[[SELF LICENSED]] #opera #selflicensed #fulllengthopera [perusal scores](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1psyubcsOD8EGB2qSchnvz8TnKqAX3q6t?usp=drive_link) Contact me, [contact form.](https://operaandbeyond.blogspot.com/) NOTES ON VIARDOT  ![[PXL_20241120_151904085.jpg|300]] ![[MC in front of Manuel Garcia.jpg|300]] *In front of a portrait of Pauline Viardot by Ary Scheffer in Dordrecht, NL and Manuel Garcia (PV's brother) by John Singer Sargent in Providence, Rhode Island at Rhode Island School of Design NOTES ON VIARDOT During the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown of 20-21, Tracelyn Gesteland at the University of South Dakota-Vermillion did a very successful[ video version of SPEED DATING TONIGHT!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwvUejsyNl8&t=374s). Several schools did it this way during this time, in order to do a production without having to be in the room together. We enjoyed working together and she asked me if I would write an opera for her program. For about 18 months, we went back and forth on the subject matter. Sometimes she said "I can't do that, cause I don't have the singers for it." Sometimes I said "that subject is just too dark and sad for me." Finally she suggested writing an opera about the diva, composer, and teacher, Pauline Viardot. And that was it!  NOTES had its premiere at USD-Vermillion in April 2024. [Here is the video on youtube.](https://youtu.be/-tnW96mr9mQ?si=Ad963fzXjzKR-KG-) It was a remarkable experience where everyone was pulling in the same direction. I call the opera a "jukebox opera" because it aggressively quotes music from composers that were part of Madame Viardot's life and career, including Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, her father Manuel Garcia, Saint-Saens, Gluck, and a great deal of her own fine compositions. The opera has a cast of characters that are important and well known in 19th century music. There is so much music and cultural history embedded in the opera. ![[pauline-viardot-bw.jpg|150]] ![[Pauline Sitting on a chair.jpg|195]] ![[Pauline_Viardot.jpg|180]] *Pauline towards the end of her stage career, older, and younger* ![[Youngish Turgenev.jpg|200]] ![[Turgenev_1875_by_Harlamov.jpg|210]] *Younger and older Turgenev* ![[le-salon-de-mme-viardot-paris-bnf.jpg]] *Pauline's Salon* ![[Dickens_by_Watkins_1858.png|180]] ![[Camille-Saint-Saens.webp|220]] ![[Chorley_HF.jpg]] *Dickens (1858), Saint-Saens (1875), Chorley*    ![[George_Sand.png|180]] ![[LouisViardot.jpg|180]] ![[255px-Clara_Schumann_1853.jpg|160]] *George Sand, Louis Viardot, Clara Schumann* ![[Manuel Garcia Snr.jpg]] ![[La_Malibran_(Maria)_par_F._Bouchot.jpg|200]] ![[Joachina Sitches.jpg]] *Manuel Garcia (father), Maria Malibran (sister), Joachina Sitches (mother)* ![[manuel_garcia.jpg|180]] ![[Alfred_de_musset.jpg|160]] ![[Chopin.jpg|180]] *Manuel Garcia (Brother), Alfred de Musset, Frederic Chopin* These are just some of the main characters in the opera. The song which opens act II, "Characters" mentions many more, including Rossini, Berlioz, Wagner, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Franck, Gounod, Meyerbeer, and Debussy. There are also well known figures in the visual arts, literature, and politics CAST LIST Pauline is played by two singers, one portraying the older and one the younger.  There is a third (a girl) that plays her briefly in the first scene. There are roles with voice type flexibility, so the producer must make a choice. These roles can involve transpositions or alternate vocal lines. Some roles are marked S or M, M or S etc. These roles do not have alternate vocal lines, but the producer can decide which voice type is most suitable based on the available artists. Name/Appears/Voice type/Role type Pauline/Throughout?M or S/Lead *When the opera opens, it is 1905. Although older, she is still vigorous, and maintains a voice studio. This character portrays Pauline from late forties onward.* Younger Pauline/Throughout/S/Lead *This singer portrays Pauline as a teen through her 30s.* Very Young Pauline/Act I/Child/Bit cast can play multiple characters. (See casting summary below) Reporter/Throughout/S/Lead *The opera’s frame is Pauline telling her life story to a young female reporter.*  Garcia, her father, the famous tenor/Act I/Tenor/Supporting Madame Joachina Garcia, her mother/Act I, III/M or S/Comprimario Maria, her sister, also called La Malibran/Act I/M/Comprimario Manuel Garcia, her brother/Act I/Baritone/Comprimario Bandits (Ensemble)/Act I/Male ens/Chorus Bandit leader (has spoken line)/Act I/Male/Chorus bit Alfred de Musset, critic and poet/Act I/Tenor or Baritone/Supporting George Sand, famous writer/Act I, III/Mezzo or Soprano/Lead *In the opera, this is mostly the George Sand of the 1830s-1840s.* Chorley, famous critic/Act I Tenor, Countertenor or Mezzo Pants role/Supporting *Could double Musset or Garcia, her father* Guilia, Parisian Rival 1/Act I, II/S or M/Supporting Fanny, Parisian RIval 2/Act I, II/M/Supporting *Rivals could be played by two men instead* Audience/Furies/Salon guests/Ensemble S/A/T/B Acts I and II Suitor/Act I/Spoken/Bit Louis Viardot/act I (briefly, acts II and III/T or BS/Lead *Louis always carries/wears a pair of opera glasses (jumelles), which he also uses for hunting.* *(1800-1883) Louis was 20+ years older than Pauline and he should be portrayed “older” throughout the opera. Note: Louis can be cut from the first act if desired, for doubling.* Younger Turgenev/Act I, II, III/T or B/Lead Older Turgenev, affectionately named Tourguel/Act II, III/B or BB/Lead Charles Dickens/Act II/T or B/Supporting Editor (the Reporter’s boss)/Act I (prologue) and II/B or BB/Comprimario Saint-Saens/Act II/supernumerary and/or pianist/bit Voice Student/Act III/S or A although could be T/comprimario *Historically not Desiree, though it could be doubled that way* Claudie Viardot, daughter/Act II/M/comprimario *Could also double the voice student* Paul Viardot, son/Act II/Baritone/comprimario *These two Viardot children should be portrayed as tweens or teens in the opera* Désirée, a student of Pauline’s/Act II/Soprano/comprimario Fairies in The Last Sorcerer/Act II/Female ensemble at least 3 SSA or SAA/ensemble *Desiree and Claudie could be some of these fairies* ___________________________________________________________ Casting scenarios for doubling. These are some notes for doubling of roles. Women Depending on the doubling, this is 10-12 women. With no doubling it is 16 women.  Throughout M or S Older Pauline Soprano Younger Pauline Soprano Reporter M or S George Sand Mezzo Madame Garcia Soprano Guilia, Rival 1--they can be in the ensemble in Act I One could return as the voice student in Act III Mezzo Fanny, Rival 2--they can be in the ensemble in Act I Act I Mezzo Maria Malibran (could double Claudie) Mezzo version of Chorley, Could double any act II/III role such as Claudie, Desiree, or the Voice Student Soprano Very Young Pauline (should double a fairy) Act II Mezzo Claudie Viardot (could double Malibran) Soprano Désirée (could double voice student) Soprano Fairy #1 (see very young Pauline, act I) Soprano (or mezzo) Fairy #2 (these three fairies can come from ensemble) Mezzo Fairy #3 (you can use more fairies if you’d like) Act III Soprano or Mezzo Voice Student (could double Desiree) Men Note: with doublings, and if Chorley is cast as a pants role, the opera could be done with as few as six men  3T/3B, 2T/4B, or 1T/5B, Plus Saint-Saens (supernumerary and/or pianist). Without doubling, it is 9-10 men. See notes below Act I Act II/III Tenor could double Garcia (Act I)/Dickens (Act II) Baritone Manuel Garcia could double Paul Viardot (Act II), Baritone Editor/Bandit Chief/Suitor/Editor Tenor or Baritone Younger Turgenev Baritone Older Turgenev Tenor (preferred) or Baritone Musset/Louis Viardot Supernumerary or pianist Saint-Saens Musical Quotations The opera will makes extensive use of musical quotations in order to contextualize and celebrate Pauline Viardot. This offers a real opportunity for music department wide cross programming of the composers related to Pauline Viardot’s life. This list includes Prologue O Prètres de Baal from Le Prophète, by Meyerbeer Act I “Ecco ridente” from BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, by Rossini Voices from Hell/Commendatore from DON GIOVANNI, by Mozart Rosina/Figaro duet from BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA “Cuerpo Bueno” by Manuel Garcia “Yo soy contrabandista” by Manuel Garcia Serenade for Piano (1885) by Pauline Viardot “Prendi”  from ELISIR D’AMORE by Donizetti “Vedrai carino” from DON GIOVANNI by Mozart “Malicieuse” from Deux Airs de Ballet by Pauline Viardot “Mazourke #4”for Violin and Piano by Pauline Viardot Count/Figaro duet from BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA “Canzone del Salce” from OTELLO by Rossini Mazurka/La Danse Chopin/Viardot “Ah non credea mirarti/Ah non giunge” from LA SONNAMBULA by Bellini Act II/III O Lust, o Lust by Clara Schumann and Hermann Rollett Alza Pepita for piano by Pauline Viardot “Tourne, tourne” from THE LAST SORCERER by Viardot and Turgenev  Translation by Kathleen Kelly Reprise of “Cuerpo Bueno” by Manuel Garcia Chi mai del erebo from ORPHEUS AND EURDICE by Gluck Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix from SAMSON ET DALILA by Camille Saint-Saens ** Notes on Cast and Production. Synopsis. (This is a detailed working synopsis and probably shouldn’t be used in printed programs.)  PRODUCTION AND CASTING NOTES It is my hope that NOTES ON VIARDOT will help in the process of recognizing and reintroducing her significant role as singer, composer, and cultural nexus of the 2nd half of the 19th century.   The framework of the opera is an interview (much expanded upon and fictionalized) that Pauline Viardot (1821-1910) gave in 1905, when she was in her eighties. Onstage Pauline should be still quite vigorous, but definitely looking older. (She needn’t look 80, just older, perhaps 50-65.) Younger Pauline needs to portray Pauline from around her debut at seventeen through her early success as a touring performer and her mid-career triumphs as Orpheus. Louis Viardot was over 20 years older than Pauline when they married. Although it is historically inaccurate at first, Louis should always be made to appear older, 55+. In order for a plot point to work, Louis should always be wearing [opera glasses](http://www.ashleyneelydesign.com/uploads/2/4/5/0/24508804/s911793435702720334_p13_i1_w2560.jpeg)–not frilly ones–that he also happens to use when hunting. Turgenev aged prematurely, so there is an older white haired version and a younger much more youthful version. The opera ideally has a playable 19th century piano onstage, but barring that, something that looks like one, where the actual playing can be done from the pit. The entire opera takes place in Pauline’s apartment in Paris. From there we are transported to the various and many locations of her life.  Although not historically accurate, her abodes–Courtevenal, Bougival, Baden-Baden, London, Paris–have been mixed together and not carefully delineated for the audience. There is her early life and path to stardom in act I; and in acts II and III, we hear about her life as a leading figure in the artistic life of Europe, her salon, and her personal life. It is highly encouraged that the producer uses projections to help the audience learn about Pauline, Ivan, and the many important artists that surrounded them. This would be particularly useful in the opening of Act II (“Characters”).  Place names, character names, and the names of operas are deliberate choices. They often default to the choice that the audience would find easiest to understand. For example, Garcia is pronounced ɡaɾˈsia vs. ɡaɾˈθia. There are exceptions–for example, Paris is pronounced both paˈɾis and pa.ʁi in the opera. In my mind, George Sand should be pronounced with a French “George” and an English “Sand,” but feel free to do otherwise if you feel your audience will not stumble over it. (An American “Sand” rhymes a bit better with “Chopin” too.) SYNOPSIS Prologue and Act I. The opera starts with a brief prologue. We are in 1905, and the young female reporter arrives at Pauline’s apartment. Before Madame Viardot comes into the room, the Reporter recalls a conversation she had with her Editor, encouraging her to get past Pauline’s illustrious career in order to ask about her possibly scandalous relationship with the late, great Russian writer, Turgenev. Pauline enters; the Reporter is a bit nervous, but Pauline sets her at ease. The first question launches Pauline into recollections. Amongst her first memories are the family’s trip to America as an operatic troupe (Characters) and then their trip to Mexico, where they were waylaid by bandits. She remembers her Voice Lessons with her father–gentle with her but strict and fiery with her sister. When her sister–who became the famous La Malibran–dies in an accident, Pauline must switch from studying to be a pianist to become a singer and to follow in Malibran’s shadow. Although there are skeptics, she is recognized as a major talent. Pauline makes her debut (Paris Debut/Musset’s Review). An early reviewer, Musset, is infatuated by her and tries and fails to sleep with her. She meets and is brought under the wing of the talented and influential writer, George Sand. Sand idolizes her and insists that Pauline must sacrifice everything for her phenomenal artistic talent. Pauline begins to tour (The Road to Success) and goes from success to success. This first act ends with her great success in Petersburg. During this scene, we incidentally learn that she has married her husband, Louis who introduces her to a young writer, Ivan Turgenev. As the second act begins, we now see Pauline and the Reporter sitting side by side looking at scrapbooks of calling cards (cartes de visite) and boxes of letters she has saved from famous correspondents (Calling Cards). Their relationship is now friendlier, less formal. The Reporter finds a letter from Clara Schuman and reads it. The letter congratulates Pauline on the birth of her first child, Louise. The next is a letter from Charles Dickens congratulating Pauline for her performance of ORPHEUS AND EURIDICE in Paris. This time, Dickens appears and reads (sings) the letter. Next the Reporter finds a letter from Turgenev and again, he appears and takes over the reading/performing of the letter. It is a gloomy, yet humorous letter sent from his family estate in Russia in the 1850s. He clearly misses her and the recollection has clearly moved Pauline. The Reporter tries to find out more, but Pauline moves on to recollections of working with Berlioz on Gluck’s ORPHEUS AND EURIDICE. The ensemble of furies singing “Chi mai del erebo” starts as it did, blocking Orpheus (played by Younger Pauline) from entering Hades. But it quickly also comes to symbolize forbidding the reporter to get more truth from Pauline about Turgenev. The Reporter becomes like Orpheus, begging Pauline to talk to her, but as in the Gluck, they and the two Paulines firmly and resolutely shout “No! No!” Her boss/editor appears demanding that she find out about Pauline’s personal life, saying that “I’ve been told by reliable sources that there was a menage a trois.” This is told salaciously and viciously by the two Parisian rivals from the first act; they gossip nastily, pondering about how the relationship between Pauline, her husband, Louis, and Turgenev works, with all three in the same house. During this, the Furies–who have disappeared–come back as guests and dignitaries to Pauline’s salon, crossing the stage and entering the parlor. The two rivals are greeted at the entrance to the Viardot salon by Pauline, and they suddenly become fawning and friendly. They take their seats in the salon. Pauline welcomes everyone to the salon and says they are gathered to hear Saint-Saens’ new opera. Looking at the music, (Older) Pauline begins to sing “Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix” which morphs into a summation of the joys of her career of performing, creating, and collaborating. During this, she invites the Reporter to sit in the salon, thereby melding the timelines of present and past. As Pauline reaches the end of the aria, the Reporter “gets it” and realizes her duty is to help her readers understand the importance of this historic female singer and composer, and not be obsessed with the gossip of the past.   The salon memory fades and the guests disappear. The Reporter gently asks more about Turgenev. Pauline briefly summarizes how they met and goes on to say how much fun he was as part of family gatherings. She recalls the “Portrait Game” he invented and we see a round of the game with the family. The Reporter asks about Turgenev and her husband Louis and Pauline tells her that they were great friends and we see Louis telling everyone a hunting story. As the Reporter continues to gently prod, Pauline recalls how she read all of Turgenev’s work and he always solicited her opinion about it. And they worked together–we see a fragment from their operetta “The Last Sorcerer.”  Act III (which can be combined with Act II)  Knowing that she is about to break the taboo, the reporter asks a more prying question about Turgenev. Pauline refuses to answer on the record, ending the interview, but then goes on to tell the Reporter, now her friend, about the relationship. Pauline recalls her life with Louis Viardot and Ivan Turgenev, both who have been dead now for 25+ years. First, with very good reasons, her mother and George Sand encourage her to marry the older Louis Viardot. He has connections, can manage her career, and he will be faithful. A single female opera singer would be pursued relentlessly and assumed to be of easy virtue. Love with Louis Viardot? It may grow later. Pauline recalls Louis fondly and remembers an incident where Louis may have learned that Ivan and Pauline were more than friends. In that scene, Turgenev and Pauline (portrayed by their younger selves) were reading Goethe together under a tree in the gardens together. It was an intimate moment emotionally, and perhaps physically (we leave for the director to decide how intimate). When Pauline returns to the house she realizes that Louis may have been watching them from the house. We come back to the present (1905). Pauline looks at an old envelope from Turgenev with the instructions “Do not read until I am gone.” She opens it and he appears–it is his last prose poem to her. The older Turgenev, Pauline, and their younger selves sing a quartet that encapsulates their strong feelings for each other. Pauline is briefly lost in a reverie about the past. A knock at the door draws her back. It is a student, arrived for their voice lesson. The opera ends as the lesson begins, with Pauline enthusiastically training the next generation, echoing the advice she got from her father sixty years in the past. The opera ends with the two Paulines downstage center. AUDIO AND VIDEO LINKS TO PREMIERE [Soundcloud playlist (audio)](https://soundcloud.com/michael-ching-3/sets/notes-on-viardot-from-performances-at-usd-vermillion?si=c81c941c88a44552814fa2dba4e44711&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing) from premiere in Vermillion. In this audio (Older) Pauline is a soprano, Chorley is a tenor, Musset is a baritone, Younger Ivan is a tenor. Louis Viardot is a tenor [Premiere Video](https://youtu.be/-tnW96mr9mQ) from premiere in Vermillion. In this audio (Older) Pauline is a soprano, Chorley is a tenor, Musset is a baritone, Younger Ivan is a tenor. Louis Viardot is a tenor Productions 2024, premiere at University of South Dakota, Vermillion 2024, Arizona State University 2024, Music Onsite (MOSI) 2025, Baylor University 2026, Buffalo Opera Unlimited