Customer Reviews

Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, Comédie-ballet de Molière & Lully / Dumestre, Le Poème Harmonique, Lazar

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

What an experience for someone who does not speak French to be entertained for so many hours by this outstanding combination of dance, mime, singing, music and comedy. Congratulations on the sub titling.

How frustrating it was to follow French friends trying to explain to me how to make the vowel sound "U". If only I had Monsieur Jordan's teacher. That scene had my partner and I in stitches.

An entertainment fit for a King - as indeed it was so first commissioned.

I bought this DVD late last year and it is one I treasure. Like the other reviewer, I too have the Tafelmusik/Niquet DVD of Lully's Persée, which compares very well with Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, even though it's production values are not quite as rigorously "authentic"!

The music for this production is superb and demonstrates quite clearly, I believe, that Lully was a genius. Whilst CD recordings of his music are often very entertaining and colourful, it seems to be that Lully's music works at its very best when seen on stage or on DVD.

All of the music of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme is sublime and very entertaining. The play is an excellent piece of theatre, too.

I imagine that this DVD could be enjoyed by a very wide range of people, even people not familiar with or normally amenable to Baroque music and/or Baroque opera. Please give it a try, if you're even slightly curious!

I very much look forward to Le Poème Harmonique's DVD recording of Lully's "Cadmus et Hermione" (a real opera, rather than "Semi-Opera", in fact, a play with songs and dances), available in October this year. I can't wait!

I was absolutely stunned by this performance. Although I love Lully's music, I am not generally fond of theatre. And this is a theatre play, with ravishingly beautiful music, dance and song cleverly interwoven. Out of almost 4 hours playing time, the music takes up no more than half.

This young troupe of actors brings to life a masterpiece of literature, that, having seen some modern French production, I thought no more than a farce.

I also found the old French quite helpful. It may sound strange at first, but it is spoken quite slowly (unlike contemporary French) and with impeccable diction. So, I found it much easier to understand than the performance by Jean-Marie Bigard. And although a whole period comes to life, it never feels like a museum piece. I got some very good laughs. And Monsieur Jourdain is not just a buffoon; you feel sympathy for him, despite his quirks and lofty ambitions.

The other reviewers have already described the gorgeous staging. I just want to add that this also pertains to the actors themselves. Cleonte and the maitre de danse are oh so cute.

Vincent Dumestre is one of the most promising conductors of the French repertoire. I also have some other recordings by Le poeme harmonique, which I would highly recommend (Tessier: Carnets de Voyage; Airs et ballets en France avant Lully - Moulinie, Guedron, Boesset.

I now eagerly await the delivery of Cadmus et Hermione. And I hope that one of the next projects of Dumestre will be the grandest of Lully's tragedies, Armide. French music needs to be seen as much as heard.

I absolutely love the story in this comedie-ballet, and I don't think it's possible to do a better job portraying the characters than the great troupe has done here. The music is great, and the scenery is remarkable. That is to say, the production quality is top notch. My only grievance is that the DVD claims to be "All Regions" on the back of its cover, but it will not work in an ordinary DVD player.

So, in short, get this movie! But, also be sure to have a computer with a DVD drive so that you can enjoy it, or the proper sort of DVD player.

Before there was Opera in France, the great French dramatist Jean Baptiste Moliere collaborated with the renowned composer Jean Baptiste Lully in creating a new form of entertainment called "comedie-ballet". It was at the request of Louis XIV that these two artists derived this form to "stitch" together theatre, music and dance without "snapping the thread of the play". It is now 1760 and the pair have done ten other very popular comedie-ballets and this, their eleventh and last is considered their finest: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. The story concerns the enlightenment of a Monseir Jourdain through a series of artistic and cultural revelations to a greater awareness of reality and life. This reality is a reflection of the development of civilization itself and long the subject many 17th century litereary figures. Our hero M. Jourdain goes through a number of learning phases, often being knowingly or unknowingly mocked with the actors interpreting the fine edge that seperates beauty and folly; between pathos and sentiment. So there are scenes where the actors delve into what we would call slap stick comedy but here is a change to a deeper meaning of the event....or not. An example is where our hero is learning how to properly pronounce the vowels A E I O U. Again some folly leads to an appreciation of the powers of language. Other adventures include matters of taste and about cloths and dress. At last while witnessing the Ballet du Nations (again mixing farse and comedy) we see the final transformation of our Bourgeois Gentilhomme, an apothiosis, if you will to a reflection of the King himself; the complete Gentleman. As always the farce and absurdity of the play are tamed by the dance and the beauty of Lully's music.

One can go on and on about the philosophical meanings of each and every adventure but I suggest just forgetting "deeper meanings" and just enjoy the work. For this is a very funny and enjoyable entertainment.

I'd like to make a comment on some points of this production. The first is candlelight. Though of no thought or importance in modern artistic events, candlelight was of great importance in Baroque staging. The nuances of greater or lesser light could be used by actors, singers or dancers as one would master a musical instrument. The subtle use of shadows from the candlelight which came from the floor and thus below the face or a chandelier from above could be used to alter meaning and mood of whatever was being sung, danced or recited. Such changes are effectively utilized in this presentation. The last thing to note is that after this very popular association with Moliere, Lully went on to bring life to an art form invented in his homeland of Italy, the Opera. With the gifted librettist Quinault, Lully composed the very first masterpieces of French Opera. These were of such high quality that they are still enjoyed today.

But is this great artistic work just a museum piece? No, for in the the several centuries since several composers have revisited the journey of the Gentleman in terms of their own day and time. Among these are Richard Straus is a series of interludes to accompany the play.