Review: Gounod: Cinq-Mars
The world’s first recording of an opera by the composer of Faust is a cause for celebration. Charles Gounod’s Cinq-Mars (1877) – about a 17th-century French nobleman who plots against Cardinal Richelieu – had a longer first run than Faust, was popular in the provinces – and then vanished, apart from the occasional recital of Nuit resplendissante by an enterprising soprano. Palazzetto Bru Zane, dedicated to the rediscovery of French musical heritage from 1780 to 1920, is fast becoming a rival for Opera Rara as a purveyor of luxury editions of little-known operas. This recording of a concert performance is a triumph of scholarship and makes a strong case for the opera. Like most of Gounod’s operas, the work exists in several versions, as the composer turned a historical opéra comique, with spoken dialogue, into a full-scale grand opéra, with sung recitatives and expanded numbers. The libretto is undramatic, though based on a story which cries out for operatic adaptation: Cinq-Mars began as a protégé of Richelieu, became the favourite (read: lover) of Louis XIII, plotted with Louis’ queen and brother to overthrow Richelieu, and ended up on the scaffold. The French royals and Richelieu do not appear, while Cinq-Mars,…