Another Saint-Saëns opera: Ascanio!

[Alan Howe]

Did Alagna have any voice left? Samson is way beyond his Fach...

[Mark Thomas]

I wasn't expecting much from him, but he was surprisingly convincing. His final few lines (tearing down the temple) were delivered at a squawk, though!

[Alan Howe]

I can't take him at this stage of his career. Anyway, with apologies, back to Ascanio...

[Alan Howe]

...and my firm conclusion is that, relatively speaking, the weakest part of this fabulous opera (and recording) is Act 1. After that, the tide of invention is virtually unceasing.

Excerpts can be heard here:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/saint-saens-ascanio/hnum/8727233

[Alan Howe]

Well, my mother's a pretty good judge of an opera and her verdict this afternoon was 'smashing!'. That, by the way, is her ultimate accolade.

[mjmosca]

I just received my copy of Ascanio and have listened to it twice so far. It is indeed a magnificent work, and a fine recording with a very good cast, able to realize their roles. Listening to it brought back thoughts of Debussy's comment that Saint-Saens entered the opera house as an confirmed symphonist- which Debussy meant as an insult, but is in fact a compliment. And Saint-Saens, rather fed up with the "Wagnerian" controversy of the time said that the listener should let the "river of music carry him along, without being too concerned about the chemistry of the water". This is a great opera, indeed a little slow to get underway but a thrilling, captivating work. And Ascanio, along with Henry VIII, Etienne Marcel and Proserpine, fills out a major gap in appreciating Saint-Saens style and approach to opera. thank you! Thanks to fine cast and most of all to conductor Guillaume Tournaire for his dedication to this brilliant work!

[adriano]

I am quite enthusiastic about this recording too! The only drawback is the packaging; it's even worse that Ediciones Singulares as far as taking out and re-inserting the CDs is concerned... They never learn - or just don't care. It's like those (wonderful) Decca/RCA Opera re-issues with thick booklets (at least on a normal CD format, not like this impossible high-book format). CDs risk getting scratched even before they are taken out the first time by the listener because they already were carelessly inserted by "packers" or "packing machines" (it happened to me in 4 different Karajan operas, so I gave up buying them). It happened also with "Les Barbares" (Ediciones Singulares), which hat to be replaced two times before I could get clean CDs.

A historical note: The libretto, is, of course, far away from historical reality. Saint-Saens's Cellini - as Berlioz's, is not portrayed as a gay man.
Saints-Saens (he liked to travel to Algeria, in order to meet nice exotic young men) may have chuckled by his Cellini, addressing Ascanio with "Tu sais combien je t'aime" :-)
Cellini was convicted of "sodomy" twice before he decided to marry. His statue of "Perseus" has become a gay icon. And Schubert too: Incidentally, in one of Schubert's friend's diary, there is a mentioning that "Sch. needs young peacocks like Benv. Cellini". And Cellini himself used in his authobiography (which was translated into German by Goethe) bird's names for his many intimate friends.

Here some articles:

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-composer-who-disappeared-twice-560456.html
https://gayinfluence.blogspot.com/2011/08/charles-camille-saint-saens-1835-1921.html

Would it be an idea perhaps to start a UC discussion thread about queer composers and the inspiration of some of their works - to enlighten unaware music-lovers?

https://www.wfmt.com/2015/06/25/15-queer-composers-know/

(I am adding Marc Blitzstein, Claude Vivier and (the Swiss) Robert Oboussier to this list, who - all three - were brutally murdered whilst crusing...)

[Alan Howe]

I think we'll stick to the music. Previous excursuses into such areas have drawn us away from the stated remit of UC.

[adriano]

OK, sorry Alan - I am an incorrgible provocateur, I know :-)

[Alan Howe]

No need to apologise, I'm sure. We appreciate all of your contributions.

[Mark Thomas]

Oh, wow! I have at long last got around to listening to my copy of this recording and am totally bowled over by it. What a superb work, and what a blazing performance it gets. I won't repeat all that has already been said here, but I just had to add my voice to the chorus of praise. It's the opera "discovery" of 2018 for me.

[Alan Howe]

December's Gramophone magazine agrees.

[Mark Thomas]

It was reading that enthusiastic review that reminded me that I had yet to listen to it.

[Alan Howe]

For once the magazine is spot-on in its assessment of singing, playing - and the work itself.