The following information was given on the back cover of the March 2019 issue of the UK Opera Magazine.
More than a hundred years after its creation, Saint-Saëns drama lyrique, L'ancêtre, will be staged at the Prinz Regenten Theater in Munich, Germany on March 20 through March 30, 2019 by the August Everding Theater Academy and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester.
More information can be found on the following website <www.theaterakademie.de>. No information was given on any broadcast or recording but lets keep our fingers crossed that there will be.
The website gave a little information in German on the plot of the opera and I have translated it into English below.
The sun is rising over Corsica. A peaceful hum can be heard when the hermit Raphaël sends out his bees for honey-gathering. But this idyll is deceptive. For decades, a bloody family feud rages between the Pietra Neras and the Fabianis, which demands more and more victims. Driven by the hate of the ancestor Nunciata, the young Vanina gets into a murderous conflict between love and loyalty. A love story unfolds between Vanina, her milk sister Margarita and the young Tébaldo from the clan of Pietra Neras. Their outcome seems predetermined.
I hope it does get recorded. I've very much enjoyed getting to know Saint-Saens' other operas as they have become available.
The plot does seem a little over familiar, though. Sounds like another "Romeo and Juliet" spin-off...the old love versus loyalty dilemma.
The opera production is in collaboration with Palazzetto Bru Zane so I guess the chance of a recording is pretty good. I'll try to find out more when I'm there.
The production features the Munich Radio Orchestra which PBZ has used at least twice before in opera recordings. The conductor is to be Matthias Foremny.
It all looks very promising, and Saint-Saëns' operas have been such a revelation.
I'd qualify that assessment myself : I think they've been a mixed bag, with Ascanio the only true revelation. IMHO, of course.
A revelation isn't necessarily all positive, or positive at all come to that, but in this case I have been very pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the operas we've been lucky enough to "discover", which is not to say that they're all masterworks.
One of the intriguing aspects of L'Ancetre it is possible that Saint-Saens may have used bolder dissonances than in earlier works- in Rees's biography ["Saint-saens, A Life"] de Lassus, the Librettist described the music [Saint-Saens would play excerpts for him while they were making changes to the ending] as having"resonances like cracked saucepans"! Sounds remarkable. As to the other operas that have come to light, I find that Henry VIII, Ascanio and Etienne Marcel are masterpieces- and would make great experiences on the opera stage. Proserpine also, even if the libretto is slightly old fashioned. Happily there are good recordings of live performances of each. If I may, I would recommend each highly. Also, Chandos issued a fine recording of a Swiss-Italian live performance of La Princesse Jaune- a delightful bauble; it is paired with a fine performance of the Suite Algerienne!
Here, by the way, is Etienne Marcel in a rather poor-sounding recording from 1994:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WciZ2PAvKm8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WciZ2PAvKm8)
And here's another Saint-Saëns rarity, "Phryné". Not a masterpiece, but containing a few very pleasant pages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF2KMCTQkxU
BTW in Grove it states that the first act of Saint-Saëns' "Phryné" was orchestrated by Messager.
Yes, I vaguely remember it being mentionned in the recently published Messager biography.
The Munich production of L'Ancêtre will be broadcast on Bayern Radio Klassik at 19:05 (CET) on 28th April 2019.
It would be great if someone could record it as I will be on my way back from a performance of the new edition of Othmar Schoeck's Das Schloß Dürande in Meiningen. See new thread in 'Recordings and Broadcasts' for broadcast of this and the new CD of the concert version in Bern last year.
Can I echo BerlinExpat's request, please? I shall also be away when it's broadcast.
Will do this - provided there are no technical problems with my cable provider :-)
Thanks, Adriano.
Sometimes I wonder where various comments about composers' works come from. There are various reports on the BR Klassik radio podcast or in the press that L'Ancêtre is Saint-Saens last opera whereas in the programme it states it's the penultimate. Another said it's like Mascagni, but I heard no trace of Mascagni. Unless my ears deceived me, there's no dissonance or cracked saucepans in the music either. The opera lasts 90 minutes and is similar in vein to Phrynébut with a more dramatic central act. Even for 90 minutes the story's a bit thin, but the wonderful music makes up for it. Let's hope Hadrianus succeeds with a recording.
Déjanire followed (1909-10) L'ancêtre (1905), according to Wikipedia's list, though for all I know there might be something complicating matters. Perhaps they didn't count Déjanire because it's an operatic expansion of 1892 incidental music, though that doesn't seem like a good reason.
It's here!
On BR Kassik Sunday night:
SPECIAL PROGRAM (Starts at 1705/1:05PM): Opernabend
Camille Saint-Saëns: "L'ancêtre"
Drame lyrique in drei Akten In französischer Sprache
Raphaël - Jeong Meen Ahn
Tébaldo - Thomas Kiechle
Bursica - Damien Gastl
Nunciata - Heike Grötzinger
Margarita - Milena Bischoff
Vanina - Céline Akçağ
und andere
Studierende der Theaterakademie
August Everding und der Hochschule für Musik und Theater München
Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Leitung: Matthias Foremny
Aufnahme vom 20. März 2019 im Münchner Prinzregententheater (1 hr., 55 min.)
Will make a recording as usual :-)
The plot is, apparently, a bloody family rivalry affair taking place in Corsica in (his) present times. So no ancient heros and no legendary and historical figures anymore!
Thanks in advance, Adriano. I'm currently travelling and can't record anything. Very much looking forward to hearing another "unknown" Saint-Saëns' opera.
I've at last caught up with this recording, kindly made by Hadrianus. What a lovely piece of work this operas is. I suppose it's the nearest that Saint-Saëns got to writing a verismo work for the stage, and the vendetta plot set in Napoleonic Corsica is certainly verismo-esque, but as BerlinExpat wrote above, there's very little of Mascagni or even Puccini in it. It's really vintage Saint-Saëns: highly lyrical and rather sensuously orchestrated, it's beautifully written for the soloists. My only criticism is that the music is almost too gorgeous for such a tawdry story. Others are lukewarm about Saint-Saëns' operas, I know, but I love 'em and this was a treat to get to know.
The hermit's song to his bees is very touching and calls to mind Saint-Saëns' great love of animals...
Another beautiful opera from the pen of Saint-Saens. It is indeed a verismo-eque story, but it seems as if Saint-Saens was illustrating how the tradition of Romanticism could very effectively illustrate even a libretto of this type. Mark Thomas's comment that this opera is vintage Saint-Saens hit the nail on the head! It would certainly be fascinating to see, as well as hear. thank you.