8. Operas.

Gounod's 12 operas span a range of the generic types available in French lyric theatre. Smaller works such as Philémon et Baucisand La colombe strike a balance between spoken dialogue and set pieces typical of opéra comique of the second quarter of the 19th century: relatively small-scale numbers, with many strophic types among them, are joined by long passages of dialogue. Musical depictions of frivolity are relatively few by standards of the genre, contributing to the general tenor of these pieces as sentimental comedy. Somewhat more lighthearted is the opéra comique Le médecin malgré lui, a work where Gounod shows his real gift for pastiche of past styles (also heard in Sapho and Cinq mars) and fine flare for musical comedy. Le médecin (perhaps unlike several of his other works for the stage) does not deserve the relative neglect into which it has fallen. In contrast to the relative intimacy of these compositions stands the scope of Gounod's efforts in grand operas such as La nonne sanglante, La reine de Saba and Polyeucte. All contain processions, ballets, several large multi-partite ensemble pieces and plots where the love interest is set against a more or less clearly drawn historical backdrop. It is less clearly drawn in La nonne where the Crusades, which provide the reason for two feuding families to make peace, are soon forgotten. The supernatural element predominates (as in Meyerbeer's Robert le diable) in the unravelling of the treaty. La reine de Sabacontains a strong element of predestination in the love between the tenor Adoniram and the Queen of Sheba, an element that is however weakly articulated in the music. Gounod builds to impressive concerted finales in his grand operas but often without convincing musical projection of the characters against this.

Gounod's most successful operas – Faust, Mireilleand Roméo et Juliette – are personal hybrids of existing generic tendencies. All three were initially conceived with spoken dialogue that was converted, at different points in their compositional histories, to recitative (if only in a formal sense, since Gounod often went considerably beyond declamation accompanied by punctuating chords in such linking sections). In Mireille the spoken dialogue was exceptionally cast in verse in keeping with the lyrical level that Mistral applied to his peasant characters in the literary model. Five-act form and a tragic conclusion differentiate this opera substantially from pastoral opéra comique, as does the musical transformation of Mireille from a simple country girl to a tragic heroine. At her death (brought on by sunstroke) the heroine, transported by a heavenly vision, sings a broad, uplifting melody of the sort that Gounod also effectively deployed in Repentir, at the end of Gallia, in the soprano solo ‘Sed signifer sanctus Michael’ in Mors et vitaand in Marguerite's effusive ‘Anges purs, anges radieux’ at the end of Faust. In Gounod's hands romantic transcendence takes the form of Epiphany, and it is one of his strongest suits indeed.

Faust and Roméo et Juliette were exceptional achievements in their day and continue to hold a well-deserved position in the international repertory. It is easy to forget just how bold the understated first appearance of Marguerite in the second act of Faust, or her declamation above motivic development in the orchestra during her soliloquy at the end of third, seemed to contemporaries. So too did the first act, with its heterogeneous combination of extended arioso passages, offstage choral intervention, buffo writing for Méphistophélès and gossamer scoring for the vision of Marguerite. On the other hand, the first act is brought to a close with the more ordinary, motoric cabaletta ‘A moi les plaisirs’, a juxtaposition of the novel with the well-worn that is typical for Gounod. The church scene is also a highly effective mosaic of different textures. Attention to prosodic detail in Faust often equals that of the finest mélodies. The relatively undifferentiated but supple surface rhythms in later arias such as Faust's ‘Salut! demeure chaste et pure’ caused many contemporary critics to see Gounod as wanting in melodic gifts. The final act of Roméo et Juliette is another continuous collage of different textures, with musical coherence achieved through block repetitions of music heard previously in the opera. Gounod's smooth harmonic language is at its ripest in this opera. But what is most important about these works is the emotional register that Gounod introduced to French opera. The composer-critic Alfred Bruneau astutely identified Gounod's personal contribution as the evocation of love with ‘a tender language of infinite insight and delicious exquisiteness’ and his union of the ‘pure simplicity of Mozart’ with the ‘troubling poetry of Schumann’. The accent in Bruneau's assessment is not on passion, eroticism, or emotional grandstanding, but on tenderness, produced by unaffected lyricism, delicate orchestral hues and gentle chromatic part-writing.

Gounod, Charles-François