A WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING
150 YEARS IN THE MAKING

A FEMINIST ECO-FABLE
IN OPERATIC FORM

A recently rediscovered treasure by one of the most compelling artists of the nineteenth century resonates with themes that speak to us in the twenty-first.

150 years ago, the great mezzo-soprano, composer, and pedagogue Pauline García Viardot created the salon opera Le dernier sorcier (The last sorcerer) in collaboration with the renowned Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev. The piece centered on themes of power and progress, gender and equality, and the restoration of natural order in an ever-changing world – a feminist eco-fable in operatic form.

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Pauline García Viardot is the most famous Romantic heroine you’ve never heard of. She was born in Paris to Spanish parents, the tenor-cum-impresario Manuel García and the soprano Joaquina Sitchez.  She and her siblings, the soprano Maria Malibran and the baritone/teacher Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García, were groomed for a life in music. Pauline’s circle was a who’s who of nineteenth-century European artistic society: she studied piano with Franz Liszt, co-authored mazurkas with Frédéric Chopin, sang Tristan and Isolde excerpts with Richard Wagner in her home, hosted Charles Dickens and Henry James as house guests, and shared insights with her best friend George Sand. At the age of seventeen, Pauline debuted the role of Desdemona in Rossini’s Otello in London to great acclaim, and went on to create roles for many leading composers of the day, including Giacomo Meyerbeer, Charles Gounod, Hector Berlioz, and Camille Saint-Saëns, who dedicated his Samson et Dalila to her.

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In 1843, Pauline began traveling regularly to perform in Saint Petersburg, where she met the great Russian man of letters Ivan Turgenev. Turgenev fell passionately in love with her mesmerizing voice, quick wit, and depth of spirit, and returned with her to Paris, where they shared their lives and families for the four decades that followed. They collaborated on several works for the stage, including Le dernier sorcier.

A chamber opera in two acts, Le dernier sorcier revolves around Krakamiche, a once-powerful sorcerer whose presence in the great woods has upset the fairies, the forest’s rightful inhabitants, and disturbed the harmony of the land. Through the combined efforts of the fairy folk and their queen, the sorcerer's daughter and her prince, and a hapless valet, Krakamiche ultimately learns key truths about humility, love, and living in harmony with the natural world.

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In soaring melodies and set pieces ranging from simple couplets to dramatic, quasi-Verdian ensembles, Le dernier sorcier holds its own among the remarkable operas of the period. At the work’s premiere in 1867 at Turgenev’s villa in Baden-Baden, Pauline played the piano (the sole instrument in the original score) and the roles were sung by her children and students. The audience consisted of leading figures of the day, including Liszt, Brahms, Clara Schumann, Hermann Levi, and Kaiser Wilhelm I, who hailed the piece as a treasure.

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Viardot's original manuscript, scored for solo voices, treble chorus, and piano, was held a private collection for over a century, and as such, the work essentially vanished. Recently, the original piano-vocal score was acquired by Harvard University’s Houghton Library, which has given us permission to produce this world premiere recording.

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There could be no more ideal collaborators for this passion project than the dream team assembled here. Eric Owens breathes life and glorious sound into our title character who, even in his most foolish moments, inspires our love. As the Fairy Queen, Jamie Barton casts arrestingly beautiful deus ex machina spells as only she can. Michael Slattery’s adorably out-of-luck Perlimpinpin kept us doubled over in laughter during his recording sessions, and Adriana Zabala’s Prince Lelio makes the forest ring. Sarah Brailey and the Manhattan Girls Chorus make us believe in the power of benevolent spirits (and the next generation) to create a better, brighter future for us all. Liana Pailodze Harron brings opulent pianism to the Queen’s two airs, and Myra Huang’s endlessly colorful interpretation of the full score reminds us why Opera News hails her as “among the top accompanists of her generation.” Trudie Styler is our sublime Narrator, bringing her inimitable wit and wisdom to every plot twist and turn. Harvard University’s Houghton Library made the entire project possible through its loan of Viardot’s original manuscript score. Nicholas Žekulin, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of Calgary, was an eminently kind and ever-available resource. Marlan Barry brought golden ears and unflappable calm to his role as recording engineer and producer. And there could be no two associate producers more committed or generous than Adriana Zabala and Michelle Oesterle, whose contributions at every stage were invaluable. Each and every person involved in the creation of this album brought their fierce intellect, warm heart, and boundless talent to the process, and Pauline’s benevolent spirit smoothed our path along the way.

While there were several clumsily translated, poorly received German-language performances of the work in Weimar and Karlsruhe in 1869-1870, Pauline’s original score of Le dernier sorcier has never received a professional performance before now. Our hope is that this album will inspire future productions (and perhaps a full orchestra or chamber ensemble recording?), and that more and more artists and companies will consider Pauline’s work when programming future seasons. When the Metropolitan Opera performed Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de loin in 2016, it was only the second opera composed by a woman to be presented in the company’s 136-year history (the first, Ethel Smyth’s Der Wald, was presented in 1903). So, yes, unearthing and encouraging great work by women feels timely.

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But just as important as its resonance with the current zeitgeist is this: Le dernier sorcier deserves our attention because it’s funny, fresh, poignant, and profound, and it conveys its big ideas in compelling, endlessly hummable ways. Its satire of tyranny, its focus on restoring a broken natural order, and its message of hope speak to us in timeless ways. Delving into this piece is not a concession, not programming for politics’ sake. It’s just plain good.

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In the thorny a capella Act 2 quartet, Stella and Lelio share their worldview: “After night comes daylight, after exile comes freedom, and from this point on, my entire life shall be called happiness.” The lovers aren’t blind to life’s difficulties. They know that “la nuit, l’exil” – the dark, alienating forces of the world – cannot be ignored or explained away. But with their eyes wide open, they choose happiness. A sense of self-determination and sheer joy courses through Pauline García Viardot’s music, elevating us. It reminds us, as the Fairy Queen sings, that there is always hope.

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–– Camille Zamora