Lakmé
Encyclopedia
Lakmé is an opera
in three acts by Léo Delibes
to a French libretto
by Edmond Gondinet
and Philippe Gille
. Delibes wrote the score during 1881–82 with its first performance on 14 April 1883 at the Opéra Comique
in Paris. Set in British India in the mid 19th century, Lakmé is based on the 1880 novel by Pierre Loti
. The opera includes the famous and popular Flower Duet
(Sous le dôme épais) for sopranos performed in Act 1 by the lead character Lakmé, the daughter of a Brahmin
priest, and her servant Mallika. Another famous aria from the opera is the Bell Song (L'Air des clochettes) in Act 2.
Like other French operas of the period, Lakmé captures the ambiance of the Orient that was in vogue during the latter part of the nineteenth century in line with other operatic works such as Bizet
's The Pearl Fishers
and Massenet
's Le roi de Lahore
. The subject of the opera was suggested by Gondinet as a vehicle for the American soprano Marie van Zandt
.
in 1883, Lakmé reached its 500th performance there on 23 June 1909 and 1,000th on 13 May 1931. A series of performances took place at the Théâtre Gaîté Lyrique
Paris in 1908, with Alice Verlet
, David Devriès
and Félix Vieuille
.
temple under the high priest, Nilakantha. Nilakantha's daughter Lakmé (which derives from the Sanskrit Lakshmi
) and her servant Mallika are left behind and go down to the river to gather flowers where they sing the famous "Flower Duet." As they approach the water at the river bank, Lakmé removes her jewelry and places it on a bench. A party of British officers, Frederic and Gérald, arrive nearby while on a picnic with two British girls and their governess. The British girls see the jewelry and request sketches: Gérald volunteers to stay and make sketches of the jewelry. He sees Lakmé and Mallika returning and hides. Mallika leaves Lakmé for a while; while alone Lakmé sees Gérald and, frightened by the foreigner's incursion, cries out for help. However, simultaneously, she is intrigued and so she sends away those who had responded to her call for help when they come to her rescue. Lakmé and Gérald begin to fall in love with each other. Nilakantha returns and learns of the British officer's trespassing and vows revenge on him for his affront to Lakmé's honour.
leaf.
The Act 2 aria "Où va la jeune Hindoue?" (the 'Bell Song') has long been a favourite recital piece for coloratura
soprano
s (recordings of it in Italian, as "", exist).
In recent years, the Flower Duet in Act 1 has become familiar more widely because of its use in advertisements, in particular the British Airways commercial, as well as in films.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in three acts by Léo Delibes
Léo Delibes
Clément Philibert Léo Delibes was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage...
to a French libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Edmond Gondinet
Edmond Gondinet
Edmond Gondinet was a French playwright and librettist. This author, nearly forgotten today, produced forty plays of which several were successful...
and Philippe Gille
Philippe Gille
Philippe Gille was a French dramatist and opera librettist. He wrote over twenty librettos between 1857 and 1893, the most famous of which are Massenet's Manon and Delibes' Lakmé.-Librettos by Philippe Gille:...
. Delibes wrote the score during 1881–82 with its first performance on 14 April 1883 at the Opéra Comique
Opera Comique
The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway...
in Paris. Set in British India in the mid 19th century, Lakmé is based on the 1880 novel by Pierre Loti
Pierre Loti
Pierre Loti was a French novelist and naval officer.-Biography:Loti's education began in his birthplace, Rochefort, Charente-Maritime. At the age of seventeen he entered the naval school in Brest and studied at Le Borda. He gradually rose in his profession, attaining the rank of captain in 1906...
. The opera includes the famous and popular Flower Duet
The Flower Duet
The Flower Duet is a famous duet for sopranos from Léo Delibes' opera Lakmé, first performed in Paris in 1883. The duet takes place in Act 1 of the three act opera, between characters Lakmé, the daughter of a Brahmin priest, and her servant Mallika, as they go to gather flowers by a river...
(Sous le dôme épais) for sopranos performed in Act 1 by the lead character Lakmé, the daughter of a Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
priest, and her servant Mallika. Another famous aria from the opera is the Bell Song (L'Air des clochettes) in Act 2.
Like other French operas of the period, Lakmé captures the ambiance of the Orient that was in vogue during the latter part of the nineteenth century in line with other operatic works such as Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
's The Pearl Fishers
Les pêcheurs de perles
Les pêcheurs de perles is an opera in three acts by the French composer Georges Bizet, to a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré. It was first performed on 30 September 1863 at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, and was given 18 performances in its initial run...
and Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
's Le roi de Lahore
Le roi de Lahore
Le roi de Lahore is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet. It was first performed at the Palais Garnier in Paris on 27 April 1877....
. The subject of the opera was suggested by Gondinet as a vehicle for the American soprano Marie van Zandt
Marie van Zandt
Marie van Zandt was an American soprano.Born in New York City, van Zandt was the daughter of Jennie van Zandt, who had sung at La Scala and at New York's Academy of Music. She studied in Milan with Francesco Lamperti, making her debut as Zerlina in Don Giovanni in Turin in 1879...
.
Performance history
Following its premiere at the Opéra ComiqueOpera Comique
The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway...
in 1883, Lakmé reached its 500th performance there on 23 June 1909 and 1,000th on 13 May 1931. A series of performances took place at the Théâtre Gaîté Lyrique
Théâtre de la Gaîté (rue Papin)
In 1862 during Haussmann's modernization of Paris the Théâtre de la Gaîté of the boulevard du Temple was relocated to the rue Papin across from the Square des Arts et Métiers....
Paris in 1908, with Alice Verlet
Alice Verlet
Alice Verlet was a Belgian-born operatic coloratura soprano active primarily in France. She sang principal roles at the operas in Lyon, Nice, and Monte Carlo; at His Majesty's Theater in London; at La Monnaie in Brussels; and at the Paris Opéra and Opéra-Comique...
, David Devriès
David Devriès
David Devriès was a French operatic lyric tenor noted for his light, heady tone, and polished phrasing...
and Félix Vieuille
Félix Vieuille
Félix Vieuille was a French operatic bass who sang for more than four decades with the Opéra-Comique in Paris during the first half of the twentieth century...
.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 14 April 1883 (Conductor: Jules Danbé Jules Danbé Jules Danbé was a French conductor, mainly of opera, born in Caen on 16 November 1840, and died 30 October 1905. Trained as a violinist, he was a pupil of Girard and Savard, in 1859 winning a first prize for violin... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Lakmé, a priestess, daughter of Nilakantha | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Marie van Zandt Marie van Zandt Marie van Zandt was an American soprano.Born in New York City, van Zandt was the daughter of Jennie van Zandt, who had sung at La Scala and at New York's Academy of Music. She studied in Milan with Francesco Lamperti, making her debut as Zerlina in Don Giovanni in Turin in 1879... |
| Gérald, a British army officer | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Jean-Alexandre Talazac Jean-Alexandre Talazac Jean-Alexandre Talazac , was a French operatic tenor, particularly associated with the French repertory.Talazac was born in Bordeaux. He studied at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris, and made his debut in 1877 at the Théâtre Lyrique... |
| Nilakantha, a Brahmin Brahmin Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self... priest |
bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... |
Cobalet |
| Frédéric, officer friend of Gérald | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Barré |
| Mallika, slave of Lakmé | mezzo soprano | Frandin |
| Hadji, slave of Nilakantha | tenor | Chennevière |
| Miss Ellen, fiancée of Gérald | soprano | Rémy |
| Miss Rose, companion of Ellen | soprano | Molé-Truffier |
| Mistress Bentson, a governess | mezzo-soprano | Pierron |
| Fortune teller ('Un Domben') | tenor | Teste |
| A Chinese merchant | tenor | Davoust |
| Le Kouravar | baritone | Bernard |
| Chorus: Officers, ladies, merchants, Brahmins, musicians | ||
Synopsis
- Place: India
- Time: Late nineteenth century during the British Raj. Many Hindus have been forced by the British to practice their religion in secret.
Act 1
The Hindus go to perform their rites in a sacred BrahminBrahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
temple under the high priest, Nilakantha. Nilakantha's daughter Lakmé (which derives from the Sanskrit Lakshmi
Lakshmi
Lakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
) and her servant Mallika are left behind and go down to the river to gather flowers where they sing the famous "Flower Duet." As they approach the water at the river bank, Lakmé removes her jewelry and places it on a bench. A party of British officers, Frederic and Gérald, arrive nearby while on a picnic with two British girls and their governess. The British girls see the jewelry and request sketches: Gérald volunteers to stay and make sketches of the jewelry. He sees Lakmé and Mallika returning and hides. Mallika leaves Lakmé for a while; while alone Lakmé sees Gérald and, frightened by the foreigner's incursion, cries out for help. However, simultaneously, she is intrigued and so she sends away those who had responded to her call for help when they come to her rescue. Lakmé and Gérald begin to fall in love with each other. Nilakantha returns and learns of the British officer's trespassing and vows revenge on him for his affront to Lakmé's honour.
Act 2
At a bazaar, Nilakantha forces Lakmé to sing (Bell Song) in order to lure the trespasser into identifying himself. When Gérald steps forward, Lakmé faints, thus giving him away. Nilakantha stabs Gérald, wounding him. Lakmé takes Gérald to a secret hideout in the forest where she nurses him back to health.Act 3
While Lakmé fetches sacred water that will confirm the vows of the lovers, Fréderic, a fellow British officer, appears before Gérald and reminds him of his duty to his regiment. After Lakmé returns, she senses the change in Gérald and realizes that she has lost him. She dies with honour, rather than live with dishonour, killing herself by eating the poisonous daturaDatura
Datura is a genus of nine species of vespertine flowering plants belonging to the family Solanaceae. Its precise and natural distribution is uncertain, owing to its extensive cultivation and naturalization throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the globe...
leaf.
Music
In conventional form and pleasant style, but given over to the fashion for exoticism, the delicate orchestration and melodic richness earned Delibes a success with audiences. The passionate elements of the opera are given warm and expressive music, while the score in general is marked by subtle harmonic colours and deft orchestration. Oriental colour is used in prayers, incantations, dances and the scene in the market.The Act 2 aria "Où va la jeune Hindoue?" (the 'Bell Song') has long been a favourite recital piece for coloratura
Coloratura
Coloratura has several meanings. The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare . When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and...
soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
s (recordings of it in Italian, as "", exist).
In recent years, the Flower Duet in Act 1 has become familiar more widely because of its use in advertisements, in particular the British Airways commercial, as well as in films.
Act 1
- No. 1 Introduction: "À l'heure accoutumée" (Nilakantha)
- Prière: "Blanche Dourga" (Lakmé, Nilakantha)
- No. 1 Bis – Scène: "Lakmé, c'est toi qui nous protégeons!" (Nilakantha, Lakmé)
- No. 2 – Duetto (The Flower Duet): "Viens, Mallika, les lianes en fleurs ... Dôme épais, le jasmin" (Lakmé, Mallika)
- Scène: "Miss Rose, Miss Ellen" (Gérald)
- No. 3 – Quintette & couplets: "Quand une femme est si jolie" (Gérald)
- Récitatif: "Nous commettons un sacrilège" (Gérald)
- No. 4 – Air: "Prendre le dessin d'un bijou" (Gérald)
- No. 4 Bis – Scène: "Non! Je ne veux pas toucher" (Gérald, Lakmé)
- No. 5 – Récitatif & Strophes: "Les fleurs me paraissent plus belles" (Lakmé)
- No. 5 Bis – Récitatif: "Ah! Mallika! Mallika!" (Lakmé)
- No. 6 – Duo: "D'où viens-tu? Que veux-tu?" (Lakmé, Gérald)
- No. 6 Bis – Scène: "Viens! Là! Là!" (Nilakantha, Lakmé)
Act 2
- Entr'acte
- No. 7 – Choeur & Scène du marche: "Allons, avant que midi sonne"
- No. 7 Bis – Récitatif: "Enfin! Nous aurons du silence!"
- No. 8 – Airs de danse: Introduction
- No. 8 – Airs de danse: Terana
- No. 8 – Airs de danse: Rektah
- No. 8 – Airs de danse: Persian
- No. 8 – Airs de danse: Coda avec Choeurs
- No. 8 – Airs de danse: Sortie
- Récitatif: "Voyez donc ce vieillard"
- No. 9 – Scène & Stances: "Ah! Ce vieillard encore!" (Nilankantha, Lakmé)
- No. 9 Bis – Récitatif: "Ah! C'est de ta douleur" (Lakmé, Nilankantha)
- No. 10 – Scène & Legende de la fille du Paria (Air des Clochettes/The Bell Song):
- "Ah!... Par les dieux inspires... Où va la jeune Hindoue" (Lakmé, Nilankantha)
- No. 11 – Scène: "La rage me dévore" (Nilankantha, Lakmé)
- No. 12 – Scène & Choeur: "Au milieu des chants d'allegresse" (Nilankantha, Lakmé)
- No. 12 Bis – Récitatif: "Le maître ne pense qu'à sa vengeance"
- No. 13 – Duo: "Lakmé! Lakmé! C'est toi!" (Lakmé, Gérald)
- No. 14 – Finale: "O Dourga, toi qui renais" (Gérald)
Act 3
- Entr'acte
- No. 15 – Berceuse: "Sous le ciel tout étoile" (Lakmé)
- No. 15 Bis – Récitatif: "Quel vague souvenir alourdit ma pensée?" (Gérald, Lakmé)
- No. 16 – Cantilène: "Lakmé! Lakmé! Ah! Viens dans la forêt profonde" (Gérald)
- No. 17 – Scène & Choeur: "La, je pourrai t'entendre" (Lakmé, Gérald)
- No. 18 – Scène: "Vivant!" (Gérald)
- No. 19 – Duo: "Ils allaient deux à deux" (Lakmé, Gérald)
- No. 20 – Finale: "C'est lui! C'est lui!" (Nilankantha, Lakmé, Gérald)
Recordings
- 1940: Lily PonsLily PonsLily Pons was a French-American operatic soprano and actress who had an active career from the late 1920s through the early 1970s. As an opera singer she specialized in the coloratura soprano repertoire and was particularly associated with the title roles in Léo Delibes' Lakmé and Gaetano...
(Lakmé), Armand Tokatyan (Gérald), Ezio Pinza (Nilakantha), Ira Petina (Mallika), New York Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Wilfrid PelletierWilfrid PelletierJoseph Louis Wilfrid Pelletier , CC was a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, and arts administrator. He was instrumental in establishing the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, serving as the orchestra's first artistic director and conductor from 1935-1941...
(conductor) (The Golden Age; live) - 1952: Mado RobinMado RobinMadeleine Marie Robin, known as Mado Robin , was a French coloratura soprano.She was born in Yzeures-sur-Creuse, Touraine, where she owned the Château Les Vallées. A star of television and radio in the 1950s, she was well known in France...
(Lakmé), Libero de LucaLibero de LucaLibero De Luca is an Italian lyric tenor, particularly associated with the French repertory.- Life and career :De Luca was born in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, and studied voice at the Zurich Coservatory with Alfredo Cairati...
(Gérald), Jacques JansenJacques JansenJacques Jansen was a French baryton-martin singer, particularly associated with the role of Pelléas but also active in operetta and on the concert platform, and later as a teacher.-Life and career:Jansen had a wide musical and artistic education; after studying the violin in Paris, he took lessons...
(Frédéric), Jean BorthayreJean BorthayreJean Borthayre was a French operatic baritone, particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories.- Career :...
(Nilakantha), Agnés Disney (Mallika), Chœurs et Orchestre du Théâtre National de l'Opéra-Comique, Georges SébastianGeorges SébastianGeorges Sébastian was a French conductor of Hungarian birth, particularly associated with Wagner and the post-romantic repertory ....
(conductor) (Decca) - 1967: Joan SutherlandJoan SutherlandDame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
(Lakmé), Alain VanzoAlain VanzoAlain Vanzo was a French opera singer and composer, one of few French tenors of international standing in the postwar era...
(Gérald), Gabriel BacquierGabriel BacquierGabriel Bacquier is a French operatic baritone. One of the leading baritones of the 20th century and particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories, he is considered a fine singing-actor equally at home in dramatic or comic roles.-Life and career:Gabriel Bacquier was born in...
(Nilakantha), Jane BerbiéJane BerbiéJane Berbié is a French mezzo-soprano particularly associated with Mozart and Rossini roles.- Life and career :Berbié was born Jeanne Bergougne, in Villefranche-de-Lauragais, Haute-Garonne, France, and studied piano and voice at the Music Conservatory in nearby Toulouse...
(Mallika), Chœurs et Orchestre National de l'Opéra de Monte Carlo, Richard BonyngeRichard BonyngeRichard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...
(conductor) (Decca) - 1970: Mady MespléMady MespléMady Mesplé is a French opera singer, the leading high coloratura soprano of her generation in France, sometimes heralded as the successor to Mado Robin.-Biography:...
(Lakmé), Charles BurlesCharles BurlesCharles Burles is a French lyric tenor, primarily associated with the French repertory, both opera and operetta.Burles was born in Marseille, France,where he studied voice with Léon Cazauran. He made his stage debut in 1958, in Toulon...
(Gérald), Roger SoyerRoger SoyerRoger Soyer is a French operatic bass-baritone, particularly associated with the French repertory and with Mozart.Soyer was born in Paris, and first studied privately with G. Daum, before entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 19. There he was a pupil of Georges Jouatte and Louis Musy...
(Nilakantha), Danielle Millet (Mallika), Chœurs et Orchestre du Théâtre National de l'Opéra-Comique, Alain LombardAlain LombardAlain Lombard is a French conductor.-Career:Lombard attended the Conservatoire de Paris, where his studied violin with Line Talleul and conducting with Gaston Poulet. He subsequently secured an appointment at the Opéra National de Lyon in 1961, and later became principal conductor from 1961 to 1965...
(conductor) (EMI) - 1998: Natalie DessayNatalie DessayNatalie Dessay is a French coloratura soprano. She dropped the silent "h" in her first name in honor of Natalie Wood when she was in grade school and subsequently simplified the spelling of her surname outside France...
(Lakmé), Gregory KundeGregory KundeGregory Kunde is an American operatic tenor particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories....
(Gérald), José van DamJosé van DamJoseph, Baron van Damme , known as José van Dam, is a Belgian bass-baritone.At the age of 17, he entered the Brussels Royal Conservatory and studied with Frederic Anspach. A year later, he graduated with diplomas and first prizes in voice and opera performance...
(Nilakantha), Chœur et Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Michel PlassonMichel PlassonMichel Plasson is a French conductor.Plasson was a student of Lazare Lévy at the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1962, he was a prize-winner at the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors. He studied briefly in the United States, including time with Charles Münch...
(conductor) (EMI)
External links
- Lakmé in films. Essay by Donald FagenDonald FagenDonald Jay Fagen is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, lead singer, and the principal songwriter of the rock band Steely Dan ....
of Steely DanSteely DanSteely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
about the use of music from the opera