Giacomo Meyerbeer - Les Huguenots - “O beau pays“ (Joan Sutherland)

The role of Marguerite de Valois in Meyerbeer’s “Les Huguenots“ isn’t exactly as rewarding as it is sometimes described. Basically, she appears exclusively in Act 2 or in three full numbers: a cavatina, a duet and the finale to the act. She also appears in Act 3 but only in Act 2 does the Queen have any kind of prominence. Moreover, the music for the smallish part is extremely difficult (her cavatina is crowned by a short but brutally difficult vocally cabaletta) and does require incredible stamina (her cavatina, here shortened to a mere 5 minutes, is actually a very long, 12-minute grand scene: the present rendition loses the repeat of the cantabile section, as well as the chorus interjections). And we haven’t even got passed the aria yet! So, all in all, a virtuoso comprimario part. Thankfully, the music is quite delightful, if not particularly inspired. The aria itself follows the tradition of, basically, the kind of arias that the great comedian Anna Russell called the “the