Study Guide

Meet the Composer

Charles-Francois Gounod

“…Be a musician then, since the devil forces you to it!  It is impossible to fight against something like this.”
                     -16-year-old Charles Gounod’s Headmaster upon hearing a composition the boy composed in two hours

Gounod’s mother was not enthusiastic about the prospect of her son pursuing music.  The life of an artist was hard, and well she knew it.  She herself was a talented musician, the widow of a painter, and she had supported her family with drawing and piano lessons since her son, Charles, was 4-years-old. In her desire to save her child from such travails, she approached his principal, begging him to convince her son that music was no career.  Faced with the youth’s trenchant insistence that music was his desire and fate, the headmaster demanded that he write an aria and show what he could do.  Gounod did so within two hours, complete with piano accompaniment.  His headmaster was impressed, and Gounod’s mother, proud of his accomplishment and passionate in her love for him, capitulated.

 

Keeping Gounod from an artist’s life would have been a Sisyphean task.  His lineage was full of musicians, artists and poets.  His father, François, had been born in the Louvre, where he also studied art.  Though François never actually won the Prix de Rome, the judges, impressed with his gifts, nevertheless sent him to Rome to continue his studies.  While given to a dreaminess that sometimes undermined his potential, François nevertheless supported his family as an artist and taught his son to draw.  Charles’ mother, Victoire, was an accomplished musician of noble birth.  Her family’s fortunes had fallen dramatically during the French Revolution and, as a girl, she had contributed to the family’s desperate finances by teaching piano.  Largely self-taught, she was not content to remain so, and sought out additional instruction in Paris—a good distance from her home.  Impressed with her talent, determination and hard work, her piano teacher paid for an instrument to be placed in her home so she could practice.

 

In 1806 François and Victoire married in Rouen and began their family.  Their first child appeared in 1807; a son they named Louis Urbain.  Later he would grow up to be a gifted architect.  In 1818, they had Charles.  As an infant his mother sang to him as she nursed him.  As a very small child, his father gave him pictures of eyes, noses and mouths to copy, and, side by side the two would work at picture making.  By the time he was 4-years-old, however, Charles’ father was dead.  Though Gounod always retained his artist’s eye, music replaced art as his mother’s influence was unleavened by his father’s presence.

 

Early on, Gounod was a precocious musician.  Before he spoke, he understood the major and minor keys.  He read music as readily as he read words, and his mother began to teach him more formally.  His was a bright happy spirit, lively and transparent.  When, at 11, he was sent to boarding school, he excelled in Latin and Greek, wrote excellent poetry and acquitted himself admirably.  As a reward, his mother took him to his first opera, Rossini’s Otello, which thrilled him.  Soon after, the young Gounod saw Mozart’s Don Giovanni, which was to become the most intense operatic experience of his life.  From then on, the study of nothing moved him so much as music.  Instead of taking notes in class, he wrote music.  His teachers grew exasperated.  He was punished.  He wrote melodies again.  At 16, he wrote a letter to his mother announcing his decision to pursue music.  Charles would serve no other master.

Seeing no alternative, Victoire Gounod determined to help her son by getting him the best musical education that she could provide.  To this end she delivered him into the hands of Anton Reicha for composition.  Gounod also continued regular classes at his boarding school until 1835, when he left school for good, eager to focus exclusively on his music.  In 1836, he formally entered the Conservatoire in Paris where he began to study with Halévy (who would later write the libretto for Carmen).  Unfortunately for Gounod, Halévy was a very busy, successful composer with little time for his pupils.  Consequently, Gounod learned little from him.  For composition, Gounod drew a better card in Henry Berton.  Berton handed Gounod a score of The Marriage of Figaro and bade him study it.  This exhortation was to have a profound effect on Gounod who later said, “Mozart is to Palestrina and Bach what the New Testament is to the Old in the spirit of the Bible, one and indivisible.”

 

Gounod was also to study with Jean Lesueur who encouraged Gounod to allow a little theatre into his church music; and Berlioz, who Gounod recognized as a musician of exceptional talent and ingenuity.  In 1839, Gounod won the Prix de Rome and made his way to the Eternal City to study. In Rome, he met countless artists and musicians who were to create the artistic bouillabaisse in which Gounod steeped.  Here, Fanny Mendelssohn introduced Gounod to the German school of music.  She spent countless hours playing Bach, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn for him.  Gounod’s enthusiasm was effusive and Fanny, while she couldn’t help but like him, found him a little immature.

 

In addition to artistic nourishment, he found his soul fed in the “outdoor cloister” which is how he characterized the elegance and classical balance of Rome.  Throughout his life, Gounod was to vacillate between the Church and theatre.  Always, always he longed for the contemplative life in a way that worried friends and family.  His mother warned him that if he were to don a collar, his art would be smothered by the weight of an absolute authority.  Still, the composer found the church attractive and even went so far as to begin the laborious three year process of becoming a priest in 1847. Ironically, it was this commitment, freely made, which actually guided Gounod to the theatre.  After five months of ecclesiastic life, the color and possibilities of drama became a siren call.  Unable to resist, he left the cloister determined to conquer the opera house.

 

But Gounod had written nothing for the opera.  He knew no librettists.  His modest fame was through church music and theatre producers had little use for a church musician with no operatic connections.  Soon, however, Gounod’s pretty manners and handsome face garnered him such connections.  He made the acquaintance of the brilliant mezzo soprano Pauline Viardot. From her, Gounod was to gain all the connections he could possibly need.  Rumors abounded that Viardot had taken Gounod as lover—adding him to her already full house, which included a husband and a paramour.  Though intriguing, there is no real evidence to support an affair.  What is apparent is that Viardot was truly taken with Gounod’s talent, and she used her influence to get an opera commissioned from him.  In 1851, Sapho made its debut, amusing audiences and appalling critics.  The critics were uncomfortable with the very thing which pleased the audience.  It was not Meyerbeer.

 

Hitherto, French opera had been “grand”–very grand–populated by magnificent stage effects, massive choruses, hugeorchestras and overblown stories.  Sapho was missing these gargantuan details, focusing on characters and the voice.  It owed something to Gluck, but almost nothing to anyone else.  It was simple, gracious and clear.  True, it possessed a certain naiveté with regard to theatricality and orchestral color, but it was a start.  While Parisians found refreshment in its novelty, the English were bored by its subtlety.  Gounod took lessons from this useful failure to improve his subsequent efforts.

 

Through an advantageous marriage to the daughter of a well connected teacher, Gounod received his next commission, this time for an opera titled Ulysse.  It was coolly received by the public.  Gounod then wrote what he considered a trifle, but what he was to be most remembered for; a meditation on a theme of Bach’s which was soon to be known as Ave Maria.  This little air became a bestseller, and put Gounod on the map with the general public.  His next opera, La Nonne Sanglante, was nevertheless a failure.  All the time, though, Gounod was learning.

 

In 1858, Gounod found modest operatic success with a little comedy called Le Médecin malgré lui.  Gounod had written it while he was waiting for his greatest triumph, Faust, to be produced.  Once Faust made its way into the public’s imagination, it became the most popular opera of the 19^th century.

 

Gounod was never again to write an opera as influential as Faust.  Today, his only other well-known theatrical work is Romeo et Juliette, generally considered inferior to Faust.  Many critics believe that Faust’s great success was actually “the beginning of the end” of Gounod’s operatic career because while containing some of Gounod’s best music, it is not for his best that the opera gained its singular popularity.  Gounod subsequently misjudged the nature of his talent, which was characterized by balance, restraint and taste, not the bombast his audiences loved in Faust. Sadly, Gounod took the praise to heart and endeavored to write operas which included more of this bombast as well as the facile, overly sentimental music for which he was later criticized.  His operas became like frosting without the cake, and his star gradually dimmed even during his lifetime.

 

Later in his life, Gounod returned to his early religious impulses, writing much sacred music.  His Pontifical Anthem eventually became the official national anthem of Vatican City.  One of his short pieces for piano, Funeral March of a Marionette received a new and unexpected lease of life in 1955 when it was first used as the theme for the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents.  Gounod was made a Grand Officer of the Legion d’honneur in 1888.  In 1893, shortly after he had put the finishing touches to a requiem written for his grandson, he died of a stroke in Saint-Cloud, France.

 

Gounod’s true legacy is his influence on French music.  Gounod served as a pivot point for French opera, restoring a sense of dramatic truth to the stage and re-establishing a French aesthetic to the art form.  So, not only may we thank Gounod for the beauty and grace of Faust, but for the music of his protégés Bizet and Saint-Saëns, and for the direction of French
music in general, epitomized by Gounod’s subtlety, poise, and polish.

Historical and Literary Background

William Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet, is a classic story that has resonated throughout the centuries, engendering many distinctive artistic adaptations.  In addition to the opera by Charles Gounod, there are operas by Zingarelli, Meyer, Bellini, and Zandonai, a ballet by Prokofiev, orchestral works by Tchaikovsky and Berlioz, a Broadway musical by Bernstein, and several films.  Of the operas, Gounod’s work has achieved the greatest popularity and is a mainstay of the operatic repertory.

Shakespeare is generally considered the greatest dramatist and the most popular author the world has ever known.  No other writer’s works have been produced, or read, so widely around the world. Many reasons can be given for his broad appeal, but a key element would certainly be his understanding of human nature, and his insights into the wide range and depth of human emotions.  He was able to create characters and dramatic situations that were timeless in their impact.  His works continue to resonate today, relating to real human beings as they struggle with life’s challenges. He is also among the few playwrights who excelled in both tragedy and comedy.

 

Romeo and Juliet was the first tragedy that Shakespeare wrote, completing it at an early stage in his career, probably in 1594 or 1595.  It represented a departure from many playwriting conventions of the time.  Romeo and Juliet was first printed in 1597 from a collection of notes, recollections, and copies of portions of the original story.  There were three revised editions, some showing evidence of a maturing style in the careful revisions.  It is believed that Shakespeare conceived this play as an adaptation of a long narrative poem by Arthur Brooke.  The story had long been popular in France and Italy, and there was a play about the warring families by Luigi Da Porta, widely believed to be based the on the historical struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines.  Shakespeare’s interest in the story seemed to stem from the external conflict confronting the lovers. A problem of love verses hate, rather than an internal struggle affecting the soul, is the engine that drives the tragedy.  The war between the two families is not of the lover’s making, but it is a cruel fact they cannot escape.  In addition, Shakespeare introduces another element that helps precipitate the tragedy, that of fate.  There is prominent inclusion of dreams and omens and forebodings.  Hence, the definition of Romeo and Juliet as “star-crossed lovers” is an additional reason for the tragic outcome.

 

Gounod’s interest in the subject of the opera was mentioned in his correspondence in the later part of 1864 and his librettists, Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, completed a libretto in the early part of 1865.  Gounod had known these men for ten years and they had been the librettists for his earlier operatic triumph, Faust.  The libretto follows the Shakespearean play very closely, particularly in the dialogue, and they treated the original with great respect.  As in Shakespeare’s play, the opera was originally structured in five acts. Some characters from the play were eliminated and a new character, Stephano, Romeo’s page, was added.   Romeo and Juliet secretly marry in the opera. There is no marriage scene in the play.   They eliminated the final scene where the feuding families are reconciled, and in the new final scene, Romeo takes poison, but does not die before Juliet awakens.  This allows for a final duet.  As this particular change demonstrates, all changes were made for the sake of the music and the needs of a well-structured music drama.

After receiving the libretto Gounod began working on the score almost immediately and completed his initial work by July 1865.  During this time a recurring nervous disorder began to interfere with the pace of his work but did not prevent him from dealing with the orchestration of the opera altogether.  By September of 1866 Gounod had completed the orchestration and was making major revisions, adding an elaborate wedding scene to Act IV.  Significant changes also occurred during the rehearsal period.  Gounod had originally planned to use spoken dialogue between the musical numbers but during the early rehearsals decided that recitative would be preferable. Other changes that occurred during rehearsals were the additions of the Prologue and Juliet’s waltz song, “Je veux vivre.”

 

The premiere of Romeo and Juliet  was a sensation.  It occurred during the Exposition Universelle in Paris on April 27, 1867.  The city was full of people from outside the city visiting the exposition and the opera played to sold-out houses night after night.  Many foreigner visitors also saw the production which contributed to its rapid acceptance at opera houses in other parts of the world.  By the end of 1867, Romeo and Juliet had been produced in England, Germany, Belgium and New York.  The New York premiere occurred on November 15, 1867, at the Academy of Music and was sung by the celebrated American soprano, Minnie Hauk.

 

A distinguishing feature of the opera is that it contains four love duets for soprano and tenor, a number that was without precedent in its time.  Each of these praiseworthy duets has a musical character and vitality all its own and their importance in the opera can be measured by the oft-quoted statement that the score of Romeo and Juliet is a “love duet with occasional interruptions.”  In contrast to the love music is the sacred nature of the religious music associated with the character of Friar Lawrence.   Gounod’s deeply-held spirituality and religious training is clearly evident in this aspect of the opera.  The success of Romeo and Juliet can also be measured in the high level of drama Gounod was able to achieve in depicting the conflict between the rival families.   Throughout the opera, beginning with the Prologue and carrying through to the great confrontation scene at the end of Act II, the music depicts the active strife which bears the ultimate responsibility for the tragedy.

 

Discussion Questions

1. This story has been used in many      different mediums – plays, ballets, operas, orchestral works- usually to      great success.  Why?

 

2. Many of Shakespeare’s scenes were      omitted from the opera for the sake of brevity.  Can you explain why this is necessary      when telling a story through a musical drama?

 

3. How effective is the composer,      Charles Gounod, in portraying the concept of conflict musically?  Can you give examples?

 

4. In the Overture-Prologue, one of      Gounod’s musical devices is the use of a musical form called a fugue.  A fugue introduces a musical theme,      called a “subject”, and a secondary theme, called a “countersubject”, and      weaves them together through instrumental or voice parts, called      “voices.”  How can this musical      device be effective in the opera?

 

5. Is there a villain in this      opera?

 

6. What role does fate, or chance,      play in this story?

7. What is the significance of the      character Stephano in the opera?  He      does not appear in the play.  Why      was he added?

 

8. The part of Stephano is sung by a      soprano, dressed as a boy.  Why      would a woman play this part?

 

9. In Shakespeare’s play Romeo takes      poison and dies before Juliet awakens from her drug-induced sleep. In the      opera Juliet awakens before Romeo dies.       How does this benefit the flow of events at the end of the opera?

 

10. One important change from the      play to the opera was the omission of the final scene where the two      families end their feud after the deaths of their children.  This scene adds a moral dimension to the      play.  Why did Gounod and his      librettists leave this scene out, and how does it affect the dramatic      structure of the opera?

 

A Short History of Opera

The word opera is the plural form of the Latin word opus, which translates quite literally as work.  The use of the plural form alludes to the plurality of art forms that combine to create an operatic performance.  Today we accept the word opera as a reference to a theatrically based musical art form in which the drama is propelled by the sung declamation of text accompanied by a full symphony orchestra.

 

Opera as an art form can claim its origin with the inclusion of incidental music that was performed during the tragedies and comedies popular during ancient Greek times.  The tradition of including music as an integral part of theatrical activities expanded in Roman times and continued throughout the Middle Ages.  Surviving examples of liturgical dramas and vernacular plays from Medieval times show the use of music as an “insignificant” part of the action as do the vast mystery and morality plays of the 15^th and 16^th centuries.  Traditional view holds that the first completely sung musical drama (or opera) developed as a result of discussions held in Florence in the 1570s by an informal academy known as the Camerata which led to the musical setting of Rinuccini’s drama, Dafne, by composer, Jacopo Peri in 1597.

 

The work of such early Italian masters as Giulio Caccini and Claudio Monteverdi led to the development of a through-composed musical entertainment comprised of recitative sections (secco and accompagnato) which revealed the plot of the drama; followed by da capo arias which provided the soloist an opportunity to develop the emotions of the character.  The function of the chorus in these early works mirrored that of the character of the same name found in Greek drama.  The new “form” was greeted favorably by the public and quickly became a popular entertainment.

 

Opera has flourished throughout the world as a vehicle for the expression of the full range of human emotions.  Italians claim the art form as their own, retaining dominance in the field through the death of Giacomo Puccini in 1924.  Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, and Leoncavallo developed the art form through clearly defined periods that produced opera buffa, opera seria, bel canto, and verismo.  The Austrian Mozart also wrote operas in Italian and championed the singspiel (sing play), which combined the spoken word with music, a form also used by Beethoven in his only opera, Fidelio.  Bizet (Carmen), Offenbach (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Gounod (Faust), and Meyerbeer (Les Huguenots) led the adaptation by the French which ranged from the opera comique to the grand full-scale tragedie lyrique.  German composers von Weber (Der Freischütz), Richard Strauss (Ariadne auf Naxos), and Wagner (Der Ring des Nibelungen) developed diverse forms such as singspiel to through-composed spectacles unified through the use of the leitmotif. The English ballad opera, Spanish zarzuela and Viennese operetta helped to establish opera as a form of entertainment which continues to enjoy great popularity throughout the world.

 

With the beginning of the 20^th century, composers in America diverged from European traditions in order to focus on their own roots while exploring and developing the vast body of the country’s folk music and legends.  Composers such as Aaron Copland, Douglas Moore, Carlisle Floyd, Howard Hanson, and Robert Ward have all crafted operas that have been presented throughout the world to great success.  Today, composers John Adams, Philip Glass, and John Corigliano enjoy success both at home and abroad and are credited with the infusion of new life into an art form which continues to evolve even as it approaches its fifth century.

The Operatic Voice

A true (and brief) definition of the “operatic” voice is a difficult proposition.  Many believe the voice is “born,” while just as many hold to the belief that the voice is “trained.”  The truth lies somewhere between the two.  Voices that can sustain the demands required by the operatic repertoire do have many things in common.  First and foremost is a strong physical technique that allows the singer to sustain long phrases through the control of both the inhalation and exhalation of breath.  Secondly, the voice (regardless of its size) must maintain a resonance in both the head (mouth, sinuses) and chest cavities.  The Italian word “squillo” (squeal) is used to describe the brilliant tone required to penetrate the full symphony orchestra that accompanies the singers.  Finally, all voices are defined by both the actual voice “type” and the selection of repertoire for which the voice is ideally suited.

 

Within the five major voice types (Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor, Baritone, Bass) there is a further delineation into categories (Coloratura, Lyric, Spinto, Dramatic) which help to define each particular instrument.  The Coloratura is the highest within each voice type whose extended upper range is complimented by extreme flexibility.  The Lyric is the most common of the “types.”  This instrument is recognized more for the exceptional beauty of its tone rather than its power or range.  The Spinto is a voice which combines the beauty of a lyric with the weight and power of a Dramatic, which is the most “powerful” of the voices.  The Dramatic instrument is characterized by the combination of both incredible volume and “steely” intensity.

 

While the definition presented in the preceding paragraph may seem clearly outlined, many voices combine qualities from each category, thus carving an unique niche in operatic history.  Just as each person is different from the next, so is each voice.  Throughout her career Maria Callas defied categorization as she performed and recorded roles associated with each category in the soprano voice type.  Joan Sutherland as well can be heard in recordings of soprano roles as diverse as the coloratura Gilda in Rigoletto to the dramatic Turandot in Turandot.  Below is a very brief outline of voice types and categories with roles usually associated with the individual voice type.

 

Norina (Don Pasquale)

Gilda (Rigoletto)

Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor) 

Liu (Turandot)

Mimi (La Bohème)

Pamina (Magic Flute) 

Tosca (Tosca)

Amelia (A Masked Ball)

Leonora (Il Trovatore) 

Turandot (Turandot)

Norma (Norma)

Elektra (Elektra) 

Mezzo-Soprano 

Rosina (Barber of Seville)

Angelina (La Cenerentola)

Dorabella (Così fan tutte) 

Carmen (Carmen)

Charlotte (Werther)

Giulietta (Hoffmann) 

Santuzza (Cavalleria)

Adalgisa (Norma)

The Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos) 

Azucena (Il Trovatore)

Ulrica (A Masked Ball)

Herodias (Salome) 

Tenor 

Count Almaviva (Barber of Seville)

Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni)

Ferrando (Così fan tutte) 

Alfredo (La Traviata)

Rodolfo (La Bohème)

Tamino (Magic Flute) 

Calaf (Turandot)

Pollione (Norma)

Cavaradossi (Tosca) 

Dick Johnson (Fanciulla)

Don Jose (Carmen)

Otello (Otello) 

Baritone 

Figaro (Barber of Seville)

Count Almavira (Le nozze di Figaro)

Dr. Malatesta (Don Pasquale) 

Marcello (La Bohème)

Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni)

Sharpless (Madama Butterfly)

Verdi Baritone

Germont (La Traviata)

Di Luna (Il Trovatore)

Rigoletto (Rigoletto)

Scarpia (Tosca)

Jochanaan (Salome)

Jack Rance (Fanciulla) 

Bass 

Bartolo (Barber of Seville)

Don Magnifico (Cenerentola)

Dr. Dulcamara (Elixir of Love) 

Leporello (Don Giovanni)

Colline (La Bohème)

Figaro (Marriage of Figaro)

Buffo Bass

Don Pasquale (Don Pasquale)

Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte)

 

Basso Cantate

Oroveso (Norma)

Timur (Turandot)

Sarastro (Magic Flute)

Opera Production

Opera is created by the combination of myriad art forms.  First and foremost are the actors who portray characters by revealing their thoughts and emotions through the singing voice.  The next very important component is a full symphony orchestra that accompanies the singing actors and actresses, helping them to portray the full range of emotions possible in the operatic format.  The orchestra performs in an area in front of the singers called the orchestra pit while the singers perform on the open area called the stage.  Wigs, costumes, sets and specialized lighting further enhance these performances, all of which are designed, created, and executed by a team of highly trained artisans.

 

The creation of an opera begins with a dramatic scenario crafted by a playwright or dramaturg who alone or with a librettist fashions the script or libretto that contains the words the artists will sing.  Working in tandem, the composer and librettist team up to create a cohesive musical drama in which the music and words work together to express the emotions revealed in the story.  Following the completion of their work, the composer and librettist entrust their new work to a conductor who with a team of assistants (repetiteurs) assumes responsibility for the musical preparation of the work.  The conductor collaborates with a stage director (responsible for the visual component) in order to bring a performance of the new piece to life on the stage.  The stage director and conductor form the creative spearhead for the new composition while assembling a design team which will take charge of the actual physical production.

 

Set designers, lighting designers, costume designers, wig and makeup designers and even choreographers must all be brought “on board” to participate in the creation of the new production.  The set designer combines the skills of both an artist and an architect using “blueprint” plans to design the actual physical set which will reside on the stage, recreating the physical setting required by the storyline.  These blueprints are turned over to a team of carpenters who are specially trained in the art of stage carpentry.  Following the actual building of the set, painters following instructions from the set designers’ original plans paint the set.  As the set is assembled on the stage, the lighting designer works with a team of electricians to throw light onto both the stage and the set in an atmospheric as well as practical way.  Using specialized lighting instruments, colored gels and a state of the art computer, the designer along with the stage director create a “lighting plot” by writing “lighting cues” which are stored in the computer and used during the actual performance of the opera.

 

During this production period, the costume designer in consultation with the stage director has designed appropriate clothing for the singing actors and actresses to wear.  These designs are fashioned into patterns and crafted by a team of highly skilled artisans called cutters, stitchers, and sewers.  Each costume is specially made for each singer using his/her individual measurements.  The wig and makeup designer, working with the costume designer, designs and creates wigs which will complement both the costume and the singer as well as represent historically accurate “period” fashions.

 

 

As the actual performance date approaches, rehearsals are held on the newly crafted set, combined with costumes, lights, and orchestra in order to ensure a cohesive performance that will be both dramatically and musically satisfying to the assembled audience.