Camille Saint-Saëns: Déjanire

‘It will be a strange score: people will either not like it at all, or will like it enormously’, prophesied Camille Saint-Saëns a few days before the premiere of Déjanire. The opera, first performed in Monte Carlo on 14 March 1911, is based on incidental music written in 1898 for the Béziers Arena. Fascinated by the subject, the composer soon wanted to give it a second, more ambitious life. He therefore conceived a mythological epic that inspired ‘powerfully evocative music’, according to Gabriel Fauré, who was struck by the impact of the choral writing. Yet the love drama that rends the heroine’s heart engenders wildly romantic duets and culminates in the public immolation of Hercules, set ablaze by the poisoned tunic offered to him by the fallen queen. This new Déjanire received high praise from the critics, who flocked to Monaco to see it. But the modernist path that French opera was taking at the time did not allow the work to survive the upheavals of the First World War. It would have been a shame to prolong this unjustified ostracism any longer.

Disc 1
1: Prélude
2: Hercule, Fils D'Alcmène
3: Iole, Hélas! Triste Victime
4: O Toi, Le Plus Fidèle
5: Eh! Qui Vient Là? Phénice!
6: O Cruauté Des Dieux!
7: O Vous Dont L'âme Fut Clémente
8: Comme La Ménade En Délire
9: Où Que Tu Sois, Junon
10: Prélude
11: Ce N'est Pas Comme Vous
12: Je Te Vois, Et Sans Qu'on Te Nomme
13: Hercule Vient! Il Va Paraître!
14: Fais Avertir Iole Par Ses Femmes
15: Près De Vous Je Croyais Retrouver
16: Eh! Quoi, Philoctète Infidèle
17: Pallas, Vierge Prudente Et Sage

Disc 2
1: De Mes Enchantements
2: Triomphant De Multiples Épreuves
3: O Reine, Sauvez-moi!
4: J'ai Dormi Dans La Fraîche Rosée
5: Où Vas-tu, Femme?
6: A Quelques Pas, Dans L'ombre
7: Philoctète, Demeure!
8: J'ai Chargé Ce Tissu
9: O Toi Qui Fais Trembler La Terre
10: Prélude Et Cortège
11: Peuple, Réjouis-toi!
12: Viens, Ô Toi Dont Le Clair Visage
13: Prince, Je Reçois Ton Hommage
14: Éros, Délices De La Terre
15: Les Larges Fleurs De Sang
16: O Jupiter! Dieu, Père, Souverain
17: Ah! Quel Feu Dévore Ma Chair!
18: L'invincible Hercule Succombe

Composer: Camille Saint-Saens

Conductor: Kazuki Yamada

Number of Discs: 2

Orchestra: Orchestre Philharmonique De Monte Carlo

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