I N A V I L L AG E I N L A MANCHA , WHOSE N A M E I DO N OT C A R E TO R EC A L L , TH E R E DW E LT N OT SO LO N G AGO A G E NTLE M A N O F TH E T Y PE W H O KEEPS AN UNUSED L A N C E , A N O LD S H I E LD, A S K I N N Y O LD H O R S E , A N D A GREYHOUND FOR CO U R S I N G CERVANTES
DO N Q U IC H OT TE JULES MASSENET
TH E K N OW L E DG E B OX
“TOO MUCH SANITY IS MADNESS. MADDEST OF ALL IS SEEING LIFE AS IT IS RATHER THAN AS IT SHOULD BE” We all know about Don Quixote: the quiet country gentleman from the most godforsaken region of Spain becomes the crackpot knight on his shambling horse. He wanders about the Spanish countryside with his squire Sancho Panza, a simple peasant on a donkey. Yet we are told that this is one of the books of the world, a work so profound and subtle nobody seems capable of explaining its great fame. What is the secret? Certainly Cervantes’ masterpiece has an intimate quality; Quixote’s vulnerability makes us imagine ourselves on a personal adventure with the crazy knight. What starts out as a parody of the antique novel of romantic chivalry, of knights-errant overcoming appalling opponents, becomes a wild episodic journey through early seventeenth-century Spain. Everyone we meet speaks up for himself with remarkable clarity and vigour. And it’s an easy journey. Because it is so funny. The knight’s language is elaborate, but Cervantes’ writing is simple and direct. The ideas are preposterous but the storytelling is down to earth. For all his brave talk Quixote defeats few of the people he so recklessly challenges. He usually falls off Rocinante, his horse, early in the fight. He spends a significant part of the book convalescing. We quickly become used to the Don and to Sancho: the knight who will not tell a lie yet who says little that is true, the squire who tailors the truth to his own ends, when he can recognize it, for Sancho becomes partially infected with his master’s madness: Quixote has promised him the governorship of an island and ambitious dreams provide his incentive to continue the absurd caper. Cervantes’ inventive humour explores many aspects of Quixote’s dottiness. Here is the knight, explaining why he needs a gentle maiden to whom he may dedicate his deeds: “ Should I,” said he to himself, “ by good or ill fortune, chance to encounter some giant, as is common in knighterrantry, and happen to lay him prostrate on the ground, transfixed with my lance, or cleft in two, or, in short, overcome him, and have him at my mercy, would it not be proper to have some lady to whom I may send him as a trophy of my valour? Then when he comes into her presence, throwing
himself at her feet, he may thus make his humble submission: ‘Lady, I am the giant Caraculiambro, lord of the island of Malindrania, vanquished in single combat by that never-deservedly-enough-extolled knight-errant Don Quixote de la Mancha, who has commanded me to cast myself most humbly at your feet, that it may please your honour to dispose of me according to your will.’” Quixote can’t step away from his vision of the defeated giant, transfixed or cleft in two, to see that in this state poor Caraculiambro will be incapable of making such a journey and spouting such a rigmarole. In a similarly fantastic way Quixote’s imagination translates Aldonza Lorenzo, a simple peasant girl from what is still today the ramshackle village of El Toboso, into Dulcinea del Toboso, a name, to his mind, musical, uncommon, and significant, like all those he had already bestowed upon himself and the things belonging to him. All Europe read Don Quixote. The moment the book came out, in 1605, the public demanded extra editions. Pirated versions became common. This is a seriously popular book. People estimate that it has sold more than six hundred million copies worldwide, second only to the Bible as an all-time bestseller. The appearance of a spurious second part provoked Cervantes into producing his own second part in 1615, and there the joke is expanded as Quixote and Sancho meet people who have read the first part and who discuss it with them. Quixote reacts with amazement on learning that a book has been written about him. In the encounter with the Bachelor Sansón Carrasco, a student at the university of Salamanca, in chapter 3 of part II, Cervantes boasts of the book’s popularity: “there are more than twelve thousand copies in print. And if you don’t believe it, just ask around in Portugal, Barcelona, and Valencia, where they were printed. There’s even a rumour that it’s being printed in Antwerp, and it seems to me that there will be no nation or language that will not have its own translation.” The first English translation of the First Part, by Thomas Shelton, had indeed appeared in 1612. Cervantes invented a sage Moor, Cide Hamete Benengeli, as a fictional author, just as the old stories usually
Our greatest foes, and whom we must chiefly combat, are within CERVANTES
claimed to have been written by some august and distant chronicler. Benengeli suggests aubergines (berenjenas) to a Spaniard - Cervantes’s readers would have understood the moor to come from Toledo, whose people were famously fond of aubergines. The names in Cervantes carry richly absurd associations. Sansón Carrasco reappears later in Part II masquerading as the Knight of the Mirrors to play a trick of Don Quixote. He tells him that his lady, Casildea de Vandalia, is more beautiful than Dulcinea, and in the subsequent fight manages to fall off his horse before Quixote falls off Rocinante. When Quixote lifts the beaver of the Knight of the Mirrors and recognizes Sansón - just the moment when Sansón should be safe, you’d think - he concludes that some enchanter has changed the Knight of the Mirrors into Sansón, and Sansón is lucky to escape with his life. Cervantes could claim an ancestry of genuine knights-errant extending far back, and, knowing true chivalry, had strong feelings about the mock chivalry of the old romances. He also had experience as a soldier and of real adventures. He was proud of having lost the use of his left hand fighting for Don John of Austria at the Battle of Lepanto, and he had been captured by Algerine pirates and kept prisoner for five years; his
family had had great trouble raising the ransom money. The episodic nature of Don Quixote and the comedy of a central character with a terrible personality fault make the work strangely familiar to modern readers. Captain Mainwaring’s pomposity, Basil Fawlty’s pretentiousness, Hyacinth Bucket’s social climbing, the comedy of the zany and the straight man, Morecambe and Wise, Lee and Herring, Laurel and Hardy, all derive from techniques joyously explored and made popular by Cervantes. Few comic writers have failed to filch ideas from Don Quixote. Molière relied on it often: for Monsieur Jourdain, the Bourgeois Gentilhomme, the uneducated merchant who wishes to be a great lord, who is delighted and incredulous to learn that he’s been speaking prose all his life; for his hypochondriac, his miser, his blue stocking. People make extravagant claims for Don Quixote, that it examines the relationship between appearance and reality, that it gives a remarkable insight into the nature of schizophrenia, but we read and read on for other reasons: for the wonderful characters that we meet, for the richly ingenious humour, and, above all, for the affection and respect, of Cervantes for his creation, and of many of the people in the book for each other. That affection and respect gives the work a universal quality: it makes it feel true for all time and for all people. Don Quixote tells us about ourselves, and how absurd we can be, and does so while making us laugh. It reminds us how we depend on the people about us, however tiresome or unreasonable they may occasionally seem. Cervantes doesn’t force this upon us but it’s implicit in every page he wrote.
Michael Fontes Wednesday, 28 August 2013
J U L E S M A S S E N E T | 18 42-1912
1853 Aged 11 studies piano and harmony & counterpoint at Conservatoire de Paris 1857 Works as timpanist for six years at the Théâtre Lyrique, playing percussion instruments in other theatres, and piano in the Café de Belleville 1859 Sleeps in room next to Wagner at château Plessis-Trévise near Paris 1862 Wins Prix de Rome. Whilst there, Liszt introduces a new piano pupil Louise-Constance de Gressy ... 1866 . . . whom he marries. Her family live in Rue Laffitte near the Rothschilds
F E B RUA RY 1910 E N RO U TE TO TH E PR E M I E R E O F DO N Q U I C H OT TE TH E CO M P O S E R CO M M E NT S O N TH E D E VA S TATI N G F LOO DS I N PA R I S
1870 Serves in the Franco-Prussian War. JM A dismal date for my poor country. I tried to write during the short moments of rest that guard duty and military exercises left us 1872-3 Several successful operas – none performed today 1874 Sees staging of Jules Verne’s Around the world in 80 days. JM “We live in a scientific era. The 19th century will go down as the century of steam and
electricity. The books of Jules Verne are known to all”. JM later collaborates with Verne 1876 Receives Legion d’honneur (achieves 4 of 5 levels) 1877 Le Roi de Lahore – 30 perfs at the new Palais Garnier 1878 Wins a place on Académie des Beaux-Arts in favour of Saint-Saëns with whom JM commisserates: My dear colleague, the Institut has just committed a grave injustice. S-S replies: I entirely agree with you 1879 Tchaikovsky to von Meck I know that you do not care very much for Massenet. [Roi de Lahore], however, has captivated me by its rare beauty of form, its simplicity and freshness of ideas and style, its wealth of melody, its dinstinction of harmony” 1881 JM sends tickets for the première of Herodiade in Brussels to Alphonse de Rothschild who had given JM a railway pass Paris – Brussels for rehearsals. 400+Parisians took the train for the première. Extra trains ran so people could get home to Liège,
Antwerp Ghent and Louvain. (If only that happened today) 1884 Manon – 78 perfs in Paris 1886 Tchaikovsky writes Back home I played Manon. Oh, how nauseating Massenet is!!! And the most irritating thing is that in all this sickliness I can feel something that is akin to me Around this time the two composers met 1889 Esclarmonde – 91 perfs in Paris 1892 Werther 1894 Thais 1894 Queen Victoria at Windsor Massenet’s new opera La Navarraise . . . was very well sung & put on the stage, though of course the firing, excepting one gun had to be left out, which took away somewhat from the effect. Calvé, for whom the Opera was composed, was splendid as usual, in the wild character of Anita, & her mad laugh, at the end, when her lover dies, is awful . . . It was 1am by the time [it] was over 1901 Prince Albert of Monaco
agrees to stage Le Jongleur de Notre Dame. Monte Carlo would stage five more JM premières 1908 Collaborates with Rene Maugers on Bacchus. Rene, Massenet later discovers, is Dr Henri de Rothschild 1910 Paris is flooded. JM takes Paris – Monte Carlo train for première of Don Quichotte. Too nervous to sit in the Prince’s box, he waits in the salon. After curtain calls, Albert fetches him from the salon for the ovations and a princely embrace. Afterwards a grand ball filled the atrium of the Casino, there was a lottery for charity and the festivities went on until 4am. A month later, the celebrations to inaugurate Prince Albert’s Oceanographic Museum include a water ballet with ships and galleys. Later in the year JM has abdominal surgery 1911 Quichotte - 68 perfs in Paris 11 July 1912 JM writes Posthumous Thoughts for L’Echo de Paris No more letter to answer; no more premières; no more newspapers nor dinners to
attend, nor sleepless nights. A few friends would come to ask if the news were true and the concierge would reply “Alas, Monsieur went away without leaving his forwarding address” As for his mortal remains, these would be sealed in a vault at Egreville, prepared long before. 8 August 1912 Massenet taken to hospital and dies Tuesday 13 August at 4am. Massenet had abhorred the idea of dying in hospital. An ambulance took the body to his home where his valet had set up a small bed in the study. During the trip his nurse administered oxygen and at 6am she announced he had died. At 2pm the death
was registered. On Friday the body was blessed by the vicar of Saint–Sulpice and taken in a motor van to Egreville and the family vault October 1912 Saint-Saëns writing a résumé of Massenet for L’Echo de Paris Massenet is one of the most brilliant diamonds in our musical crown. A very prolific, hard-working composer his daily schedule starting frequently from as early as 4am A criticism is made against Massenet: he was superficial, they say, and lacked depth. Depth, as we know, is very much the fashion . . . Long live gloom. Hurrah for boredom! So say
our young people. They may live to regret, too late, the lost hours which they might have spent in gaiety He had charm, attraction and a passionateness that was feverish rather than deep. He followed a course he had set for himself . . . he was able to adopt the novelties from abroad yet he presented the spectacle of a thoroughly French artist whom neither the Lorelei of the Rhine nor the sirens of the Mediterranean could lead astray. Even in his loudest passages, the instrumental texture is always lucid. 22 November 1913 Benjamin Britten born
1895 Méliès offers the Lumière brothers’ 10,000 francs for one of their cameras. They refuse; he builds his own. 1896 - 1913, He directs 531 films ranging in length from one to 40 minutes. 1899 Cleopatra’s tomb was an early horror film
PA R I S C H A R I T Y B A Z A A R | 4 M AY 18 97
The annual Bazar de la Charité, raised money for a number of causes. In 1897 a fantasy medieval street was built from wood, cardboard, cloth and papier-mache - rather like a theatre set – in a wooden shed, 80x13m, at Rue Jean-Goujon. Aristocratic women were dressed as shop girls and wealthy men made purchases – all in aid of charity. In a cubicle they could view moving images – the latest technology from the Lumière brothers. The projectionist’s equipment caught fire and the blaze ripped through the scenery. There were few exits and in the panic 126 people, mostly aristocratic women, died. Juliette Massenet, aged 29, was at the bazaar – and survived. As did 14 year old Lucy Arbell who would be the first Dulcinée in Don Quichotte. Her grandfather Sir Richard Wallace lived in Rue Laffitte, near the Rothschilds and Juliette’s maternal grandparents, and bequeathed his art collection to the nation to form The Wallace Collection in Manchester Square. The Duchess of Alençon, Sophie of Bavaria, sister of the famous Empress Sisi, perished. Her charred remains were identified by dental records. To the opera world she is famous as fiancée to Ludwig II of Bavaria, Wagner’s sponsor and would-be lover. After months of dithering, Ludwig let go and Sophie made a suitably prestigious marriage to the Duke of Alençon.
Q U E E N V I C TO R I A’ S D I A RY | 5 M AY 18 97
“. . . A telegram at breakfast, from Sir E. Monson, saying it was feared poor Sophie Alençon had perished in a great fire at Paris. Afterwards he read me some details in the papers of the terrible catastrophe, which is more horrible than can be described, & has cost many lives, amongst the highest in Parisian society. — Out with Judy h. & went to the Mausoleum, where I placed wreaths. . . . . — Received a heart broken telegram from poor Alençon, announcing his bien aimeé Sophie had lost her life in yesterday’s fearful catastrophe. Later on I had another from Sir E. Monson saying her remains had been identified. It is too shocking to think of.”
M O N T E C A R LO & PA R I S : T H R I L L S & S P I L L S
Six Massenet operas including Don Quichotte were given premières in Monte Carlo.
on 30 successive spins. He uses the high-risk martingale, doubling each stake to make up losses
1856 The loss of Menton and Roquebrune and their olive, orange and lemon crops, depleted the fortune of Monaco’s rulers. Inspired by Baden Baden, they build a sea-bathing facility and a casino. Success is slow in coming 1868 The new railway brings an influx of the rich from Russian grand dukes to railway magnates – often with their mistresses
1894 New York Times reviews the Paris Salon du Cycle show: It is, of course, highly interesting, and many splendid machines are on view. But there is no striking novelty, save except the bamboo frames, which reduce the weight of a substantial bicycle to about sixteen pounds. However, none of the petroleum cycles, about which there has been so much talk, are in the exhibition.
1879 The casino is extended with a theatre: Salle Garnier
There are two cars in the exhibition. In France there are 20 cars in use
1882 Queen Victoria visits the Riviera. She refuses to make a courtesy call to the palace at Monte Carlo, so louche was its reputation
1895 Emile Levassor is first over the finish line in the world’s first automobile race. His average speed of 15 mph was not dissimilar to the famous Bordeaux – Paris cycle race.
1889 Eiffel Tower erected as entrance to the World Fair 1891 Charles Wells breaks the bank at Monte Carlo 12 times including 23 wins
1897 Blériot develops the world’s first headlamp for automobiles. He opens a showroom in Paris and
supplies lamps to Renault and Panhard-Levassor. (Alas Levassor swerved to avoid a dog and died of his injuries) Blériot’s headlamp profits finance his interest in aviation and cine photography. Visit British Pathe website www.britishpathe.com
1898 1st Paris Motor show. Exhibitors proved their seriousness by driving cars from Versailles to Paris www.mondial-automobile.com
1901 Alberto Santos-Dumont, heir of Brazilian coffee producers, flies around the Eiffel tower in a dirigible 1902 Invention of car ignition using electric resistence 1905 The steering wheel is moved on the left side 1905 Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, author of Onward, Christian Soldiers, dubs Monaco the moral cesspool of Europe. Aged 34, he married a mill worker of 16 whom he sent away to learn middle class
manners, inspiring Shaw’s Pygmalion 1905 Journal de Monaco reports Prince Albert arrival on the Rapide from Paris. It was late as extra cars were added for people travelling to the première of Massenet’s Chérubin 1906 Blériot defeated by Santos Dumont who wins the Aéro Club de France prize for the first flight of over 100m 1908 Paris Motor Show gives a section to aircraft 1909 First Paris Air show at the Grand Palais; 100,000 visitors; 380 exhibitors. Blériot flies over the Channel winning £1,000 offered by the Daily Mail 1910 Kissing banned on French trains as it causes delays February Monte Carlo première Don Quichotte February Hubert le Blon sets a record in a Blériot XI monoplane flying 5km in 4‘ 2”. His death a few weeks later was reported
as the sixth person to die in an air accident March Rather than take to the skies, Monaco’s Prince Albert builds impressive research yachts to survey the ocean floor and an Oceanographic Museum. Cousteau was director 1957 – 1988. April Protests against Monaco’s monarchy. Foreigners dominated politics. Citizens paid no tax but were not allowed to work in even the most menial jobs 1911 January 1st Monte Carlo Rally. Winning gave a car credibility and publicity June Léon Lemartin dies during the Le Circuit Européen air race within view of a million spectators December The Aero-Club de France establishes a fund for distressed aviators
and to erect a monument to the glory of French aviation. For the occasion Massenet wrote Salut solennel aux aviateurs. 1912 February RMS Titanic sinks August Massenet dies
S A LO N D E L
S E P TE M B E R 19 0 9 LOCO M OTI O N A E R I E N N E G R A N D PA L A I S , PA R I S 100,000 visitors 380 exhibitors
Don Quixote’s physical and mental frailty result from excessive reading, lack of sleep and poor diet. Food shortages were rife Cervantes’ contemporary Juan Sánchez Cotán gives the humble vegetable a profound spirituality . . . making a virtue of a necessity
A S E L E C T I O N O F AU T U M N H A P P E N I N G S THE LAST YANKEE | 16 September Arthur Miller’s play at The Print Room preceded by drinks in an unexpected ruin VERDI’S LIFE | 2 October 22 Mansfield Street. The personal and professional life of Verdi with arias from Claire Rutter, soprano, & Stephen Gadd, baritone MANSION HOUSE | 17 October The Lord Mayor Roger Gifford throws open the Mansion House to Grange Park Opera. See the wonderful collection of Dutch paintings, 17th century plasterwork and your dinner table will be set with gold plate. This is London’s grandest private house CHARTERHOUSE | 24 October A Knowledge Box talk in a secret corner of the City SILK WEAVERS | 29 October Life of a Huguenot Spitalfields silk weaver at the Dennis Severs House,
Folgate Street. Meet first in St John Bread & Wine RIMBAUD & BRITTEN | 8 November London’s newest theatre: Milton Court, Silk Street. Students of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in Iain Burnside’s staging around the life of bad boy genius Artur Rimbaud PLATO SOIREE | 22 November The ballroom at the Savile Club. Conductor Renato Balsadonna talks about Don Quichotte LEO NUCCI | 12 December Cadogan Hall. The great baritone sings Verdi arias. A Rosenblatt Recital CHORUS AUDITIONS | various The chorus at Grange Park Opera is much praised. Listen in on the audition process TO BOOK Booking details on the website
MAY Fri 30 Peter Grimes Sat 31 LA TRAVIATA JUNE Thu 5 LA TRAVIATA Sat 7 Peter Grimes Sun 8 LA TRAVIATA wed 11 Fri 13 SAT 14 SUN 15
Peter Grimes LA TRAVIATA DON QUICHOTTE Peter Grimes
WED 18 Peter Grimes THU 19 DON QUICHOTTE fri 20 LA TRAVIATA SAT 21 Peter Grimes SUN 22 DON QUICHOTTE FRI 27 LA TRAVIATA SAT 28 DON QUICHOTTE SUN 29 LA TRAVIATA
JULY WED 2 FRI 4 sat 5 SUN 6
LA TRAVIATA DON QUICHOTTE LA TRAVIATA QUEEN OF SPADES
TUE 8 WED 9 THU 10 SAT 12
QUEEN OF SPADES DON QUICHOTTE QUEEN OF SPADES QUEEN OF SPADES
VERDI LA TRAVIATA How can one go through life and not see Traviata? Verdi’s opera isn’t just a three-handkerchief weepie – you need a whole box of tissues. The racy courtesan Violetta thinks she has at last found true love with Alfredo, but is it too late? What will the show look like? This will be a sumptuous production with designs from Richard Hudson. BRITTEN PETER GRIMES One of Britten’s most accessible masterpieces. An apprentice has already died on his watch, so when Peter Grimes, the fisherman, loses another one, all hell breaks loose in his close-knit gossipy Suffolk village. Epic choruses and sea interludes that wash you away. What will the show look like? A fishing village. The designer created Grange Park’s Eugene Onegin (watch a video) and the director’s Fledermaus opens at The Met, New York on New Year’s Eve.
B E I N G TOTA L LY PR EOCC U P I E D, H E RO D E SO S LOW LY TH AT TH E S U N WA S SOO N G LOW I N G W ITH S U C H I NTE N S E H E AT TH AT IT WO U LD H AV E M E LTE D HIS BR AINS – IF HE’D HAD ANY CERVANTES
MASSENET DON QUICHOTTE The eponymous skinny knight and his chubby sidekick, Sancho Panza, dwell on the big themes in life: love and death. The adored Dulcinée knows how to turn someone down nicely. It’s funny, uplifting and tragic all at the same time. What will the show look like? The don’s delusions take place in a 19th century theatre with painted canvas scenery. Costumes are by the Rusalka costume designer. TCHAIKOVSKY QUEEN OF SPADES
Perfect for those nervous about opera. A sensational score, beautiful (and expensive) costumes, dramatic love scenes – and Prince Yeletsky’s love song which you will sing in the car all the way home. Will the Countess reveal the secret of the three cards that made her fortune? Will Hermann win Lisa?
What will the show look like?
There is a video of the 2012 production on the website.
01962 73 73 60 | www.grangeparkopera.co.uk