Léo Delibes: Lakmé: “Prendre le dessin d’un bijou“ (Alexander Mikhailov)

Lakmé (1883), opera in three acts by Léo Delibes Gérald’s air: “Prendre le dessin d’un bijou“ (Make a drawing of a jewel) Gérald — Alexander Mikhailov Conductor — Christian Knapp Mise en scènes: Isabelle Partiot-Pieri Recorded at the premiere of the production on July 4, 2021, Mariinsky theatre --------------------- A beguiling flower of French Romantic opera, Léo Delibes’ Lakmé remains on the peripheries of the international operatic repertoire and is known to many thanks only to its famous Flower Duet and the soprano’s Bell Song aria. Outside France, it is rarely staged today. Lakmé is the jewel in the crown and the pride of Paris’ Opéra-Comique, where it was first performed on 14 April 1883 and where it went on to enjoy an unbroken run of some eighty years. The first performer of the role of Lakmé was the American Marie van Zandt. It was also she who appeared in the St Petersburg premiere of Lakmé the following season (the opera was staged by the Imperial Italian Company). Van Zandt’s staggering debut in Paris in Ambroise Thomas’ opera Mignon resulted in the playwright Edmond Gondinet’s writing a new work especially for her. His choice fell on a plot by Pierre Loti, a sailor and author of adventure novels about heroes in exotic lands. Taking Loti’s novel Rarahu as a basis, Gondinet and Philippe Gille, another poet of opera, produced a libretto which was presented to Delibes – the latter by that time having already composed the popular ballets Coppélia and Sylvia. The plot of Lakmé unfolds in colonial India in the late 19th century. Two lovers, a soprano and a tenor, are representatives of two different civilisations. The British army officer Gérald is captivated by the beauty of the priestess Lakmé, while Lakmé is drawn to her fervent speech. However, in accordance with the laws of Romanticism, their dream is fated not to come true: having poisoned herself with a toxic flower, Lakmé dies in the arms of her beloved. The plot in exotic surroundings was nothing new for French musical theatre: Delibes was following in the footsteps of Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs des perles, Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine, Massenet’s Le Roi de Lahore and, if one goes back a century more, by Rameau’s Les Indes galantes. The musical material of Lakmé is woven from extremely tender and poetic cantilena and the watercolour orchestration, which flows with refined colours and intonations. The ariosos and duets of the protagonists are framed by Hindu prayers and ceremonies, dances of bayadères and a trading scene. In Act I a group of curious Europeans secretly observes the home of the priest Nilakantha and have a friendly wager as to whether women everywhere are always similar or whether they differ. Over the years, at the Opéra-Comique the role of the Indian beauty has been sung by Lily Pons, Mado Robin, Mady Mesplé, Natalie Dessay and Sabine Devieilhe. Among acclaimed Russian singers to have appeared in productions of Lakmé are the names of Antonina Nezhdanova, Leonid Sobinov (as Gérald), Fyodor Chaliapin (as Nilakantha), Elena Katulskaya, Irina Maslennikova and Valeria Barsova. Following the Mariinsky Theatre’s 1884 production by the Italian Opera, Lakmé was staged again in 1903, 1916 and 1931.