just seen three young men, Ourrias, Alari and Pascoul arguing who should claim Mireille's hand. Alone, Mireille swears that nothing will part her from Vincent. Ourrias enters and forces his boastful attentions on her but Mireille politely rejects his advances. Mireille's father Ramon enters, followed shortly by Ambroise, the father of Vincent. Ambroise asks for advice on what to do about his son who is in love with a rich heiress; Ramon suggests beating the boy to cure him. Shocked, Ambroise is reminded by Ramon of a father's prerogative which used to extend even to life and death over his children. At this, Mireille comes forward crying "Kill me!" - she is the one Vincent loves. Ramon is outraged, orders Mireille to go home then turns on Vincent and Ambroise.

First Tableau: The Val d'Enfer in the country outside Arles. Night

Act 3, second tableau (1864)

Ourrias and some friends are in the wild spot, supposedly peopled by spirits. Ourrias wants to buy a potion from Taven. Alone, Ourrias vents his fury and jealousy and lies in wait for Vincent, who soon appears. Ourrias insults him but although Vincent tries to calm him down, Ourrias strikes him with his trident, and thinking he has killed him, runs off. Taven hears cries and curses Ourrias as he rushes off, then tends to the unconscious Vincent.

Second Tableau: The banks of the Rhône

Full of remorse, Ourrias hurries to the river bank and calls the ferryman. An echo greets his call and moans sound with ghosts floating above the water. The ferryman (Passeur) arrives and Ourrias impatiently gets aboard. The waters swell, and as the boatman reminds Ourrias of his crime, the boat sinks beneath the waves.

First Tableau: Ramon's farm late the same night

While the harvesters celebrate, Ramon is sad and knows that by denying Mireille's love he has destroyed his dream of a happy old age. From her window Mireille sees a young shepherd singing, and envies his carefree life. Unseen, Vincenette, Vincent's sister, comes to tell her that Vincent is wounded: Mireille resolves to set off at once to Saintes-Maries.

Second Tableau: The Crau desert

Mireille, staggers in already tired, and dazzled by the sun, faints as she hears shepherd's pipes in the distance. She makes a last effort to continue her journey.

In front of the chapel of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Midday

Pilgrims are singing. Vincent is there, looking for Mireille, and she arrives, exhausted and collapses in his arms. Ramon arrives with Vincenette, and forgives her, but Mireille dies and is called to heaven by a celestial voice.

• Curtiss, Mina (1958). Bizet and His World. New York: Knopf. OCLC 600093.
• Ferrant, Guy (1942). La Vraie Mireille de Gounod. Avignon: Aubanel. Listings at WorldCat.
• Gounod, Charles (n.d. [c. 1880]). Mireille (piano-vocal score of the 3-act version, edited by Arthur Sullivan and J. Pittman, in Italian with Henry F. Chorley's English translation). London: Boosey. File #140315 at IMSLP.
• Gounod, Charles (1901). Mireille (piano-vocal score for the 5-act Opéra-Comique production of 1901). Paris: Choudens. File #21545 at IMSLP.
• Harding, James (1973). Gounod. New York: Stein & Day. ISBN 978-0-306-79712-5.
• Holden, Amanda, editor (2001). The New Penguin Opera Guide. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-051475-9 (paperback).
• Huebner Steven (1990). The Operas of Charles Gounod. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-315329-5.
• Huebner, Steven (1992). "Mireille" in Sadie 1992, vol. 3, pp. 408–410.
• Huebner, Steven (2001). "Charles Gounod" in Holden 2001, pp. 334–340.
• Kobbé, Gustav (1997). The New Kobbé's Opera Book, edited by The Earl of Harewood and Antony Peattie. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 978-0-399-14332-8.
• Letellier, Robert Ignatius (2010). Opéra-Comique: A Sourcebook. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. ISBN 978-1-4438-2140-7.
• Loewenberg, Alfred (1978). Annals of Opera 1597–1940 (third edition, revised). Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-87471-851-5.
• Rosenthal, Harold (1958). Two Centuries of Opera at Covent Garden. London: Putnam. OCLC 593682, 503687870.
• Sadie, Stanley, editor (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (4 volumes). London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-56159-228-9.
• Walsh, T. J. (1981). Second Empire Opera: The Théâtre Lyrique Paris 1851–1870. New York: Riverrun Press. ISBN 978-0-7145-3659-0.
• Wild, Nicole; Charlton, David (2005). Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique Paris: répertoire 1762-1972. Sprimont, Belgium: Editions Mardaga. ISBN 978-2-87009-898-1.
• Wolff, Stéphane (1953). Un demi-siècle d'Opéra-Comique (1900-1950). Paris: André Bonne. OCLC 44733987, 2174128, 78755097