Les Troyens

In the world of opera, it's not infrequent that one has to make excuses for masterpieces that have, shall we say, their long half-hours?

The epitome of such examples is Berlioz's masterpiece Les Troyens.

Berlioz was steeped in Latin thanks to his father and specifically loved Virgil's The Aeneid which is clearly modeled on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. It concerns Aeneas who fled Troy after the Trojan War, landed in Carthage (modern-day Tunisia), romanced Dido, fled to Italy to found Rome. (You can see the parallels between the Odyssey and this tale fairly clearly.)

Berlioz was enamored by the story even translating it into French at the age of twelve. His obsession lasted all his life culminating in the opera in the French "grand opera" style. Five acts with elaborate sequences, large choirs, and ballet.

The production was extraordinarily troubled moving back and forth between the Paris Opera (where his earlier Benvenuto Cellini had flopped) and the Théâtre Lyrique finally premiering at the latter in a heavily abridged form.

It was never staged in the complete form in his life.

It's difficult to stage and expensive. There have only been ten productions in the US. A few unstaged productions as well. (I've seen two out of those staged ten and one of the unstaged one's. Draw your own conclusions.)

I adore it but I'll also freely grant that it's a tough road to love.

Berlioz is a composer about whom the joke is made, "One never doubts his genius but one frequently doubts his competence." It's quite apposite.

There are wonderful long stretches and painful long half-hours. A significant part of the problem is that French "grand opera" had to have certain characteristics. Five acts, ballet sequences in the fourth act, choral sequences It was an extraordinarily rigid format and Berlioz was forced to conform to the format. It's very clear from his own writings that this is not what he would've desired.

Les Troyens is really two operas crammed into one. There is a Part I and a Part II and they are only loosely connected.

Part I concerns itself with the aftermath of Troy. The Trojans have left (presumably) leaving the horse behind. Whether or not to bring the horse inside the town is the principal concern. Cassandra who is cursed with prophecy but that no one will listen to her is the only dissenter. Tragedy ensues and Aeneas flees to Carthage.

Part II concerns itself with the Trojans in Carthage. They assist Dido when Carthage is threatened; Aeneas and Dido fall in love but Aeneas's "destiny" is in Rome. He leaves, Dido is despondent. Tragedy ensues.

The real tragedy of the opera is that Aeneas did find his "Rome". Not the Rome that might have wanted but one with all the characteristics that he desired. A kingdom, a wife, happiness but his ambition will not let go of him. He must have his "own" Rome. The gods presumably talk to him but do they? Or is it his own ego talking?

If you're familiar with Berlioz's other music, this opera stands out very much in the fact that it's textures are much more transparent and far less "romantic" than most of his other works. Berlioz was a big fan of Gluck and Mozart particularly Gluck so the formats and textures of the opera are much more in line with Gluck's work. (He even re-orchestrated Gluck's masterpiece Orphée et Eurydice at one point.)

Act 4 is the hardest to take even though it probably has some of the most sublime music. Opening with the absolutely phenomenal Royal Hunt & Storm (these days separately performed in concert form), you are stuck with the horrendous ballet sequences (even Berlioz loathed them!) but ending in the sublime love duet for Dido and Aeneas. (The song of Iopas in the middle is another gem that would not be amiss in the style of his Les nuits d'été.)

There are any number of great things to recommend about the opera — the bravura orchestral work, the amazing choral sequences, the vocal writing for roles of Cassandra and Dido, etc.

It's truly a great work.