Les Indes galantes
Opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau
Title page of the 1736 libretto
Librettist	Louis Fuzelier
Language	French
Premiere	23 August 1735 (1735-08-23) Theatre in the Palais-Royal, Paris

Les Indes galantes (French: "The Amorous Indies") is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau with a libretto by Louis Fuzelier. It takes the form of an opéra-ballet with a prologue and (in its final form) four entrées (acts). Following an allegorical prologue, the four entrées have distinct and separate plots, but are unified by the theme of love in exotic places (The Ottoman Empire, Peru, Persia, and North America). The most famous pieces from the work, Danse des Sauvages and the final Chaconne, come from the final entrée (Les sauvages).^[1]

The premiere, including only the prologue and the first two of its four entrées (acts), was staged by the Académie Royale de Musique at its theatre in the Palais-Royal in Paris on 23 August 1735,^[2] starring the leading singers of the Opéra: Marie Antier, Marie Pélissier, Mlle Errémans, Mlle Petitpas, Denis-François Tribou, Pierre Jélyotte, and Claude-Louis-Dominique Chassé de Chinais, and the dancers Marie Sallé and Louis Dupré. Michel Blondy provided the choreography.^[3] The ballet's Premier Menuet was used in the soundtrack of the 2006 film Marie Antoinette.^[4]

Background

In 1725, French settlers in Illinois sent Chief Agapit Chicagou of the Mitchigamea and five other chiefs to Paris. On 25 November 1725, they met with King Louis XV. Chicagou had a letter read pledging allegiance to the crown. They later danced three kinds of dances in the Théâtre-Italien, inspiring Rameau to compose his rondeau Les Sauvages.^[5]

In a preface to the printed libretto, Louis Fuzelier explains that the first entrée, "Le Turc généreux," "is based on an illustrious character—Grand Vizier Topal Osman Pasha, who was so well known for his extreme generosity. His story can be read in the Mercure de France from January 1734."^[6] The story of Osman's generosity "was apparently based on a story published in the Mercure de Suisse in September 1734 concerning a Marseillais merchant, Vincent Arniaud, who saved a young Ottoman notable from slavery in Malta, and the unstinting gratitude and generosity returned by this young man, who later became Grand Vizier Topal Osman Pasha."^[7]

Performance history

The premiere met with a lukewarm reception from the audience^[8] and, at the third performance, a new entrée was added under the title Les Fleurs.^[9] However, this caused further discontent because it showed the hero disguised as a woman, which was viewed either as an absurdity^[2] or as an indecency. As a result, it was revised for the first time and this version was staged on 11 September.^[3] Notwithstanding these initial problems, the first run went on for twenty-eight performances between 23 August and 25 October,^[10] when, however, only 281 livres were grossed, the lowest amount ever collected at the box office by Les Indes galantes.^[3]

Nevertheless, when it was mounted again on 10 (or 11) March 1736, a 'prodigious' audience flocked to the theatre.^[11] The entrée des Fleurs was "replaced with a version in which the plot and all the music except the divertissement was new",^[2] and a fourth entrée, Les Sauvages, was added, in which Rameau reused the famous air des Sauvages he had composed in 1725 on the occasion of the American Indian chiefs' visit and later included in the Nouvelles Suites de pièces de clavecin (1728).

Now in something approaching a definitive form,^[12] the opera enjoyed six performances in March and was then mounted again as of 27 December.^[3] Further revivals were held in 1743–1744, 1751 and 1761 for a combined total of 185 billings.^[10] The work was also performed in Lyon on 23 November 1741, at the theatre of the Jeu de Paume de la Raquette Royale, and again in 1749/1750, at the initiative of Rameau's brother-in-law, Jean-Philippe Mangot.^[3] Furthermore, the prologue and individual entrées were often revived separately and given within the composite operatic programs called 'fragments' or 'spectacles coupés' (cut up representations) that: "were almost constant fare at the Palais-Royal in the second half of the eighteenth century".^[13] The prologue, Les Incas and Les Sauvages were last given respectively in 1771 (starring Rosalie Levasseur, Gluck's future favourite soprano, in the role of Hebé), 1772 and 1773 (also starring Levasseur as Zima).^[2] Thenceforth Les Indes galantes was dropped from the Opéra's repertoire, after having seen almost every artiste of the company in the previous forty years take part in its complete or partial performances.^[10]

In the twentieth century the Opéra-Comique presented the first version of the Entrée des Fleurs, with a new orchestration by Paul Dukas, on 30 May 1925, in a production conducted by Maurice Frigara,^[10] with Yvonne Brothier as Zaïre, Antoinette Reville as Fatima, Miguel Villabella as Tacmas and Emile Rousseau as Ali.

Finally, Les Indes galantes was revived by the Opéra itself, at the Palais Garnier, with the Dukas orchestration supplemented for the other entrées by Henri Busser, on 18 June 1952:^[10] the production, managed by the Opéra's own director, Maurice Lehmann and conducted by Louis Fourestier,^[3] was notable for the lavishness of its staging^[2] and enjoyed as many as 236 performances by 29 September 1961.^[10] The sets were by André Arbus and Jacques Dupont (1909–1978) (prologue and finale), Georges Wakhevitch (first entrée), Jean Carzou (second entrée), Henri Raymond Fost (1905–1970) and Maurice Moulène (third entrée) and Roger Chapelain-Midy (fourth entrée); the choreography was provided by Albert Aveline (1883–1968) (first entrée), Serge Lifar (second and fourth entrées) and Harald Lander (third entrée).^[3]

In the 1st Entrée ("The Gracious Turk"), Jacqueline Brumaire sang Emilie, Jean Giraudeau was Valère and Hugo Santana was Osman; the dancers were Mlle Bourgeois and M Legrand. In the 2nd Entrée, ("The Incas of Peru"), Marisa Ferrer was Phani, Georges Noré was don Carlos, and René Bianco was Huascar, while Serge Lifar danced alongside Vyroubova and Bozzoni. The 3rd Entrée, ("The Flowers") had Janine Micheau as Fatima, side by side with Denise Duval as Zaïre. Giraudeau was Tacmas and Jacques Jansen, the famous Pelléas, was Ali, with Mlle Bardin dancing as the Rose, Mlle Dayde as the Butterfly, Ritz as Zéphir and Renault as a Persian. The 4th Entrée, ("The Savages of America"), had Mme Géori Boué, as Zima, with José Luccioni as Adario, Raoul Jobin as Damon and Roger Bourdin as don Alvar. The dancing for this act was executed by Mlles Darsonval, Lafon and Guillot and Messieurs Kalioujny and Efimoff.

Roles

Synopsis

Prologue

Scene: The palace of Hebe in the background and her gardens in the wings

Hebe, goddess of youth, summons her followers to take part in a festival (Air: Vous, qui d'Hébé suivez les lois). Young French, Spanish, Italians and Poles rush to celebrate with a series of dances, including a musette. The ballet is interrupted by the noise of drums and trumpets. It is Bellona, goddess of war, who arrives on the stage accompanied by warriors bearing flags. Bellona calls on the youths to seek out military glory (Air and chorus: La Gloire vous appelle). Hebe prays to Cupid (L'Amour) to use his power to hold them back. Cupid descends on a cloud with his followers. He decides to abandon Europe in favour of the "Indies", where love is more welcome.

Recordings of the complete work

• 1973 – Rachel Yakar, Janine Micheau, Sonia Nigoghossian, Bruce Brewer, Jean-Christophe Benoît, chorus and orchestra conducted by Jean-Claude Malgoire, on three LPs, CBS 77365; note: nobody sings Amour in the Prologue
• 1974 – Gerda Hartman, Jennifer Smith (sopranos); Louis Devos, John Elwes (tenors); Philippe Huttenlocher (baritone). Ensemble Vocal à Coeur-Joie de Valence, Orchestre Paillard, conducted by Jean-François Paillard, on Erato 4509-95310-2
• 1991 – Miriam Ruggeri (soprano), Bernard Deletré (bass), Howard Crook (tenor), Nicolas Rivenq (baritone), Noémi Rime (soprano), Sandrine Piau (soprano), Jean-Paul Fouchécourt (tenor), Jérôme Correas (baritone), Isabelle Poulenard (soprano), Claron McFadden (soprano). The Ensemble of Les Arts Florissants conducted by William Christie, duration 3 hours 13 mins, Harmonia Mundi 901367
• 2003, filmed in Paris – Nathan Berg, Valérie Gabail, Nicolas Cavallier, Patricia Petibon, Paul Agnew, Jaël Azzaretti, Danielle de Niese, Anna Maria Panzarella, Nicolas Rivenq. The Ensemble of Les Arts Florissants conducted by William Christie, released on 2 DVDs, BBC Opus Arte Catalog 923
• 2013, live in Vienna – Valérie Gabail, Stéphanie Révidat, Reinoud Van Mechelen, François-Nicolas Geslot, Aimery Lefèvre, Sydney Fierro, Chorus and Orchestra of La Simphonie du Marais, conducted by Hugo Reyne, label: Musiques à la Charbotterie, on 3 CDs
• 2014, filmed in February at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux – Amel Brahim Djelloul, Benoît Arnould, Olivera Topalovic, Judith van Wanroij, Les Talens Lyriques, conducted by Christophe Rousset, released on 2 DVDs by Alpha; note: uses the 1736 score for Les fleurs
• 2016, filmed in July at the Prinzregententheater in Munich – Benoit, Lisette Oropesa, Anna Prohaska, Quintans; Auvity, Moore, Vidal; Jurić, Lis, Nazmi; conducted by Ivor Bolton, live-streamed by Bavarian State Opera
• 2019 – Chantal Santon-Jeffery, Katherine Watson, Howard Crook, Véronique Gens, Reinoud van Mechelen, Jean-Sébastien Bou, Thomas Dolié, Jérôme Correas. Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra, conducted by Györgi Vashegyi. 1761 version (does not include Les fleurs) on 2 CDs. Record label: Glossa, duration 123'41".
• 2019 – Clément Cogitore (director), Bintou Dembélé (choreographer) and Leonardo García Alarcón (conductor), with the Cappella Mediterranea, Chœur de chambre de Namur, the Compagnie Rualité, the La Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine and Opéra National de Paris children's choir.^[14]

Camille Maurane (on Philips) and Gérard Souzay (on Decca) recorded Huascar's Invocation au Soleil from the Peruvian Entrée.

References

Notes

Sources

• Spire Pitou, The Paris Opéra – An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers – Rococo and Romantic 1715–1815, Westport (Connecticut), Greenwood Press, 1985 (ISBN 0-313-24394-8)
• Graham Sadler, Indes galantes, Les, in Stanley Sadie (ed), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Grove (Oxford University Press), New York, 1997, II, pp. 795–796. ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2
• Stéphane Wolff, L' Opéra au Palais Garnier, 1875–1962 Paris, Entr'acte, 1962.

Online sources

• Casaglia, Gherardo (2005)."Les Indes galantes". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
• (in French) Le magazine de l'opéra baroque accessed 1 February 2010
• (in French) Spectacles (period review of Les Indes galantes), "Mercure de France, Dédié au Roy", Paris, Cavelier/Pissot/de Nully, September 1735, pp. 2035 ff (accessible for free online at Gallica – B.N.F.)

External links

• Les Indes Galantes, article from Grove Music Online.
• Les Indes galantes: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Short Synopsis of Les Indes galantes from NAXOS.COM
• Review of Les Indes galantes
• Description of Les Indes galantes
• French libretto of "Les Indes galantes" at:
  • opera.stanford.edu (with the 1st version of "Les fleurs)
  • livretsbaroques.fr (with the 2nd version of "Les fleurs)
  • Gallica (Bibliothèque nationale de France) (original libretto of the 1736 edition, Paris, Ballard, 1736: includes the second version of Les fleurs)
  • books.google (original libretto of the 1761 revival, Paris, de Lormel, 1761: only includes the first three entrées, with the second version of Les fleurs)