Zoroastre
Opera in five acts
Libretto by Louis de Cahusac
Premiere: Paris Opéra, December 5, 1749
Second version: 1756
Roles in revised 1756 version:
Zoroastre, high priest of Oromasès (haute-contre)
Abramane, evil priest, rival of Zoroastre (bass-baritone)
Zopire, priest, follower of Abramane (baritone)
Narbanor, priest, follower of Abramane (baritone)
Erinice, princess, ally of Abramane (soprano)
Amélite, princess, lover of Zoroastre (soprano)
Céphie, handmaiden of Amélite (soprano)
Oromasès, chief god of beneficent spirits (baritone)
Vengeance, evil spirit (baritone)
Furies (2 sopranos, alto)
Orchestra:
Flutes 1 & 2 (double on piccolo), oboes 1 & 2,
bassoons, horns 1 & 2, strings, and continuo
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
Zoroastre, one of Rameau's major operas, never appeared in the edition of his "Complete Works" which date from early in the twentieth century, and consequently it was long in the shadows and passed over in favor of some of the published operas. Rameau wrote two very different versions of the opera. The first, presented at the Paris Opéra beginning on December 5, 1749, was not a success. Reviews were generally poor, and the run of the production was short. Rameau then withdrew it and almost completely rewrote Acts II, III, and V and changed much of the action in the story. This second version, was produced in 1756 to great acclaim. There was a final revival of the opera in 1770, six years after Rameau's death, for which some new music was written and some orchestration altered, but the 1756 version is the one that represents his final thoughts.
Rameau's librettist was Louis de Cahusac, a man whose work in opera went beyond writing librettos: his writings include a history of the dance, as well as articles for the Encyclopédie on ballet, dance, decoration, and opera. Particularly important for Zoroastre was Cahusac's interest in the dance, for in this opera he weaves dance into the story to an unusual degree. Rarely do these dances feel like extraneous interludes, as they do in many French Baroque stage works. However, Cahusac's libretto for Zoroastre and its story line have been criticized as weak. It is written in a stilted French, which was antiquated even in its own time. Perhaps that was inspired by the magical, quasi-religious quality of the story, just as many religious texts are intentionally written in an antiquated style.
Rameau's music, on the other hand, is beautiful and exceptionally rich in detail. Even middle voices in the orchestra and chorus are rhythmically complex and full of ornaments, and the rich harmony and its dissonances can be surprising to anyone unfamiliar with Rameau. On hearing Rameau's first opera, a leading French opera composer of the day, André Campra, is said to have remarked, "There is enough music in this opera to make ten operas." But that remark could have applied as well to Zoroastre or any of Rameau's major works.
Freemasonry in Zoroastre
In the program book for the 1756 revival, there is an essay with footnotes about Zoroaster, who is called the inventor of magic. It describes the legends and rituals associated with him, including "a solemn cult of the sun and of fire." The hero of the opera is the ancient (sixth century BCE) Persian priest Zoroaster, elsewhere known as Zarathustra, who, mixed with ancient Egyptian symbols, becomes Sarastro in Mozart's The Magic Flute. The masonic character of The Magic Flute, with its struggle between forces of light and darkness and its trial by fire, is well known. In Zoroastre, the freemasonry is not as clearly exposed as in Mozart's opera, but it is there nonetheless. Whether Cahusac was actually a mason like Montesquieu, Voltaire and so many other French intellectuals is not known. But beneath the veneer of a French Baroque entertainment, in which even Zoroaster himself is involved in a love triangle, there is the struggle between light and darkness. In Zoroastrianism, as in this opera, it is represented as a struggle between beneficent spirits led by Ormazd (here Oromasès) and evil spirits led by Ahriman (here Abramane).
At the exact center of the opera -- the middle of the third act -- is Zoroaster's "Hymn to the sun." The sun as a source of light and enlightenment is central to this opera. It was adapted in good part from Egyptian sun worship, from where it was taken up not only into Renaissance mystical thought and into freemasonry, but also into the "sun king" imagery of the French monarchy. Zoroastre is, of course, a Persian story, but it was very much connected to the intellectual climate in Rameau's France.
Boston Baroque Performances
Zoroastre
American premiere
May 20, 23 and 24, 1983
Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, MA
Part of the Boston Early Music Festival
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Philippe Lenaël, stage director
Violet Verdy, choreographer
Soloists:
Jean Claude Orliac - Zoroastre
James Maddalena - Abramane
Sanford Sylvan - Zopire
John Osborn - Narbanor
Nancy Armstrong - Erinice
Sophie Boulin - Amélite
Janet Brown - Céphie
Michel Verschaeve - Oromasès and Vengeance