Lully - Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (Benjamin Lazar, Vincent Dumestre, Le Poeme Harmonique) [2008]

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Lully - Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (Benjamin Lazar, Vincent Dumestre, Le Poeme Harmonique) [2008]

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Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme was the eleventh comedie-ballet of Moliere (regarded as France's Shakespeare) and Lully (the first major French opera composer, although he was of Italian origin) and was first performed in 1670. It is regarded as the culmination of their co-operation. This production is claimed to be the first for some centuries to present the work as it would have been seen by King Louis XIV and his court. English speaking audiences familiar with Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme know it as a play. Those of us who are French opera buffs may also be acquainted with the Leonhardt CD of the musical component of the play.
This extraordinarily beautiful and energetic production by Le Poeme Harmonique combines the two. Because the entire production is candlelit - a row of partly concealed candles serving as footlights - the faces, which are lit from below, have an almost surrealistic quality. In productions of the play I have previously seen, the hero of the play, Monsieur Jourdain, tends to be played as a brittle, demanding, petty and grotesque old tyrant. However Olivier Salvan portrays Jourdain as a large, plump, still quite young, naive and generous enthusiast. When he falls asleep at the end of the sublime, extended dialogue en musique between three singers, which comes not long after the opening of the comedie-ballet, his large, soft, oval face is propped to one side, as a friend suggested, like a Chinese mask.
Visually this production is stunning - the cinematography is on a par with a Terrence Malick film such as Days of Heaven. Moliere, the former tapestry maker, (a fact which is explained in a film about the making of the production, which follows the main comedie-ballet) would have been delighted by the sumptuous and subtle costumes. The candlight does strange things to the faces of the dancers and singers. They are mask-like and enormously expressive. You see a young female dancer vanish behind a panel with a gleam of malicious joy in her eyes.
I have recently watched the Canadian DVD of Lully's Persee, which deservedly gets 5 stars from almost all of the reviewers. I'd also award Persee 5 stars if I were reviewing it. However, excellent as it is, the Persee appears garish and obvious compared with this production of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. There is a great deal of dialogue, which may disappoint some opera lovers, but when the music arrives, it is utterly ravishing. This production of a bizarre combination of art forms is a revelation and is likely to be reference point for future baroque opera DVD productions for years to come. Few will be able to match it. King Louis would have been gob-smacked.
By Mr. Geoffrey Lehmann

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Lully - Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (Benjamin Lazar, Vincent Dumestre, Le Poeme Harmonique) [2008]

Close