A new release on Premiere Opera: Héliogabale by Déodat de Séverac in a 1972 recording from Barcelona.
From the website:
QuoteDéodat de Séverac's Héliogabale, a tragédie lyrique in three acts set to a poem by Émile Sicard, occupies a singular position in early twentieth-century French music. Premiered in 1910 at the open-air Arènes de Béziers, the work fuses impressionistic orchestral textures, modal archaic colors, and a fiercely regionalist sensibility grounded in the composer's Languedoc heritage. This rare performance, captured during a July 1972 radio broadcast in Barcelona, offers a fascinating testament to Séverac's ambitious sonic vision. Rather than presenting the full theatrical spectacle with its extensive spoken prose, this performance deliberately omits the spoken dialogue, concentrating entirely on the musical numbers. Furthermore, in place of the published French vocal score, the performance is delivered in Occitan (Lenga d'oc), the vernacular native to Séverac's home region of Upper Garonne. This linguistic choice imparts an authentic, deeply resonant Mediterranean flavor to the entire performance, aligning the ancient Roman tragedy of the decadent emperor Elagabalus with the ancient troubadour traditions of Southern Europe.
At the helm of the Orquestra del Gran Teatre del Liceu, conductor Àngel Colomer i del Romero displays a profound understanding of Séverac's complex score. Colomer navigates the delicate boundary between French late-Romanticism, Wagnerian leitmotif structures, and Mediterranean folk idioms with notable authority. The Liceu orchestra responds with conviction, rendering the evocative atmospheric preludes and ritualistic dances with lush instrumental colors. Particularly effective is the performance of the Cobla Ciutat de Barcelona under Josep González. The inclusion of this traditional Catalan double-reed and brass ensemble gives the score its most striking feature. The pungent, bright sonorities of the tenoras and tibles inject an unmistakable outdoor grandeur and ancient Mediterranean pagan intensity into numbers such as the Cortège d'Héliogabale and the Danse du Soleil. Complementing the orchestral forces, the choir Orfeó Laudate delivers a compelling performance. From the solemn, chant-like dignity of the early Christian scenes in Act II, including the striking Scène du Baptême and Le Baiser de Paix, to the overwhelming breadth of the final chorus, the choral singing is characterized by rhythmic precision and a rich, unified tonal weight.
The vocal solos are anchored by a dedicated cast of Catalan singers who handle Séverac's demanding vocal writing with stylistic intelligence. Soprano Cecilia Fondevila takes on the role of Cynthia, delivering a performance marked by luminous vocal tone and expressive sensitivity. Fondevila navigates Séverac's modal inflection and sweeping melodic lines with vocal security, infusing her passages with a mixture of dramatic vulnerability and poise. As Lucilius, tenor Bartomeu Bardagí provides a strong foil, singing with bright projection and crisp diction. While his upper register occasionally reveals a slight tightness under pressure, his dramatic commitment and rhythmic crispness ensure that Lucilius remains an engaging dramatic presence throughout his scenes. Baritone Raimon Torres offers perhaps the most authoritative vocal contribution as Le Diacre. Possessing a warm, dark-hued timbre with impressive natural resonance, Torres imbues the Deacon's pronouncements in Act II with spiritual nobility and vocal gravitas. The decision to sing in Occitan feels entirely natural in the throats of these Catalan artists, allowing the linguistic cadence to inform the musical phrasing in a manner that enhances the score's regional authenticity.
From an archival perspective, this radio broadcast recording captures a remarkably cohesive execution of a rarely performed masterpiece. The acoustic profile of the broadcast is typical of early 1970s radio captures, maintaining an acceptable balance between the singers, the massive orchestral forces, and the distinctive outdoor timbre of the cobla ensemble. By stripping away the non-musical spoken dialogue, the recording transforms Héliogabale into a concentrated, highly theatrical musical canvas that highlights Séverac's brilliant orchestration and melodic inventive power. The sequence of ballet movements in Act III, culminating in the evocative La Résurrection d'Adonis and the climactic final scene depicting the death of the emperor, moves with an uninterrupted dramatic momentum. For champions of early twentieth-century French opera, regionalist musical traditions, and unrecorded repertory, this 1972 Barcelona broadcast stands as an invaluable historical document, preserving an inspired performance of a work that bridges ancient legend, folk heritage, and impressionist grandeur.