Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable

Composer Giacomo Meyerbeer
Artist Bryan Hymel Robert
Carmen Giannattasio Alice
Patrizia Ciofi Isabelle
Alastair Miles Bertram
Symphonic Orchestra of the Teatro Verdi, Salerno
Daniel Oren conductor
Format 3 CD
Cat. number 94604
EAN code 5028421946047
Release January 2013

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About this release

Dividing his time in the 1830s between Paris and Berlin, renowned German composer Giacomo Meyerbeer was considered the father of the Grand Opéra thanks to his skilful combination of elements of both the German and Italian opera traditions. After a string of unsuccessful attempts at Singspiel, he finally hit the jackpot with his opera Il crociato in Egitto, and later became one of the most respected opera composers of the era.

Robert le Diable was an immediate success after its premiere at the Paris Opéra in 1831 and brought Meyerbeer’s career to new heights. With a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Casimir Delavigne, it narrates the tale of Robert, determined to marry his sweetheart Isabelle, and the influence of his mysterious friend Bertrand, who is entrusted with a mission to possess Robert’s soul for the Devil. The original production was a lavish affair, setting a new record for the most amount of money ever spent on set and costume and thus catering for the expensive taste of the 19th-century Parisian audience. Meyerbeer used many combinations of instruments to convey different moods – the use of two orchestras to portray the deafening expanse of Hell, for example – and his innovative use of dramatic devices, such as chorus members singing into cardboard cones, would have delighted the 19th-century audience.

History has not looked kindly on Robert le Diable, which barely features in music history books published in the twentieth century. It is, however, beginning to enjoy something of a revival; taken from a live performance at the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Salerno in 2012, this recording boasts a stellar cast, including Bryan Hymel in the title role and Alastair Miles as Bertrand as well as Carmen Giannattasio, Martial Defontaine, Patrizia Ciofi. The esteemed opera maestro Daniel Oren conducts.

Other information:
- Recorded ‘live’ on 23 March 2012, Teatro Verdi, Salerno.
- A sensational new digital recording of Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable!
- Robert le Diable is one of the most successful and popular operas of 19th century France. Written in the style of “Grande Opéra” it employs German romantic orchestral writing, combined with Italian Belcanto. The libretto is highly melodramatic and sensational, and a staging in the high-tech Paris opera of that time must have been spectacular!
- A more than welcome new recording of this masterwork, of which there are hardly any recordings available!
- Libretto downloadable on www.brilliantclassics.com.

Track list

Disk 1

  1. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable: Overture
  2. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 1: Versez à tasse pleine" (Chorus)
  3. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 1: "Jadis régnait en Normandie" (Raimbaut)
  4. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 1: "Qu’on arrête un vassal insolent!" (Robert, Alice, Alberti, Raimbaut)
  5. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 1: "O mon prince!" (Alice)
  6. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 1: "Va, dit-elle, va mon enfant" (Alice)
  7. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 1: "Je n’ai pu fermer da paupière!" (Robert)
  8. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 1: "Courage! Ta nouvelle conquête est fort bien avec toi" (Bertram)
  9. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 1: "Le duc de Normandie – Sicilienne" (Bertram)
  10. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 1: "Sicilienne – O fortune à ton caprice" (Robert)
  11. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 1: "J’ai perdu; ma revanche!" (Robert)
  12. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 1: "Malheur sans égal!" (Robert)
  13. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 2: "Entr’acte – Que je hais les grandeurs" (Isabelle)
  14. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 2: "En vain j’espère un sort prospère" (Isabelle)
  15. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 2: "Approchons sans frayeur!" (Chorus)
  16. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 2: "Idole de ma vie" (Isabelle)
  17. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 2: "Courage! allons montrez-vous à ses yeux" (Alice)
  18. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 2: "Avec bonté voyez ma peine" (Robert, Isabelle)
  19. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 2: "Mon coeur s’élance et palpite" (Isabelle, Robert)
  20. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 2: "Oui! dans ces combats guerriers" (Robert)
  21. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 2: Ballet
  22. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 2: "Quand tous nous chevaliers" (Herald)
  23. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 2: "Voici le signal des combats" (Chorus)

Disk 2

  1. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Du rendez-vous voici l’heureux instant" (Raimbaut)
  2. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Ah! l’honnête homme!" (Bertram, Raimbaut)
  3. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Encore un de gagné!…O mon fils!" (Bertram)
  4. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "La Valse infernale…Raimbaut! dans ce lieu solitaire" (Alice)
  5. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Quand je quittai la Normandie" (Alice)
  6. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "O ciel le bruit redouble" (Alice)
  7. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "L’arrêt est prononcé!" (Bertram)
  8. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Mais Alice, qu’as-tu donc!" (Alice, Bertram)
  9. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Fatal moment, cruel mystère" (Alice, Bertram, Robert)
  10. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Qu’a-t’elle donc?" (Robert)
  11. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Si j’aurai ce courage?" (Robert, Bertram)
  12. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Voici donc les débris du monastère" (Bertram)
  13. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Nonnes, qui reposez" (Bertram)
  14. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Procession of nuns
  15. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Jadis filles du ciel" (Bertram)
  16. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Baccanale
  17. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Voici ce lieu témoin" (Robert)
  18. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Air de ballet No. 3
  19. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 3: "Il est à nous!" (Chorus)

Disk 3

  1. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 4: "Noble et belle Isabelle…Douce ivresse la tandresse" (Chorus)
  2. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 4: "Mais n’est-ce pas cette jeune étrangère" (Isabelle)
  3. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 4: "Frappez les airs, cris d’allègresse" (Chorus)
  4. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 4: "Du magique rameau" (Robert)
  5. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 4: "Ah! qu’elle este belle!" (Robert)
  6. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 4: "Ou suis-je?" (Isabelle)
  7. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 4: "Grand Dieu, toi qui voit mes alarmes" (Isabelle, Robert)
  8. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 4: "Robert, toi que j’aime" (Isabelle)
  9. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 4: "Mon coeur s’émeut" (Robert)
  10. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 4: "Quelle aventure!" (Chorus)
  11. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 5: "Malheureux ou coupable" (Chorus of basses)
  12. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 5: "Dans ce lieu pourquoi me forcer" (Bertram)
  13. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 5: "O ciel, qui donc es-tu?" (Robert)
  14. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 5: "Je t’ai trompé, je fus coupable" (Bertram)
  15. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 5: "L’arrêt est prononcé" (Robert)
  16. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 5: "A tes lois je soucris" (Robert)
  17. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 5: "Mon fils, ma tendresse assidue" (Robert)
  18. Giacomo Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable, Act 5: "Chantez, troupe immortelle" (Chorus)