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| Adolphe Nourrit in the title role of Salieri’s Tarare in 1823 |
Antonio Salieri is still, alas, best remembered for his non-role in Mozart’s death and his operas remain tantalisingly at the fringes of the repertoire. Back in 2015, Bampton Classical Opera performed Salieri’s 1785 opera, La grotta di Trofonio with its important pre-echoes of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte [see my review] and in 2017 they returned to Salieri for his 1778 comedy La scuola de’ gelosi [see my review].
The important thing to remember about Salieri was that from the age of 16 or so he received informal instruction from Metastasio with Gluck becoming an informal advisor, friend, and confidante. So much so, that Salieri regarded himself as Gluck’s heir. His 1771 opera Armida (based on Tasso) drew heavily on the Reform opera created by Gluck and Calzabigi.
Up to 1777, Salieri had been working with the Italian opera company in Vienna, but this company collapsed (due to financial management) and then the Emperor announced he wanted more German operas and Salieri was given a year’s leave of absence. In 1778, Gluck turned down the offer of writing a new opera for La Scala Milan and Salieri took up the offer (with Gluck’s agreement). This led to Europa riconosciuta (Europa Recognized) for opening of the new theatre at La Scala (revived in 2004 for the same opera house’s re-opening following extensive renovations). And in fact, La scuola de’ gelosi was written for this Italian tour.
Then after a brief return to Vienna, including writing his one German singspiel, Salieri agreed to help Gluck with a commission for Paris in 1783-84. Les Danaïdes (The Danaids) is a five-act tragédie lyrique, and unfortunately Gluck had failed to actually write any of it and Salieri took over. There was initially some finessing over who actually wrote it, but Salieri’s responsibility was finally acknowledged after the work’s premiere. The opera remained on stage in Paris for over forty years. A young Hector Berlioz recorded the deep impression this work made on him in his Mémoires.
This was to be the first of three French operas produced by Salieri. Next came Les Horaces (The Horatii), which proved a failure, then in 1787 Tarare with a libretto actually by Beaumarchais, his only opera libretto. All these have been recorded by Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques, and he is something of a champion for them [see my 2019 interview with him.]
But we still don’t hear them in the theatre anything like enough, so it is good news that from 10 to 18 October, L’Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles will be presenting a new production of Tarare directed by Jean‑Romain Vesperini and conducted by Théotime Langlois de Swarte.
The plot successfully mixes comedy, tragedy and the exotic with a strong political message: a world of vice is revealed as the valiant solider Tarare, seeking to rescue his wife, overthrows the tyrannous Sultan Atar and is proclaimed king by will of the people. Beaumarchais would later claim after the French Revolution that his opera had been a first draft of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. And just keep the fascinating links, Salieri also reworked the material into an Italian version retitled Axur, re d’Ormus with libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, which opened in Vienna in January 1788.
Christophe Rousset saw the subject matter as revolutionary, the main theme being death to tyrants. We see the figure of nature creating society, and the way royalty and tyrants impose themselves. And there is an epilogue, something unusual in operas of the period, where two characters return and say, see how foolish humans are.
Whilst Tarare was premiered in Paris, the opera house at Versailles was inaugurated in 1770 and is a very apt place for it to be performed. Further details from the opera house’s website.
