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Meyerbeer’s Wispy Dinorah As Good As It Can Get

Robert Levine

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

Here is an opera plot that makes Il trovatore play like King Lear. Lovely, innocent, mad-as-a-hatter Dinorah (soprano) has only her pet goat Bellah (a silent part) to lean on after her house has burned down the previous year on her wedding day in a lightning storm and her fiancé Hoël (baritone) disappeared. Hoël, a goatherd, has been off searching for a treasure that has a gimmick: the first person who touches it will die within a year. So, creep that he is, Hoël convinces his fellow goatherd Corentin (tenor) to help him, and when they get to the treasure, there’s Dinorah and her goat!

By chance, she tells Corentin about the curse and the two men try to get one-another to touch the treasure first–although first, Corentin tries to get Dinorah to touch the treasure, a move akin to attempted murder, which we thought only Hoël was capable of. Dinorah, struck by lightning, falls into the water and is pulled downstream; Hoël dives in after her. Corentin goes for help while Hoël revives Dinorah. Her sanity is restored, and she and Hoël are happy again, as he convinces her that the entire previous year has been a dream. Corentin is somehow unphased that his friend tried to have him killed-by-treasure.

Musically the only (and therefore most famous) bit of the opera to remain in the public ear is the heroine’s “Shadow Song”, which she sings to her goat and which is a terrific coloratura showpiece. The mood is pastoral, which Meyerbeer does quite well (though not as well as Bellini in La sonnambula) if you like that sort of thing, with choruses and dances by peasants and bagpipe music with clarinets taking that beloved instrument’s place. The stunning overture has racing strings, a section that sounds like John Williams might have composed it, and a bunch of harps. A solo for Hoël about the treasure is a nice showstopper, and there’s a chorus in which the male voices hum. Spoken dialog is brief and, I guess, picturesque.

I have heard coloratura soprano Patrizia Ciofi in better voice (on a DVD of I Capuleti…), but she nonetheless inhabits the innocent, demented world of Dinorah splendidly. Her first aria–a sweet, legato piece–is pretty, but the voice sounds cloudy. In her Shadow Song, her coloratura is mostly fine and pinpoint, albeit trill free, and she truly does make us pay attention to this poor girl’s plight. Her French enunciation is impeccable.

Étienne Dupuis as Hoël also sings with plenty of face, is involved, and has a fine baritone. Philippe Talbot, as the quasi-comic Corentin, is a light tenor who also steps out of the speakers, but he’s a bit over-the-top in the dialog. There are small roles, all well taken, and Enrique Mazzola leads the Deutsche Oper orchestra and chorus with dignity and an ear for some of Meyerbeer’s delicacies.

This recording will find its audience–and may even make a convert or two. But I suspect a listen or two every 20 years will suffice. At least that was the last time I listened to the 1980s Opera Rara set, which, save for the amazing Dinorah of Deborah Cook, is not as good as this recording. Some operas deserve recordings but not performances. This is one of them.

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Recording Details:

Reference Recording: This one; James Judd (Opera Rara)

    Soloists: Patrizia Ciofi (soprano); Étienne Dupuis (baritone); Philippe Talbot (tenor)

    Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Enrique Mazzola

  • Record Label: CPO - 555014-2
  • Medium: CD

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