Lully - Bellérophon

Soloists; Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset

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Cyril Auvity (ten) - Bellérophon,
Ingrid Perruche (sop) - Sténobeé,
Jean Teitgen (bass) - Apollon/Amisodar,
Céline Scheen (sop) - Philonoé,
Evgueniy Alexiev (bar) - Pan/Jobate Le Roy,
Robert Getchell (ten) - Bacchis/La Pythie,
Jennifer Borghi (mez) - Argie/Pallas,
Namur Chamber Choir; Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset

(133’ • DDD • T/t)
Recorded live at the Cité de la Musique, Paris, December 2010

Bellérophon, the second collaboration between Lully and Thomas Corneille, begins with a Prologue in which Louis XIV – here called “the greatest king in the universe” – is praised to the skies. At the end, Apollo proposes “un spectacle charmant”.

The story has much in common with that of Phaedra and Hippolytus, and other Greek legends. Bellerophon, falsely accused of attempting to seduce Sthenoboea after rejecting her advances, has been sent to 
her father, King Iobates of Lycia. Instead of having him killed, as requested by Sthenoboea’s husband, Iobates rewards Bellerophon for his valiant deeds on behalf of Lycia by bestowing on him his other daughter, Philonoe. Sthenoboea, now a widow, arrives at her father’s court, bent on capturing Bellerophon’s affections. Finding the wedding about to take place, she arranges for a monster – the Chimaera – to ravage the kingdom: this, she tells Iobates, is Heaven’s punishment for Bellerophon’s crime. Apollo announces that Heaven will be appeased by a son of Neptune, who must marry Philonoe. With the help of Pallas, Bellerophon slays the monster and, as he is discovered to be the son of Neptune, all is well: except, that is, for Sthenoboea, who poisons herself. Our hero is, of course, to be identified with Louis XIV; and, according to Jean Duron’s booklet-note, the Chimaera could have been taken to represent the Protestants.

This concert performance is excellent, with lively playing from Les Talens Lyriques, and singers who are really inside their roles. Cyril Auvity has a slight edge to his voice but his fluency and ardour command admiration. 
But I find the opera disappointing: Sthenoboea has a vulnerable side, touchingly conveyed by Ingrid Perruche in “Espoir qui séduisez les amants malheureux”, but she is a pallid villainess compared to Lully’s or Charpentier’s Medea. Similarly, Amisodarus and his fellow magicians don’t really chill the blood.

Bellérophon was often revived. In 1773, the year Gluck arrived in Paris to supervise rehearsals of Iphigénie en Aulide, it was staged in Pierre Berton’s adaptation. The resemblance of Die Zauberflöte’s March of the Priests to the priestesses’ Hymn in Iphigénie en Tauride is well known; but the latter sounds distinctly like “Le malheur qui nous accable”, a chorus in Bellérophon. Intriguing! 

Richard Lawrence