大象传媒

Donald Macleod charts Chausson鈥檚 monumental struggle to complete his operatic masterpiece Le roi Arthus, after almost a decade of endeavour.

Am茅d茅e-Ernest Chausson grew up in Paris during a period of great political, social and economic upheaval in France. Born in 1855, he was fifteen at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian; he lived through the collapse of the Second Empire and the advent of the Third Republic. However Chausson鈥檚 family was materially little affected by these dramatic events, quite the opposite in fact. His father profited from the 1850s onwards, working as a building contractor for Baron Haussmann, the man Napoleon III had entrusted to remodel the narrow streets of medieval Paris into wide open boulevards. Even after Napoleon was deposed, the re-construction of the capital city continued. Chausson鈥檚 bourgeois lifestyle reflects the salon society of the mid nineteenth century, with an extensive art collection adorning the walls of his family鈥檚 substantial residence at 22 Boulevard de Courcelles a stone鈥檚 throw from leafy Parc Monceau. Chausson remained in the same mansion with his wife and their three children. Supported by a private income, unlike most artists and musicians within his large circle of acquaintances, he was able to devote himself to composing entirely without any pressure to provide financially for his family. That鈥檚 not to say that Chausson鈥檚 life was without a care in the world. Critics saw him as a dilettante rather than a serious musician. His relatively small output reflects the agonies of doubt in his mind. His battle to find his own voice at a time when Wagner had cast a long shadow over French music resulted in his only opera taking almost ten years to complete. This struggle for artistic recognition was only just turning a corner when he died unexpectedly at the age of 44 in 1899.

Enchanted forests, myths and legends became something of an obsession for the well-read Chausson. His rare forays into the world of theatre display a natural facility for evoking drama in musical form. Little wonder then that his only opera was drawn from the legend of King Arthur.

Dans la for锚t du charme et de l鈥檈nchantement , Op 36 no 2
Sandrine Piau, soprano
Susan Manoff, piano

La Temp锚te (excerpt)
Marie-Ange Todorovitch, soprano
Rapha毛lle Farman, soprano
Ensemble Orchestral de Paris
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, conductor

La L茅gende de Ste C茅cile (excerpt Act 1, Act 2)
Isabelle Vernet, soprano
Chorus of Radio France
Ensemble Orchestral de Paris
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, conductor

Le roi Arthus (Act 1, Tableau 2, Sc 3 excerpt)
G枚sta Winbergh, Lancelot, tenor
Teresa Zylis-Gara, Guinevere, soprano
Radio France Chorus
New Philharmonic Orchestra
Armin Jordan, conductor

Le roi Arthus (Act 3 Tableau 2, Sc 6 excerpt)
Gino Quilico, Arthur, baritone
Radio France Chorus
New Philharmonic Orchestra
Armin Jordan, conductor

Producer: Johannah Smith for 大象传媒 Wales