Сharacters in the play
Boris Statsenko performs the role of Chorèbe (Choroebus)
Cassandre (Cassandra), Trojan prophetess, daughter of Priam — soprano
Chorèbe (Choroebus), a young prince from Asia, betrothed to Cassandra — baritone
Énée (Aeneas), Trojan hero, son of Venus and Anchises — tenor
Didon (Dido), Queen of Carthage, widow of Sychaeus - mezzo-soprano
Anna, sister of Dido — contralto
Narbal, minister to Dido — bass
Iopas, Tyrian poet at Dido’s court — tenor
Panthée (Panthus), Trojan priest, friend of Aenea - bass
Ascagne (Ascanius), son of Aeneas — soprano
Creation
Les Troyens (in English: The Trojans) is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil’s epic poem The Aeneid. Written between 1856 and 1858, Les Troyens was Berlioz’s largest and most ambitious work, the summation of his entire artistic career, but he never saw the opera performed in its entirety during his lifetime. Under the title Les Troyens à Carthage, the last three acts were premièred, with many cuts, at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, on 4 November 1863. It was repeated 21 times
Compositional History
Berlioz began the libretto on 5 May 1856 and completed it toward the end of June 1856. He finished the full score on 12 April 1858.[1] Berlioz had a keen affection for literature, and he admired Virgil since his childhood.[2] In his memoirs, he gives a detailed account of how he embarked upon an opera based on The Aeneid:
I happened to be in Weimar with the Princess Wittgenstein, a devoted friend of Liszt’s, a woman of rare intelligence and feeling, who has often comforted me in my fits of depression. Something led to me to speak of my admiration of Virgil and of an idea I had formed of a grand opera on the Shakespearean model, to be founded on the second and fourth books of The Aeneid. I added that I was too well acquainted with the necessary difficulties of such an undertaking ever to attempt it. «Indeed,» replied the Princess, «your passion for Shakespeare, combined with your love of the antique, ought to produce something grand and uncommon. You must write this opera, or lyric poem, or whatsoever you choose to call it. You must begin it, and you must finish it.» I continued my objections, but she would hear none of them. «Listen», said she. «If you are shirking the inevitable difficulties of the piece, if you are so weak as to be afraid to brave everything for Dido and Cassandra, never come to see me again, for I will not receive you.» This was quite enough to decide me. On my return to Paris, I began the poem of Les Troyens. I attacked the score, and after three years and a half of corrections, changes, additions, etc., I finished it.
On 3 May 1861, Berlioz wrote in a letter: «I am sure that I have written a great work, greater and nobler than anything done hitherto.» Elsewhere he wrote: «The principal merit of the work is, in my view, the truthfulness of the expression.» For Berlioz, truthful representation of passion was the highest goal of a dramatic composer, and in this respect he felt he had equalled the achievements of Gluck and Mozart.
In his memoirs, Berlioz described in excruciating detail the intense frustrations he experienced in seeing the work performed. For five years (from 1858 to 1863), the Paris Opéra — the only suitable stage in Paris — vacillated. Finally, tired of waiting, he agreed to let a smaller theater, the Théâtre Lyrique, mount a production. However, the management, alarmed at the size, insisted he cut the work in two. It mounted only the second half, given the name Les Troyens à Carthage. Berlioz noted bitterly: «it was manifestly impossible for them to do it justice… the theater wasn’t large enough, the singers insufficiently skilled, the chorus and orchestra inadequate.» Many compromises and cuts were made and the resulting production «an imperfect» one. In view of all the defects, Berlioz lamented «to properly organize the performance of so great a work, I should have to be master of the theater as absolutely as I am master of the orchestra when rehearsing a symphony.»
Even in its less than ideal form, the work made a profound impression. For example, Meyerbeer attended 12 performances. Berlioz’s son Louis attended each performance.[3] A friend tried to console Berlioz for having endured so much in the mutilation of his magnum opus and pointed out that after the first night audiences were increasing. «See,» he said encouragingly to Berlioz, «they are coming.» «Yes,» replied Berlioz, feeling old and worn out, «they are coming, but I am going.»
Berlioz never saw the first two acts, later given the name La prise de Troie [’The Capture of Troy’], performed. The first five-act performance of the «complete» Les Troyens, spread over two nights, only took place at Karlsruhe in 1890, 21 years after Berlioz’s death. In subsequent years, wrote British Berlioz biographer David Cairns, the work was thought of as «a great sprawling white elephant, product of declining creative vitality, beautiful in patches but fatally uneven and quite unstagable-apart from anything else, because of its length.»
Сontents
Part I: La prise de Troie (The Capture of Troy)
Act I
The setting is the abandoned Greek camp outside the walls of Troy. The Trojans are celebrating apparent deliverance from ten years of siege. They see the large wooden horse left by the Greeks, which they presume to be an offering to Pallas Athene. Unlike all the other Trojans, however, Cassandre is mistrustful of the situation. She foresees that she will not live to marry her fiancé Chorèbe. Chorèbe appears and urges Cassandre to forget her misgivings. But her prophetic vision clarifies, and she foresees the utter destruction of Troy. When Andromache silently walks in, the celebration halts.
Énée then rushes on to tell of the devouring of the priest Laocoön by a sea serpent, after he had warned the Trojans to burn the horse. Énée interprets this as a sign of the goddess Athene’s anger at the sacrilege. Against Cassandre’s futile protests, Priam orders the horse to be brought within the city of Troy and placed next to the temple of Pallas Athene. There is a sound of what seems to be the clashing of arms from within the horse, but the Trojans, in their delusion, interpret it as a happy omen. Cassandre has watched the procession in despair, and as the act ends, resigns herself to death beneath the walls of Troy.
Act II
Before the act proper has started, the Greek soldiers hidden in the wooden horse have come out and begun to destroy Troy and its citizens.
Scene 1 (palace of Énée)
With fighting going on in the background, the shade of Hector visits Énée and warns him to flee Troy and seek Italy, where he will build a new Troy. After Hector fades, Panthée conveys the news about the Greeks hidden in the horse. Ascagne appears with news of further destruction. At the head of a band of soldiers, Chorèbe urges Énée to take up arms for battle. All resolve to defend Troy to the death.
Scene 2 (palace of Priam)
Several of the Trojan women are praying at the altar of Vesta/Cybele for their soldiers to receive divine aid. Cassandre reports that Énée and other Trojan warriors have rescued Priam’s palace treasure and relieved people at the citadel. She prophesies that Énée and the survivors will found a new Troy in Italy. But she says also that Chorèbe is dead, and resolves to die. The other women acknowledge that Cassandre was correct in her prophecies and their error in dismissing her. Cassandre then calls upon the Trojan women to join her in death, to prevent being defiled by the invading Greeks. One group of women admits to fear of death, and Cassandre dismisses them from her sight. The remaining women unite with Cassandre in their determination to die. A Greek captain observes the women during this scene, with admiration for their courage. Greek soldiers then come on the scene, demanding the Trojan treasure from the women. Cassandre defiantly mocks the soldiers, then suddenly stabs herself. Polyxène takes the same dagger and does likewise. The remaining women scorn the Greeks as being too late to find the treasure, and commit mass suicide, to the horror of the Greek soldiers. Cassandre summons one last cry of «Italy!» before she collapses, dead.
Part II: Les Troyens à Carthage (The Trojans at Carthage)
Act III (palace of Didon)
The Carthaginians and their queen, Didon, are celebrating the prosperity that they have achieved in the past seven years since fleeing from Tyre to found a new city. Didon, however, is concerned about Iarbas, the Numidian king, not least because he has proposed a political marriage with her. The Carthaginians swear their defence of Didon, and the builders, sailors and farmers offer tribute to Didon.
In private after these ceremonies, Didon and Anna then discuss love. Anna urges Didon to re-marry, but Didon insists on honoring the memory of her late husband Sichée (Sychaeus). Iopas then enters to tell of an unknown fleet that has arrived in port. Recalling her own wandering on the seas, Didon bids that these strangers be welcome. Ascagne enters, presents the saved treasure of Troy, and relates the Trojans’ story. Didon acknowledges that she knows of this situation. Panthée then tells of the ultimate destiny of the Trojans to found a new city in Italy. During this scene, Énée is disguised as an ordinary sailor.
Narbal then comes to tell Didon that Iarbas and his army are attacking the fields surrounding Carthage and are marching on the city. But Carthage does not have enough weapons to defend itself. Énée then reveals his true identity and offers the services of his people to help Carthage. Didon accepts the offer, and Énée entrusts Ascagne to Didon’s care. The Carthaginians and Trojans then prepare for battle against the Numidians.
Act IV
Scene 1 (Royal Hunt and Storm)
This scene is purely instrumental, set in a forest with a cave in the background. Didon and Énée have been separated from the rest of the hunting party. As a storm breaks, the two take shelter in the cave, where they acknowledge and consummate their mutual attraction.
Scene 2 (the gardens of Didon)
The Numidians have been beaten back, and both Narbal and Anna are relieved at this. However, Narbal worries that Didon has been neglecting the management of the state, distracted by her love for Énée. Anna dismisses such concerns and says that this indicates that Énée would be an excellent king for Carthage. Narbal reminds Anna, however, that the gods have called Énée’s final destiny to be in Italy. Anna replies that there is no stronger god than love.
After Didon’s entry, and dances from the Egyptian dancing girls, the slaves, and the Nubian slave girls, Iopas sings his song of the fiels, at the queen’s request. She then asks Énée for more tales of Troy. Énée reveals that after some persuading, Andromaque eventually married Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, who killed Hector, Andromache’s earlier husband. Didon then feels resolved regarding her lingering feelings about her late husband. At one point, Ascagne slips Sichée’s ring from Didon’s finger. Didon retrieves it, but then forgets about it later. Alone, Didon and Énée then sing a love duet. At the end of the act, the god Mercury appears and strikes Énée’s shield, then calls out three times, «Italy!».
Act V
Scene 1 (the harbour of Carthage)
Hylas sings his song of longing for home, alone. Two sentries mockingly comment that he will never see his homeland again. Panthée and the Trojan chieftains discuss the gods’ angry signs at their delay in sailing for Italy. The sentries remark that they have good lives in Carthage and do not want to leave.
Énée then comes on stage, singing of his despair at the gods’ portents and warnings to set sail for Italy, and also of unhappiness at his betrayal of Didon with this news. The ghosts of Priam, Chorèbe, Hector and Cassandre appear and relentlessly urge Énée to proceed on to Italy. Énée gives in and realizes that he must obey the gods’ commands, but also realizes his cruelty and ingratitude to Didon as a result. He then orders his comrades to prepare to sail that morning, before sunrise.
Didon then appears, appalled at Énée’s attempt to leave in secret, but still in love with him. Énée pleads the messages from the gods to move on, but Didon will have none of this. She pronounces a curse on him as she leaves.
Scene 2 (palace of Didon)
Dido asks Anna to plead with Énée one last time to stay. Anna acknowledges blame for encouraging the love between her sister and Énée. Didon angrily counters that if Énée truly loved her, he would defy the gods, but then asks her to plead with for a few days’ additional stay.
The crowd has seen the Trojans set sail. Iopas conveys the news to Didon. In a rage, she demands that the Carthaginians give chase and destroy the Trojans’ fleet, and wishes that she had destroyed the Trojans upon their arrival. She then decides to offer sacrifice, including destroying the Trojans’ gifts to her and hers to them. Alone, she resolves to die, and after expressing a final love for Énée, prepares to bid her city farewell.
Scene 3 (gardens of Dido)
A sacrificial pyre with Énée’s relics has been built. Narbal and Anna expound curses on Énée to suffer a humiliating death in battle. Didon then ascends the pyre, removes her veil and throws it on Énée’s toga. She has a vision of a future African warrior, Hannibal, who will rise and attack Rome to avenge her. Didon then stabs herself with Énée’s sword, to the horror of her people. But at the moment of her death, she has one last vision: Carthage will be destroyed, and Rome will be «immortal». The Carthaginians then utter one final curse on Énée and his people, vowing vengeance for his abandonment of Didon, as the opera ends.