Episode 341. Robert Massard Revisited
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A year and a half ago, I posted an episode on Robert Massard, the finest French baritone of his era, and one of the finest French baritones of all time. Today, in honor of his upcoming hundredth birthday later this year, I present him in a different repertoire (and therefore a different light). As was very much the custom of the day in French opera houses, Massard sang many of his non-French roles in translation. This was also very much the standard in German-language opera houses in the 50s and 60s. Massard’s recorded legacy includes Italian operas sung in the original language as well as in French translation. No matter what language he was singing in, Massard was a master of bel canto as well as buffo patter. This episode includes arias and duets from Il barbiere di Siviglia, I Puritani, Lucie de Lammermoor, Le Comte Ory, La Traviata, Don Carlos, Un bal masque, La bohème, Cavalleria rusticana, and Andrea Chénier, as well as extended scenes from both Rigoletto (in and out of French!) and Falstaff. I also include a clip of Massard’s contemporary and compatriot Gabriel Bacquier singing an excerpt of one of his greatest Verdi parts, Iago in Otello. Massard’s vocal colleagues in these excerpts include Alain Vanzo, Peter Glossop, and Renée Doria.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Georges Bizet, Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy [after Prosper Mérimée]: Si tu m’aimes, Carmen (Carmen). Robert Massard, Maria Callas, Georges Prêtre, Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris [1964]
Charles Gounod, Jules Barbier, Michel Carré [after Carré’s play based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]: Avant de quitter ces lieux (Faust). Robert Massard, Roberto Benzi, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest [live Amsterdam 28.X.1972]
Robert Planquette, Henri Meilhac, Philippe Gille, Henry Brougham Farnie: Vive la paresse (Rip). Robert Massard, Orchestra conducted by Armand Bernard [1959]
Gioachino Rossini, Cesare Sterbini [after Pierre Beaumarchais]: Largo al factotum (Il barbiere di Siviglia). Robert Massard, Reynald Giovaninetti, Orchestre Lyrique et Phiharmonique de l’ORTF [1961]
Georges Bizet, Carlo Cambiaggio: Non v’è signor di lei (Don Procopio). Robert Massard, Bruno Amaducci, Orchestre Lyrique de l’ORTF [live 1975]
Vincenzo Bellini, Carlo Pepoli [after Jacques-François Ancelot, Joseph Xavier Saintine]: Ah, per sempre io ti perdei (I Puritani). Robert Massard, Gianfranco Rivoli, Orchestre de l’Opéra de Marseille [live 1974]
Gaetano Donizetti, adapted J.L. Caussou, J.Y. Lamare [after A. Royer, G. Vaëz, Walter Scott]: D’un amour qui me grave (Lucie de Lammermoor). Robert Massard, Orchestra conducted by Georges Sébastian [1960]
Gioachino Rossini, Eugène Scribe, Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson: En voici, mes amis… Dans ce lieu solitaire (Le Comte Ory). Robert Massard, Vittorio Gui, Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Torino della RAI [live Torino 11.VI.59]
Gioachino Rossini, Luigi Balocchi, Étienne de Jouy: Le ciel toujours contraire (Moïse et Pharaon). Robert Massard, Adrian de Peyer, John Matheson, Orchestre de l’ORTF [live Paris 04.74]
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Alexandre Dumas, French version by Édouard Duprez]: Lorsqu’à de folles amours [Di Provenza il mar] (La Traviata). Robert Massard, Orchestra conducted by Jésus Etcheverry [1959]
Giuseppe Verdi, Antonio Somma [after Eugène Scribe, French version by Édouard Duprez]: Et c’est toi qui déchires mon âme (Un bal masqué). Robert Massard, Orchestra conducted by Jésus Etcheverry [1961]
Pietro Mascagni, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, Guido Menasci [after Giovanni Verga; French version by Paul Milliet]: Piaffe, mon cheval fringant (Cavalleria rusticana). Robert Massard, Orchestra and Choeurs Georges Théry conducted by Reynald Giovaninetti [1965]
Umberto Giordano, Luigi Illica: Nemico della patria (Andrea Chénier). Robert Massard, Georges Sébastian, Orchestre Lyrique de l’ORTF [live France 24.IX.1970]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica [after Henri Murger; French translation by Paul Ferrier: Ah! Mimi s’en est allée (La bohème). Robert Massard, Alain Vanzo, Orchestra conducted by Erasmo Ghiglia [1960]
Giuseppe Verdi, Joseph Méry, Camille du Locle [after Friedrich Schiller]: Avec quel doux orgeuil… C’est mon jour suprême… Carlos, écoute… Ah! je meurs l’âme joyeuse (Don Carlos). Robert Massard, Reynald Giovaninetti, Orchestre Lyrique et Phiharmonique de l’ORTF [1961]
Giuseppe Verdi, Arrigo Boito [after William Shakespeare]: Era la notte (Otello). Gabriel Bacquier, Orchestra conducted by Jésus Etcheverry [1965]
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Victor Hugo, French version by Édouard Duprez]:
- Paix, voici le bouffon… Cortigiani, vil razza dannata (Rigoletto). Robert Massard, Michel Forel, Camille Rouquetty, Jacques Scellier, Agnès Adam, Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Jésus Etcheverry [1961]
- L’heure est venue enfin… Je sens un corps humain… Pour que là-haut, près de ma sainte mère. Robert Massard, Renée Doria, Alain Vanzo, Orchestra conducted by Jésus Etcheverry [1961]
Giuseppe Verdi, Arrigo Boito [after William Shakespeare]: Signor, v’assista il cielo… È sogno? O realtà?… Eccomi qua, son pronto (Falstaff). Robert Massard, Peter Glossop, Georges Sébastian, Orchestre Lyrique de l’ORTF [live 1974]
