# Château de Versailles, Jean-Philippe Rameau: Zaïs (18 November, 2014)



## PabloElFlamenco

I booked two good seats for this concert. I cannot imagine hardly anything better that Rameau at Versailles.

http://78.agendaculturel.fr/concert/versailles/opera-royal/rameau-zais.html


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## Taggart

Lully? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

PS Ingélou and I are both extremely jealous, but hope you have a fabulous time.


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## PabloElFlamenco

Hello dear Taggert, howdy Ingélou, of course Lully breathed, worked and lived at Versailles, probably even more so than Rameau. If I'm not mistaken, at some time around twenty-thousand people lived at the Château, brushing Louis' sleeves in mostly vain attempts at the glitter wiping off onto their persons. 

My (very recent) musical appreciation of Jean-Philippe Rameau, whose music I'm a little bit more familiar with than Lully's (listening to Scott Ross' rendition of the harpsichord works coming out of tinny laptop speakers right now), screams out "Versailles, France, Royauté, Gloire, Grandeur" and so on all the way up until the very nearby fields of Waterloo. This is why, when the internet revealed a Zaïs concert at that very venue, I couldn't resist. I'm no better, you see, than all those 18th century courtisans...

There is just a little more to the story than that: going to Versailles (and Paris) also means expenditure of some means, so we had to make a choice and have had to decide not to go to Portsmouth, HMS Victory (and up to Wales). I deeply apologize for that: Lord Nelson and the great age of sail by no means leave me unaffected. I'm a great fan of Dr. Stephen Maturin and Captain Jack Aubrey. I hope life will provide the opportunity of visiting HMS Victory, perhaps (and hopefully) by then the yards and masts will be back in place.

Assuring you of my respect, Madam, Sir, pray accept my regards,
Paul


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## PabloElFlamenco

On 18th November, my wife and I went to Versailles to see the Christophe Rousset (Les Talens Lyriques) production of "Zaïs".
I wrote the following, which can serve as a critique, my experience, of the event...

It is a city trip to Paris that brought us to Versailles from Belgium, where we live near Brussels. Neither my wife nor myself are opera regulars and, at 65, this is only the second time of my life I go to the opera, the first time having been a Monnaie production of Alban Berg's "Wozzek". But Jean-Philippe Rameau is my favorite composer of the moment, and -please don't tell Mr. Rousset- Scott Ross's rendition of Rameau's complete harpsichord works are among my very favorites, whereas I fancy Mr. Marc Minkowski's "Zaïs" overture and other orchestral prowess. So it was with some awe -I love reading history- that we accessed "Marie-Antoinette's" Opéra Royal, much looking forward myself to hearing a full-scale baroque performance. Les Talens Lyriques, whom I'd never heard before, brought a fine, elegant, carefully constructed overture, with well-measured discretion, but beautiful as it ought to be. Fine to actually hear Rousset's harpsichord -they're all to often almost inaudible- and, in duo with a cello, and Julian Prégardien's pleasant presence, this is most enjoyable stuff. Marie Arnet sang very well indeed, Julian did seem to have some trouble with the higher notes, but no one fell too obviously into the hole. And I would, of course, specially laud the Choeurs de Chambre de Namur, rock solid wall of sound. 

As non initiated into the mysterious world of the opera, it's a pity that the theatrical aspect of the real thing goes missing in such formal, uncostumed concert, without ballets. And without any previous stock of knowledge, other than Mr. Rousset's very basic desriptions in that little book he wrote about the composer, it would have been nice to have a libretto or more information as to the nature of "Génies & Sylphes" and, in general, the plot and texts of the story (whereof I have read it is rather flimsy in substance). Without story, all we have are the facial expressions of the vocalists, their bearing on stage, augmented by a (healthy?) dose of curiosity as to the "real time" relationships between the actors, including when seated in the wings. Ms. Arnet seemed pleased, and once, Mr. Prégardien not unpleasantly relieved as if "he gotten away with something". This is mere speculation, mind you, and singing seems, clearly, akin to playing at the very edge of a precipice...

Frankly, three and a half hours is too long. The nigh interminable variations and succession of unintelligable verbal tonalities keep coming, one is lost in classics! Thankfully, the orchestra does storm, thunder and harmonizes busily on, Rameau the perfect personification of the baroque glories, not without a nip of arrogance. Happy to have been there, even better that we easily caught that bus into Paris and into a comfortable bed. And on eBay I bought the old Leonhardt/Petite Bande version of the opera, so I'll read that libretto after all!

++

Having, in the meanwhile, recorded onto CD the 1977 Leonhardt/Petite Bande/Collegium Vocale recording of "Zaïs", and listened to it more extensively, the main element remaining in mind is how very lovely some of that music is...

Paul


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