TODAY ON BASS SATURDAY- "Monstre affreux" from Rameau's Dardanus.

It is fun to imagine the awful monster in Rameau's opera to be a cross between the Kraken and the Cloverfield monster.

MONSTRE AFFREUX

Aria d'Anténor
Jean-Phillipe Rameau, Dardanus.

Voici les tristes lieux que le monstre ravage.
Hélas ! Si pour moi seul je craignais sa fureur
Je l'attendrais sur ce rivage
Pour être sa victime, et non pas son vainqueur.

Monstre affreux, monstre redoutable
Ah ! Que le sort me serait favorable,
S'il ne m'exposait qu'à vos coups,
Monstre affreux monstre redoutable.
Ah, l'Amour est encore plus terrible que vous. 

Contre votre fureur, il est du moins des armes,
Mais contre ses alarmes
Vainement on cherche un appui,
Il renaît des efforts qu'on fait pour le détruire,
Et le cœur même qu'il déchire 

Est d'intelligence avec lui. 

Monstre affreux, monstre redoutable 

Ah ! Que le sort me serait favorable, 

S'il ne m'exposait qu'à vos coups, 

Monstre affreux, monstre redoutable.
Ah, l'Amour est encore plus terrible que vous.

DREADFUL MONSTER
English Translation

Here are the sad lands ravaged by the monster

Alas! If it were only for myself who feared his fury

I would await on this shore to be his victim

And not his vanquisher.

Dread monster, fearsome monster

Ah! How kind fate would be to me

If he exposed me only to no blows but yours!

Dread monster, fearsome monster

Ah! Love is much more terrible than you

At least against your fury there are weapons

But against his attacks

One looks in vain for support;

All efforts to destroy him only gives him new life

And the very heart that tears him apart

Is in league with him.

What a noise! What a horrible storm!

The waves rise up to the heavens;

I hear the terrible voice of vengeful thunder; 

Night wraps this place in a thick veil!

Come forth from your deep caverns,

Cruel monster, come forth. Let your hideous face

Add to the horror that reign over these waves.

Nothing can daunt an unhappy lover.

I see this fearsome monster. Come on!

The orchestra does not do justice here to the Bulgarian basso profundo Boris Christoff. He is Bulgarian, by the way, and not Russian! My apologies for the mistake in my last blog. Boris Christoff is very famous for singing Russian songs, like Kalinka or the Volga Boatmen. Easy to believe he's Russian. His performance of Monstre affreux in Dardanus is superb! What is missing is a strong orchestra, which in my opinion, should be inseparable from the singer, Thus, I believe that a much better version can be enjoyed by listening to a video featuring Laurent Naouri with Les Musiciens du Grenoble under the baton of Mark Minkowski.  Even though Laurent Naouri is not a bass singer, his baritone voice delivers an impeccable performance. The orchestra really highlights the throbbing heartbeat of Rameau's harrowing aria.

Though I was not able to post this gem on my blog, I suppose, for copyright reasons, I can gratefully redirect you to this impeccable performance: just click on this word: monster. But wait! Here it is with the same Laurent Naori, but in a video with ducks swimming in a pond, hardly the fearful monster depicted in the aria. Well, I suppose that a bug would look at a duck the way we look at the Kraken!

Here is an interpretation by French baritone Gérard Souzay:

To place the monster scene in context, here are scenes from a London Royal College of Music production of Rameau's opera Dardanus: 

This concludes Bass Saturday.


P.S. For a bit of fun, I've added a video of Boris Christoff singing Kalinka!

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