Meyerbeer: Le Prophete

[Machine Translation] The Netherlands in the 16th century. At that time, a young man needed permission from the count of his domain to marry. Therefore, Berthe and Fidesz, the mother of her fiance Jean, go to the Count of Obertal, but the Count sees Berthe's beauty, captures Fidesz to get her, and demands Jean to give Berthe to him. In desperation, Jean is visited by three monks. They tell Jean that he is a "prophet" and that he must defeat the Count... In this masterpiece by Meyerbeer, known for his "Coronation March," the leading role is not played by a tenor or soprano, but by a mezzo-soprano in the role of Fidesz. It took ten years for Meyerbeer to get the best singers, and there have been so many changes in the script and the composition process that even today there is no final draft. The 2017 performance in Essen will be based on the latest "Comparative Revision. This is the first recording of the work in this edition, which is based on a full score published by Brandus in the 19th century and incorporates the results of various studies.

Note: This is an import edition (manufactured outside of Japan).

16世紀のオランダ。当時は若者が結婚するためには領地の伯爵の許可が必要だった。そのためベルテは婚約者ジャンの母フィデスとともに、オーベルタール伯のもとに向かうが、伯爵はベルテの美しさに目をつけ、彼女を得るためにフィデスを捉え、ジャンにベルテを差し出すように要求する。絶望したジャンのところに現れたのは3人の僧侶。ジャンに"預言者"として伯爵を倒すようにと伝えるが・・・。「戴冠式行進曲」で知られるマイヤベーアのこの傑作、主役はテノールでもソプラノでもなく、フィデス役のメゾ・ソプラノ。最高の歌手を得るためにマイヤベーアは構想に10年を費やしたため、台本や作曲過程に多くの変遷があり、現在でも決定稿と言えるものはない。この2017年エッセンでの上演は、最新の『比較校訂版』を用いての演奏。これは19世紀にBrandus社より出版された総譜をもとに様々な研究結果が盛り込まれており、この版を使っての録音は、当アルバムが初。