Les bayadères is an opera in three acts by the composer Charles-Simon Catel. The French-language libretto, by Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy, is based on Voltaire's story L'education d'un prince. It was first performed on 8 August 1810 by the Paris Opéra at the Théâtre des Arts with the famous soprano Caroline Branchu in the lead role of Laméa. Les bayadères was Catel's most popular opera.[1]
The success of the work was helped by a first-rate cast and the luxury of the spectacle. Among the star singers were Madame Branchu, Henri-Étienne Dérivis and Louis Nourrit. The dancers included Émilie Bigottini and Pierre Gardel.[2] By the end of the third act, 130 performers were on stage.[3] Arthur Pougin calculated that the whole production cost 150,000 francs, including 90,000 francs on costumes, a considerable sum for the day.[4] Jean-Baptiste Rey was due to conduct, but he died in July. His replacement was Louis-Luc Loiseau de Persuis.[5]
Later revivals were often in a reduced, two-act version, first performed on 21 June 1814.[6] [7] A staging of Les bayadères in its original three acts was chosen to mark the inauguration of the Paris Opéra's new home, the Salle Le Peletier, on 16 August 1821.[8]
Les bayadères is an important transitional work in the tradition of operas on Oriental themes. In the 18th-century, these tended to be set in the Middle East and were usually comic in spirit. Examples include Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Grétry's La caravane du Caire. As the 19th century progressed, French Oriental operas moved further eastwards, especially to South Asia, with works such as Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles and Delibes' Lakmé. These were generally more emotional than comic and Les bayadères, set in India and with a serious plot, is an obvious forerunner.[9]
Les bayadères also marks a stage towards the creation of French Grand Opera. It shares many features with another work set to a libretto by Jouy, Spontini's La vestale (1807), the greatest operatic success of the Napoleonic era. Like La vestale, the heroine of Les bayadères has taken a religious vow of perpetual chastity. The choice of an historical subject, the sumptuous sets and the many opportunities for dance were all features of La vestale too, as they would be of the Grand Opera which appeared in France in the late 1820s and dominated the repertoire of the 19th century.[10]
Catel was a great admirer of Mozart, whose The Magic Flute had been staged in France in 1801.[11] and the music of Les bayadéres reflects this. Gérard Condé describes the score as "a rare example in the French repertoire of an opera that assimilates the Mozartian style as a means of toning down the brazenness and sterility of neo-Gluckism."[12] Nevertheless, Les bayadères too shows the influence of Gluck. Its heroine, Laméa, resembles Gluck's Iphigénie (in both Iphigénie en Aulide and Iphigénie en Tauride).[13]
| Cast | Voice type | Premiere |
|---|---|---|
| Démaly, Rajah of Benares | tenor | Louis Nourrit |
| Olkar, general of the Mahrattas | bass | Henri-Étienne Dérivis |
| Rustan, intendant of the rajah's harem | tenor | Laforêt |
| Narséa, the High Brahmin | bass | Jean-Honoré Bertin (né Bertin Dilloy) |
| Rutrem, minister to the rajah | tenor | Casimir Éloy (or Éloi) |
| Salem, Olkar's confidant | bass | Duparc |
| Hyderam, a Brahmin | bass | Jean-Honoré Bertin (né Bertin Dilloy) |
| Laméa, principal bayadere | soprano | Rose-Timoléone-Caroline Chevalier de Lavit, called Mme Branchu |
| Inora, Divané, Dévéda, the rajah's favourites | sopranos | Jeanart, Joséphine Armand, Émilie Benoist |
| Three bayaderes | sopranos | Lucy Portes, Percillier (junior), Reine |