View Extract - Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Giacomo Meyerbeer
The Complete Libretti
in Eleven Volumes
(in the Original and in English
Translations by Richard Arsenty with
Introductions by Robert Ignatius Letellier)
Volume 9
The Meyerbeer Libretti
Opéra Comique 1
L'Étoile du Nord
Edited by
Richard Arsenty (translations)
and Robert Letellier (introductions)
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
The Meyerbeer Libretti: Opéra Comique 1 L'Étoile du Nord, Edited by Richard Arsenty (translations)
and Robert Letellier (introductions)
This book first published 2006 as part of The Complete Libretti of Giacomo Meyerbeer in Five
Volumes. This second edition first published 2008.
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright © 2008 by Richard Arsenty (translations) and Robert Letellier (introductions)
All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN (10): 1-84718-968-7, ISBN (13): 9781847189684
As the eleven-volume set: ISBN (10): 1-84718-971-7, ISBN (13): 9781847189714
Giacomo Meerbeer: steel engraving by D. J. Pound
after a photograph by Mayall (London, 1855)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ........................................................................................................ ix
Introduction ................................................................................................ xi
The Libretti:
L'Étoile du Nord .......................................................................................... 1
PREFACE
Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most important and influential opera
composers of the nineteenth century, enjoyed a fame during his lifetime
unrivalled by any of his contemporaries. His four French grand operas
were in the standard repertory of every major opera house of the world
between 1831 and 1914. But his stage works went into an eclipse after
the First World War, and from then until the 1990s were performed only
occasionally. Now a rediscovery and reevaluation of his lyric dramas is
under way. More performances of his operas have taken place since 1993
than occurred during the previous twenty years. This presents a problem
for anyone who wants to study the libretti of his operas. The texts of
his early stage works are held by very few libraries in the world and
are almost impossible to find, and the libretti of his more famous later
operas, when come across, are invariably heavily cut and reflect the
performance practices of a hundred years ago. This eleven-volume set,
following on from the original five-volume edition of 2004, provides
all the operatic texts set by Meyerbeer in one collection. Over half of
the libretti have not appeared in print in any language for more than
150 years, and one of the early German works has never been printed
before. All of the texts are offered in the most complete versions ever
made available, many with supplementary material appearing in addenda.
Each libretto is translated into modern English by Richard Arsenty; and
each work is introduced by Robert Letellier. In this comprehensive
edition of Meyerbeer's libretti, the original text and its translation
are placed on facing pages for ease of use.
INTRODUCTION
L'Étoile du Nord
WORLD PREMIÈRE
16 February 1854
Paris, Opéra-Comique
Péters / Pierre.......................................................... Charles-Amable Bataille
Catherine ............................................................................. Caroline Duprez
Danilowitz ...................................................................... (Monsieur) Mocker
Gritzenko ............................................................ (Monsieur) Hermann-Léon
Prascovia .......................................................................... Caroline Lefebvre
George ............................................................................(Monsieur) Jourdan
Tchérémétoff ......................................................Charles François Duvernoy
Yermoloff ...............................................................................Léon Carvalho
Nathalie ............................................................................... (Mlle) Lemercie
Ékimona................................................................................. (Mlle) Decroix
Ismaïloff ......................................................... (Monsieur) Delaunay-Riquier
The Tent Scene in Act 2.
xii
Giacomo Meyerbeer
In the midst of preparations for the première of Le Prophète,
Meyerbeer's diary records conferences with Scribe about the Feldlager (29
January, 3 February, 5 April 1849). No sooner had this immense work
been brought to its triumphant first night on 16 April, the composer noted
receipt of a new libretto, L’Impératrice: act 2 on 10 July; act 3 on 16 July,
and act 1 on 18 and 31 July. It was his habit to begin thinking about a new
work the moment he had completed a project, and he began composition
in the train on his journey from Paris to another curative trip in the
Austrian Salzkammergut.
Composition on the new text continued on and off over the next four
years, with the title changing to La Cantinière (1 August 1848), La
Vivandière (20 November 1849), until finally L’Étoile du Nord (5 October
1850). Meyerbeer sought to combine his work with the demands made by
his position in Berlin as director of the Royal court concerts and his
traveling to Dresden and Vienna to oversee the triumphal progress of Le
Prophète. In September 1852 he conferred closely with Scribe on the
adaptation of pieces from the Feldlager, mainly the military music from
act 2, Vielka's Gypsy Roundelay (act 1) and parts of her Vision (act 3). A
series of revisions took place between November 1852 and August 1853.
Rehearsals began on 13 September 1853, with the ensemble of the Opéra
Comique drilled to a pitch of professional excellence. In spite of the
difficulties of the growing political crisis between France and Russia, soon
to explode in the Crimean War, and Meyerbeer's personal anxiety over his
mother's health, the première of L'Étoile du Nord on 16 February 1854
was another triumph for composer and librettist. Within a year the opera
had been given 100 times in Paris. Within four years it was seen in over 60
European cities, and was spreading all over the world.
For the Dresden production in late January 1855, Meyerbeer composed
two new pieces for the famous tenor Josef Tichatschek who was to sing
the character role of Danilowitz: the comic polonaise in act 1 and a tender
arioso (cantabile). The texts were written in German by the singer-librettist
Johann Christoph Grünbaum, with a French translation by Mornais (April
1855). As with the Feldlager, Meyerbeer did not think the opéra comique
format would travel well on the international circuit. He began setting
recitatives for the Italian version for Covent Garden (April-May 1855),
with German translation by Grünbaum (March 1857). He also composed
some new couplets for the famous bass Luigi Lablache when he took over
the role of the Cossack Gritzenko. Rellstab provided the text here, with an
Italian translation by Prof. Schnackenburg of Berlin.
The intention of having the Feldlager material transformed into a very
different scenario more adapted to the international stage had of course
The Meyerbeer Libretti
xiii
been present from the very first time composer and librettist had conferred
on the opera for Berlin in late 1843. Scribe's principal idea was to relocate
the action in Russia during the period of the wars with Charles IX of
Sweden (1700-21); the hero was now to be Peter the Great, and the
heroine Catherine, the second wife of the tsar, whom he met on his
campaigns. Even as Feldlager was based on the flute-playing abilities of
Frederick the Great, the core of historical anecdote here was Peter's
escapades in disguise as Peter Mikhailov when he visited Deptford,
Saardam and Karelia to learn the secrets of shipbuilding. This material had
already been successfully exploited by André Grétry in Pierre le Grand
(1791), Peter Weigl in Die Jugendjahre Peters des Grossen (1814),
Gaetano Donizetti in Il borgomastro di di Saardam (1827), and especially
Albert Lortzing in his Zar und Zimmermann (1837), both latter works
based on a French play Le Bourgmestre de Sardam, ou Les Deux Pierres
by A.-H.-J. Mélesville, J.-T. Merle and E.-C. de Boirie (1818).
Now Scribe successfully wove fact and fiction into a romantic story
which relates to its predecessor only in certain respects.1 There is the same
determining polarity between pastoral and the military worlds, this time
with a more pointed dramaturgical implication. The world of the Karelian
village where Peter lives and works in happy incognito comes to signify
enduring and healing values: gentleness, light, peace, kindliness, family
and social harmony, love and integration. Here people are open, able to
flourish and find fulfilment in social stability, especially in the allimportant image of marriage. The sphere of military power, the tsar's
métier as his real self, is violent, disruptive, unpredictable, confrontational,
harsh, potentially mortal. This reflects the real world of psychological and
social complexity, of political and armed realities, of power, conspiracy,
betrayal, even death. Order imposed by force can easily fall into chaos
through the erosion or collapse of moral standards (military hubris,
drinking, wenching, conspiring). True order and enlightened rule come
through the proper integration of these two worlds, a process in the opera
which takes place through patterns of loss and rescue, isolation and
integration, disguise and true identity.
The old rescue and masking motifs, so prevalent in the Italian libretti
of Meyerbeer's youth, return with a more sophisticated application.
Catherine saves her community from the marauding Cossacks by
disguising herself first as a gypsy and then as a soldier, her brother from
1
Robert LETELLIER, "Che sarà, sarà: The 'Star' of Which Dreams Are Made,
Meyerbeer's L'étoile du nord," The Opera Quarterly 18:1 (winter 2002): 40-57.
Also in JACOBSHAGEN and POSPÍSIL (eds.). Meyerbeer und die Opéra
comique um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts.
xiv
Giacomo Meyerbeer
conscription so that he is free to wed, and the tsar from disaster. Peter and
Catherine are constantly engaged in a zig-zagging process of intersection,
as each intrudes into the other's life, changing it in the process, and finally
finding the point of common meeting and integration.
In act 1 Peter is in disguise and Catherine herself; she is able to inspire
him and help him realize his potential as leader. In act 2 Peter is himself
and Catherine is en travestie; Peter nearly loses his power and his life in
the conspiracy and his own incapacitating drunkenness; only the disguised
Catherine's cry for help in being dragged away to apparent death helps to
bring him to his senses and full potential. In act 3 a mortified Peter is now
true ruler, and in a position to see the scene more clearly. He finds
Catherine, her sovereign reason clouded by suffering, and through the
agency of a staged masque (the recreated Karelian village) and the loving
cooperation of their friends, he is able to rescue her now, by bringing
about the social psychotherapy which enables Catherine to find her true
self again. Their union is a double crowning (of marriage and coronation)
that represents the harmonious integration of the two opposing worlds and
a celebration of true values.
Scribe is particularly adept at using symbolism and motif in
constructing this scenario for the world of the opéra comique, so different
from that of grand opéra. Apart from the fundamental pastoral and
military spheres of action, the plot is held in dramatic tension by prophecy,
the prediction by Catherine's dead mother that she will one day find her
'star', the fulfilment of her destiny. The famous theme, a theme of peace,
first given to Vielka in Feldlager, becomes the Leitmotif of the new opera,
the theme of destiny, prayer and integration.
Catherine, chacun a son étoile. La tienne brille au nord, au dessus de tous
les autres, et te réserve de bizarres destinées.
The disguise motif is also given a new pointedness: who is the real
Peter, the tough but kindly shipwright, or the drunken and pathetic ruler
who is incomplete as a man? The travesty idea is also developed in using
the recurrent stories of women disguised as soldiers. Although Catherine is
a weak woman disguised as a man, she is able to exercise true leadership
in the story, through her self-sacrificing and rescuing actions. Her madness
is the gateway to proper social healing and integration for the tsar, for
Peter the man, and for society generally. The wedding in the pastoral
context of act 1, the conspiracy in the military context of act 2, and the
mad scene and reminiscence scenes which are combined in act 3, were all
familiar devices from the Italian and French operas of the time, many of
them of Scribe's authorship. In many ways both librettist and composer
The Meyerbeer Libretti
xv
seemed to want to sum up all the conventions of a genre, and give them
some kind of new interpretive gloss of their own.
Musically it is the same, as if Meyerbeer had wishes to provide a
miniature distillation of the worlds of opera semiseria and grand opera in
the context of his first venture into the hitherto French preserve of the
opéra comique. The musical forms reflect this concern, with the choruses,
arias, duets couched in the lighter style and mode of the genre: even here
there is remarkable diversity, with the duet for Catherine and Peter in act 1
in the heroic mold, and that for Catherine and Prascovia in a charming
comic vein.
On the other hand, the ensembles (quintet, sextet), some of the choruses
(the conspiracy) and concerted pieces (the act 2 finale with the gathering
of the loyal troops, a grandiose counterpointing of four military themes)
and the mad scene (a prolonged rondo with thematic reminiscences from the
first act) are from the world of grand opéra and the opera seria. The
inventive harmony (with fluent enharmonic modulation) and constant
changes of rhythmic patterns (often in the choral writing) reveal adventurous
formal and tonal developments in the composer’s style. The opening
choruses and Gritzenko’s b minor Cossack Song in act 1, for example,
provide most original attempts at achieving national color and mood.
The basic situation of Feldlager is also reflected musically in L’Étoile
du Nord: the unpretentious first and third acts reflect the gemütliche world
of the Singspiel, while the grandiose Camp Scene in act 2 requires vast
choral and orchestral forces and concerted forms of the grand tradition.
The double worlds and the bifurcated stylistic realization is reflected in the
overture which was used for both operas: it captures the brassy and
pompous military spirit of political determinism, and is contrasted with the
mystical pastoral idyll of prophecy, or the spiritual destiny eventually
aspired to at the end of both operas.
Meyerbeer's first opéra comique, the music of which has "unique
density of texture" 2 was performed 100 times at the Opéra Comique in its
first year. While this work never attained the vast popularity of the grands
opéras, it was perfromed all over the world, and was a particular favourite
at Covent Garden where it was given 54 times until 1890.
2
David CHARLTON, The Oxford History of Music, Vol.9: Opera: 1850-1890,
p.331.
xvi
Giacomo Meyerbeer
The Librettist
Augustin-Eugène Scribe (b. Paris, 14 Dec. 1791; d. Paris, 20 Feb. 1861).
He began his theatrical career as a writer of comedies, but by appreciation
of the theatrical condition in Paris and of the sensibility of his audience, he
gave opéra comique a new strength (Le Maçon, 1825), and animated the
genre of French grand opéra (La Muette de Portici, 1828). His keen sense
of historical awareness was inherited from Jouy's work for Spontini, and
he fully utilized the opportunities for staging on an elaborate scale at the
Paris Opéra. His plots draw on historical sources, but are reworked rather
than adapted. He often dealt with the clash of religious, national and
political issues, and the lives of famous and ordinary people caught up in
crisis. He captured an epic sense of the movement of peoples, and gave the
chorus a more dramatically functional role. He also used collaborators to
write verse for his strong stage situations. The effectiveness of his texts
resulted in great success for him and his composers. His brilliant sense of
the stage is confirmed by the number of composers who turned to him:
Adam (9), Auber (38), Audran (1), Balfe (1), Bellini (1, La Sonnambula),
Boieldieu (4, incl. La Dame blanche), Boisselot (1), Cherubini (1), Cilea
(1, Adriana Lecouvreur), Clapisson (6), Donizetti (5, incl. L'elisir d'amore
and La Favorite), Fétis (1), Gatzambide (1), Gomis (1), Gounod (1, La
Nonne sanglante), Grisar (1), Guénée (1), Halévy (6, incl. La Juive),
Hérold (2), Kastner (1), Kovarovic (1), Lavrangas (1), Macfarren (1),
Marliani (1), Massé (1), Meyerbeer (6), Moniusko (1), Montfort (2),
Offenbach (2), Reber (1), Rossi (1), Rossini (2 incl. Le Comte Ory),
Setaccioli (1), Södermann (1), Suppé (1), Verdi (2, Les Vêpres siciliennes,
Un ballo in maschera), Zandonai (1), and Zimmermann (1) (120 libretti
alone or in collaboration).
L’ÉTOILE DU NORD
OPÉRA-COMIQUE EN TROIS ACTES
Paroles de
Eugène Scribe
Musique de
Giacomo Meyerbeer
THE NORTH STAR
OPERA-COMIQUE IN THREE ACTS
Libretto by
Eugene Scribe
[with German additions by Johann Christoph Grübaum
and Ludwig Rellstab, translated into French
by Mornais and Schnackenburg respectively]
Music by
Giacomo Meyerbeer
2
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Personnages (Dramatis personae):
Péters Michaeloff (Czar Pierre le Grand déguisé), ouvrier charpentier
(Peters Mikhailov (Tsar Peter the Great in disguise), a ship’s
carpenter)
George Skawronski, menuisier et musicien (George Skavronski,
wood-joiner and musician)
Catherine, soeur de George (Catherine, George’s sister)
Prascovia, fiancée de George (Prascovia, George’s fiancée)
Danilowitz, pâtissier (Danilowitz, a pastry-chef)
Gritzenko, Kalmouk (Gritzenko, a Kalmuck)
Maître Reynolds, cabaretier (Master Reynolds, an inn-keeper)
Le Colonel Tchéréméteff (Colonel Cheremetev)
Le Général Yermoloff (General Yermolov)
Nathalie, vivandière (Natalie, a camp provisioner)
Ékimona, vivandière (Ekimona, a camp provisioner)
Ismaïloff, officier Cosaque (Ismailov, a Cossack officer)
Un Ouvrier (A Worker)
Choeur de soldats et de recrues, choeur d’ouvriers charpentiers,
choeur de villageoises (Chorus of soldiers and recruits, chorus of
ship’s carpenters, chorus of villagers).
La scène se passe, le premier acte, en Finlande; le deuxième acte au
camp russe; et le troisième au palais du czar, à Saint-Pétersbourg.
The first act takes place in Finland, the second act in a Russian
encampment, and the third act in the Tsar’s palace in SaintPetersburg.
WORLD PREMIÈRE
16 February 1854
Paris, Opéra-Comique
Péters / Pierre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles-Amable Bataille
Catherine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Caroline Duprez
Danilowitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Monsieur) Mocker
The Meyerbeer Libretti
3
Gritzenko . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Monsieur) Hermann-Léon
Prascovia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Caroline Lefebvre
George . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Monsieur) Jourdan
Tchérémétoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles François Duvernoy
Yermoloff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Léon Carvalho
Nathalie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Mlle) Lemercier
Ékimona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Mlle) Decroix
Ismaïloff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Monsieur) Delaunay-Riquier
SOURCES CONSULTED FOR TRANSLATION
L’Étoile du Nord; opéra comique en trois actes.
Eugène Scribe (paroles), Giacomo Meyerbeer (musique). Paris:
Brandus et Cie, 1855.
[Second edition of the full orchestral score; published one year after
the world première. The composer’s manuscript score is missing.]
L’Étoile du Nord; opéra comique en trois actes.
Eugène Scribe (paroles), Giacomo Meyerbeer (musique). Paris:
Brandus et Cie, 1854.
[First edition of the published libretto; used for additional stage
directions and scenic descriptions.]
NOTES
George/Georges and Péters/Pierre: The name of the character George
Skawronski is occasionally spelled Georges in both the 1855 score and
1854 libretto. Since the name is spelled George in the “cast of characters”
and appears thusly throughout the opera (except for a few instances
here and there), the spelling “George” has been adhered to throughout
this libretto. The 1855 score and 1854 libretto also seem occasionally to
confuse Péters (the name assumed by the Tsar) and Pierre (the Tsar’s
real name). In this libretto, “Péters” is used consistently until the Tsar
reveals his true identity near the conclusion of the second act, after which
he is referred to as “Pierre”.
4
Giacomo Meyerbeer
TABLE OF MUSICAL NUMBERS
ACTE I
Ouverture
1. Introduction
1a. Choeur ...................................... Sous cet ombrage, après l’ouvrage
1b. Air de Danilowitz .......................................... Achetez! voici, voici!
1c. Ensemble ...................................................... Viens, et pour te payer
1d. Choeur des Buveurs ...................................... À la Finlande, buvez!
1e. Suite et Fin de l’Introduction ................................... Eh bien! et toi?
1bis. Mélodrame ......................................... Non! voilà mon professeur
2. Couplets de Catherine .............. Écoutez! écoutez! Pum! pum! pum!
3. Mélodrame .............................Morbleu! — À merveille! de la colère
3bis. Mélodrame ........................................... Et dans ce moment même
4. Air de Prascovia ...................................................... Ah! que j’ai peur
5. Scène et Chanson de Gritzenko .... Personne!... Enfants de l’Ukraine
6. Scène et Ronde Bohémienne ............... Arrière! arrière!... Il sonne et
résonne
7. Duo de Catherine et Péters .............................. De quelle ville es-tu?
8. Duo de Catherine et Prascovia .......................... Ah! quel dommage!
9. Final
9a. Choeur de Jeunes Filles et de Ménétriers ............ Prenez vos habits
de fête
9b. Couplets de Prascovia .............................. La, la, la! En sa demeure
9c. Choeur de Soldats ....................... Marchez, soldats, marchez au pas
9d. Prière ........................................................... Veille sur eux toujours
9e. Barcarolle ............................................. Vaisseau que le flot balance
ACTE II
10. Entr’acte et Introduction
10a. Valse
The Meyerbeer Libretti
5
Récitatif ......................................................... Assez dansé, assez valsé!
10b.Chanson de la Cavalerie ................. Beau cavalier au coeur d’acier
Récitatif ............................................ Un instant! ce couplet me semble
10c. Chanson de l’Infanterie ................... Grenadiers, fiers Moscovites
11. Choeur des Conjurés ................ Assez d’opprobre, assez d’affronts
12. Trio .......................................................... Joyeuse orgie! vive folie!
13. Quintette et Sextuor
13a. Chant Bachique ............................................. Gentilles vivandières
13b. Couplets des Deux Vivandières .................... Sous les remparts du
vieux Kremlin
13c. Scène ................................................................... Il s’éloigne enfin
13d. Quintette ......................................................... Cessez ce badinage
13e. Sextuor ...................................................... Au commandant Péters
Mélodrame et Dialogue ............................... Eh bien? quel est ce bruit?
14. Final
14a. Choeur ................................................... Ô ciel! qu’annoncent-ils?
14b. Serment ............................................... Dieu! Dieu vengeur, viens!
14c. La Marche Sacrée
14d. Appel de Pierre à ses Soldats .................. Soldats, qu’on trompe et
qu’on égare
14e. Pas Redoublé
14f. Fanfare
14g. Ensemble du Serment, de la Marche Sacrée, du Pas Rédouble et de
la Fanfare
ACTE III
15. Entr’acte, Récitatif et Romance de Pierre
15a. Entr’acte
15b. Récitatif ...................................................... Pour fuir son souvenir
15c. Romance .............................. Ô jours heureux de joie et de misère
15bis. Mélodrame ......................................................... Elle m’a oublié!
16. Trio ...................................................... Mon devoir est d’apprendre
6
Giacomo Meyerbeer
17. Couplets de Prascovia ............................. Sur son bras m’appuyant
18. Duo de Prascovia et de George ............................... Fusillé! fusillé!
Arioso ..................................... Quel trouble affreux règne en son coeur
19. Final
19a. Cavatine ..................................................... L’aurore enfin succède
19b. Réminiscence du Premier Choeur de l’Introduction du Premier Acte
19c. Réminiscence de l’Air de Danilowitz du Premier Acte
19d. Réminiscence du Choeur de la Noce du Premier Acte
19e. Air avec deux Flutes ...................................... La, la, la, air chérie!
Suite et Fin du Final ..................................... Ô ma mère, tu disais vrai.
8
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Ouverture
ACTE PREMIER
La scène se passe dans un village aux environs de Wiborg, sur les bords du golfe de Finlande.
À gauche du spectateur une maison rustique, celle de
George Skawronski; on y monte par un escalier en
dehors. À droite, l’entrée d’une église de village. Au
fond, des rochers, et à l’horizon le golfe de Finlande.
Plusieurs ouvriers charpentiers et autres sont
couchés au milieu du théâtre et se reposent pendant la
première chaleur du jour. Leurs femmes et leurs filles
viennent de leur apporter leur repas dans des paniers
et se mettent à les servir. Péters est le seul qui travaille pendant que les autres se reposent.
CHOEUR
Sous cet ombrage,
Après l’ouvrage,
Délassez-vous, amis,
Délassez-vous de vos travaux!
Ah! Heure chérie,
Tra la la la, tra la la la,
Où tout s’oublie,
Tra la la la, tra la la la,
Où le bonheur est le repos!
Oui, le bonheur c’est le repos!...
(Danilowitz sort de la boutique à gauche et entre dans
le hangar avec un panier de pâtisseries, qu’il présente
tour à tour aux ouvriers et à leurs femmes.)
DANILOWITZ
Achetez! Voici, voici!... qui veut des tartelettes?
Achetez! voyez comme elles sont friandes et bien
faites!
Des macarons nouveaux
Et des jolis gâteaux,
The Meyerbeer Libretti
Overture
ACT ONE
The action takes place in a village on the outskirts of Vyborg, on the shores of the Gulf of Finland.
On the left is a rustic house belonging to George Skavronski; an exterior staircase leads to the door. On the
right, the entrance to a village church. In the background are some rocks and, on the horizon, the Gulf
of Finland.
Several ship’s carpenters and other workmen
are lying around the center of the scene, resting during the early heat of the day. Their wives and daughters enter, carrying baskets of food for them to eat.
Peter is the only one working while the others rest.
CHORUS
Relax in this shade
After working,
My friends,
Relax from your labors!
Ah, cherished moment,
Tra la la la, tra la la la,
When all is forgotten,
Tra la la la, tra la la la,
When happiness is relaxation!
Yes, happiness is relaxation!...
(Danilowitz comes out of his shop on the left and enters the work area with a basket of pastries, which he
offers to the workmen and their wives one by one.)
DANILOWITZ
Come buy! Look here, look!... Who wants tartlets?
Come buy! See how tasty and appealing they are!
Fresh macaroons
And pretty cakes,
9
10
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Des nougats croustillants,
Des échaudés brûlants,
Ah! voyez comme ils sont beaux!
Voyez, voyez comme ils sont beaux!
Surtout, surtout comme ils sont chauds!...
Ils sont tout chauds, tout chauds, tout chauds!...
(s’adressant aux ouvriers qui boivent)
Oui, la pâtisserie
Fait valoir le bon vin,
Comme femme jolie
Embellit un festin!
Ouvriers francs lurons,
Choisissez sans façons:
À crédit l’on m’achète...
Sans façons choisissez!...
Achetez! Voici, voici, etc.
(parlé)
Écoutez-moi, jeunes fillettes!
[chanté]
Amoureux vulgaires,
Vos feux ordinaires
Ne s’allument guère
Que pour quelque jours:
Pâtissier modèle,
Ma flamme éternelle
Et se renouvelle
Et dure toujours, toujours!
Venez, venez, faites emplettes
De ces gâteaux appétissants!
Achetez-les, ô jeunes fillettes...
Venez, achetez ces gateaux:
Comme mon tendre coeur
Ils sont brûlants, brûlants!...
The Meyerbeer Libretti
Crispy almond cookies
And hot biscuits,
Ah, see how tasty they are!
Just see, just see how tasty they are!
But above all, above all, how hot they are!...
They’re all hot, all of them, all hot!...
(to the workmen who are drinking)
Yes, pastry
Compliments good wine,
Like a pretty woman
Adorns a party!
Good-natured workmen,
Choose without any ado;
You can buy from me on credit...
So choose without any ado!...
Come buy! Look here, look here, etc.
(spoken)
Listen to me, lasses!
[sung]
Oh, commonplace lovers,
Your ordinary fires
Burn brightly
For only a few days;
But as a model pastry-chef,
My unquenchable flame
Is rekindled every day
And lasts forever, forever!
Come on, come on, make your selection
From these appetizing cakes!
Come buy them, young lasses...
Come on, buy these cakes;
They’re burning hot
Like my tender heart!...
11
12
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Ah! jeunes fillettes,
Venez, achetez! achetez!
(Les femmes imitent, en s’en moquant, la tendre expression de Danilowitz.)
CHOEUR DE FEMMES
Comme son coeur ils sont brûlants!...
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
DANILOWITZ
Ah! Achetez! voici, voici, etc.
CHOEUR
Allons, pâtissier, voyons la marchandise!
DANILOWITZ
Voyez, voyez comme ils sont beaux!
CHOEUR
Allons, pâtissier, voyons la marchandise!
DANILOWITZ
Voyez, voyez, comme ils sont beaux,
Surtout, surtout comme ils sont chauds!
Voyez, voyez, comme ils sont chauds!
CHOEUR
Ah! oui, ces gâteaux sont excellents!
DANILOWITZ
Tout chauds, tout chauds, tout chauds!...
Voyez, voyez comme ils sont chauds!
CHOEUR
Quel goût exquis, quels excellents gâteaux!
Ils sont chauds!
UN OUVRIER SEUL (à Danilowitz)
Viens, et pour te payer prends un verre de schnik!
The Meyerbeer Libretti
Ah, young lasses,
Come on and buy, buy!
(The women make fun of Danilowitz by imitating his
amorous words.)
CHORUS OF WOMEN
They’re burning hot, like his heart!...
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
DANILOWITZ
Ah! Come buy! Look here, look here, etc.
CHORUS
Come on, pastry-chef, let’s see your wares!
DANILOWITZ
Just see, just see how tasty they are!
CHORUS
Come on, pastry-chef, let’s see your wares!
DANILOWITZ
Just see, just see how tasty they are!
But above all, above all, how hot they are!
Just see, just see how hot they are!
CHORUS
Ah, yes, these cakes are delicious!
DANILOWITZ
They’re all hot, all of them, all hot!...
Just see, just see how hot they are!
CHORUS
What a heavenly taste, what delicious cakes!
And they’re hot!
ONE OF THE WORKMEN (to Danilowitz)
Come and have a glass of gin as payment!
13
14
Giacomo Meyerbeer
DANILOWITZ (tendant son verre)
Très bien, très bien! versez!
(regardant autour de lui)
Je ne vois pas la belle cantinière,
Catherine, qui d’ordinaire
Vient vendre aux ouvriers le nectar de Danzick!
L’OUVRIER SEUL
Elle n’est pas sortie encor de chez son frère!
LES OUVRIERS (à demi voix à Danilowitz)
C’est elle que Péters attend, j’en suis certain!
LES FEMMES (à Danilowitz, en riant)
Il en est amoureux!
DANILOWITZ
Il en est amoureux?
LES FEMMES
Mais, hélas! en vain!
DANILOWITZ
Quoi vraiment c’est en vain?
PÉTERS (avec colère et menaçant les ouvriers)
Morbleu! morbleu! je ne connais personne
Lorsque mon sang bouillonne, bouillonne,
Non, non, non, non, non, non,
Riens alors ne me retient!
(Les ouvriers, se moquant entre eux de Péters, vont
à la table et prennent leurs verres que leurs femmes
remplissent.)
TOUS LES OUVRIERS (élevant leurs verres)
À la Finlande buvez/buvons!