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Jerusalem
Giuseppe Verdi arrived in Paris on the 27th of July 1847 with a specific, calculated goal that would redefine his career trajectory. He did not come to compose a new masterpiece from scratch, but to adapt his existing Italian opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata into a French grand opera titled Jérusalem. This decision marked a pivotal moment in the composer's life, as he sought to navigate the complex, money-rich, and stylistically flexible world of the Paris Opéra, officially known as the Académie Royale de Musique. The director of the Paris Opéra, Léon Pillet, had invited Verdi to compose an opera for the company in November 1845 and February 1846, but the composer had initially declined. It was only after conducting the premiere of I masnadieri in London and arriving in Paris that Verdi received his first commission from the company, agreeing to adapt I Lombardi to a new French libretto. This adaptation allowed Verdi to try his hand at grand opera without having to write something entirely new, a strategy which both Donizetti and Rossini had employed for their Paris debuts. The resulting work was described by Verdi himself as having transformed I Lombardi out of recognition, a statement that underscores the magnitude of the changes he undertook.
A Love Story in the Margins
The creation of Jérusalem was inextricably linked to the personal life of the composer and his relationship with the singer Giuseppina Strepponi. While many writers have speculated on supposed relationships which Verdi, a man then close to and then in his thirties, might have had with women in the years following his first wife's death, the only real evidence relates to Strepponi. She sang the first Abigaille in Nabucco in 1842 and continued on and off with that role in spite of her declining voice up to her retirement and move to Paris in October 1846. It is known that the two had conducted friendly correspondence over several years and that Strepponi had offered various pieces of advice to the composer. As the composer worked on the music for Jérusalem, he received her help to the extent that a handwritten love duet in the composer's autograph score contains alternative lines in her handwriting and in his. This is described by British music critic Andrew Porter as one of the more romantic discoveries of recent years. At the end of 1847 Verdi rented a little house in Passy and went to live there with Giuseppina, and the couple were to remain together for many years. When the time came to leave Paris, Verdi left in late July and made straight for Busseto to wait for her there, while it appears that Strepponi visited her family in Florence and Pavia before joining him.
The Mechanics of Adaptation
Common questions
When did Giuseppe Verdi arrive in Paris to adapt I Lombardi into Jérusalem?
Giuseppe Verdi arrived in Paris on the 27th of July 1847 with the specific goal of adapting his existing Italian opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata into a French grand opera titled Jérusalem. This decision marked a pivotal moment in the composer's life as he sought to navigate the complex world of the Paris Opéra.
Who was the singer that helped Giuseppe Verdi with the music for Jérusalem?
Giuseppina Strepponi helped Giuseppe Verdi with the music for Jérusalem to the extent that a handwritten love duet in the composer's autograph score contains alternative lines in her handwriting. She sang the first Abigaille in Nabucco in 1842 and continued on and off with that role up to her retirement and move to Paris in October 1846.
Where and when did the opera Jérusalem receive its premiere performance?
The opera Jérusalem received its premiere performance at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris on the 26th of November 1847. The maiden production was designed by Paul Lormier for costumes and featured Gilbert Duprez as Gaston, Viscount of Béarntenor.
What historical period does the story of Jérusalem unfold in?
The story of Jérusalem unfolds in 1095 and 1099 AD, beginning in Toulouse and moving to Palestine near Jerusalem. The narrative centers on the First Crusade and involves characters such as Gaston, Roger, and Hélène.
When did the UK premiere of Jérusalem take place?
The UK premiere of Jérusalem took place by Opera North on the 31st of March 1990 at the Grand Theatre in Leeds. It took over 140 years for the opera to be given its UK premiere after its initial 1847 performance.
The transformation from I Lombardi to Jérusalem involved significant changes in the location and action of the French version, especially given the need to set the story for French involvement in the First Crusade of 1095 to 1099. Characters' names changed from Italian to French and one, Arvino, who was renamed as the Count of Toulouse, though elements of his character were given to the principal tenor role, Gaston, was now a baritone instead of a tenor. Several roles present in the original version were deleted, including the leading tenor role of Oronte. In the restructured libretto, the central romance is given more prominence, and a happier ending. In addition, Verdi added a standard ballet and new music, but re-shaped much of the structure by removing inappropriate material he felt to be weak. As musicologist Roger Parker notes, only a few of the original numbers remain in their former positions. The revised version has far greater strengths than those acknowledged by many Italian and English writers, and the diffuse drama which Solera had distilled from an epic poem is replaced by a far tauter, more concentrated plot which not only makes fewer demands on our credulity than I Lombardi but also avoids the problem of a second tenor who needs to be weightier and more heroic than the first. The entire opera, as befits one designed for the French stage, is more through-composed than its parent work.
The Premiere and The Silence
The opera received its premiere performance at the Salle Le Peletier in Paris on the 26th of November 1847. The maiden production was designed by Paul Lormier for costumes, and Charles Séchan, Jules Diéterle, and Édouard Desplechin for sets of Act I, Act II, scene 1, Act III scene 1, and Act IV, while Charles-Antoine Cambon and Joseph Thierry handled sets for Act II, scene 2 and Act III, scene 2. The premiere cast included Gilbert Duprez as Gaston, Viscount of Béarntenor, Charles Portheaute as the Count of Toulouse, and Adolphe Louis Joseph Alizard as Roger, the Count's brother. Despite the grandeur of the production, the opera failed to supersede I Lombardi in the affections of Italian audiences and certainly, as Parker comments, while overall being superior to Lombardi in various ways, it failed to establish itself in either the French or the Italian repertory. However, the opera was given in Turin in 1850 and between 1854 and 1865, in Venice, Verona and Rome. The US premiere was presented at the Théâtre d'Orleans in New Orleans on the 24th of January 1850, marking the beginning of its slow journey into the global repertoire.
The Plot of Betrayal and Redemption
The story of Jérusalem unfolds in 1095 and 1099 AD, beginning in Toulouse and moving to Palestine near Jerusalem. In Act 1, Hélène is with her lover, Gaston, whose family and hers have long been in conflict, but on the following day and prior to Gaston's departure for the First Crusade, it has been agreed that there will be a solemn reconciliation between the two families. However, standing to one side, Roger, the Count's brother is quietly furious, since he is in love with Hélène. He leaves, after which the Papal Legate announces that the Pope has appointed Gaston to lead the Crusade. Roger proclaims his hatred of Gaston and approaches a soldier with whom he has plotted to kill his rival. He instructs the soldier to kill the man who will not be wearing the white cloak. From inside the chapel the sound of uproar is heard. The soldier-murderer rushes out pursued by others while Roger gloats in his triumph. But it is Gaston who emerges, announcing that the Count has been struck down. The captured murderer is brought in before Roger; quietly Roger arranges for him to point to Gaston as the one who instigated the murder. Although protesting his innocence, Gaston is cursed by all and ordered into exile by the Papal Legate. The narrative continues through the desert and the harem, culminating in a final act where the mortally wounded Roger is brought in and reveals himself as the Count's brother. He begs for mercy for Gaston and confesses to being the one who planned the murder which almost resulted in his brother's death. All rejoice at the restoration of Gaston's honor and position, as Roger takes one final look at Jerusalem and he dies.
The Legacy of a Masterpiece
In the decades following its premiere, Jérusalem experienced a slow but steady resurgence in the 20th century and beyond. In Italy, conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni staged the opera in Italian at La Fenice in Venice in 1963. Two years later, in May 1965, when the La Fenice company were in Munich, they gave a performance in Italian under Ettore Gracis. The 1975 saw an Italian radio/television production of a concert version of the opera in French with Katia Ricciarelli and José Carreras. Given in the original French, the opera was staged by the Opéra in Paris in March and April 1984 under Donato Renzetti with Alain Fondary singing the role of the Count. The Teatro Regio in Parma presented the opera in French in 1986 with Ricciarelli and Cesare Siepi. It was broadcast in French in Britain under Edward Downes with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra on the 11th of May 1986, and June Anderson was featured in the cast as Hélène. In the 1990s, Jérusalem appeared under Zubin Mehta, also in French, at the Vienna State Opera with a cast including José Carreras as Gaston and Samuel Ramey as Roger. It took over 140 years for the opera to be given its UK premiere by Opera North on the 31st of March 1990 at the Grand Theatre in Leeds. The Opera Orchestra of New York presented a concert performance in February 1998.
The Musical Evolution
Musicologist Julian Budden observes that the revised version has far greater strengths than those acknowledged by many Italian and English writers. He continues by acknowledging that the newly composed numbers and the repositioning of the original ones were soldered together by linking passages of far greater significance than the string-accompanied recitative which they replace. Roger Parker finds two particularly strong elements in the French version: firstly, that by converting Arvino from a tenor to a baritone, he solves one of the problems of vocal distribution that occurred in the original, and secondly, that this version serves as a fascinating first document in charting Verdi's relationship with the French stage, a relationship that was to become increasingly important during the next decade. Not surprisingly, Budden and others writing on the subject over the past 30 years, including Baldini who calls it a tired, disheartened reshuffle, regard Jérusalem as something less than a masterpiece, but his chapter concludes with a summary of what the experience of working in Paris did for Verdi and the part it played in moving the composer forward towards his mature style. It fixed his dramatic imagination, refined his scoring, sharpened his harmonic palate, and in general made possible the amazing advances of the next few years.