LES HUGUENOTS " Les Huguenots " or " The Huguenots," a grand opera in four acts, the score by Giacomo Meyerbeer and the libretto by Scribe and Emile Deschamps, was first presented at Academie in Paris, Feb. 29, 1836. It has since, owing to its great popularity, had numberless performances but occasionally has been prohibited on account of its plot, the Bourbons being among those who object to it.
Count de St. Bris, a Catholic nobleman.
Valentina, his daughter.
Marguerite de Valois, betrothed to Henry of Navarre. Urban, Marguerite's page.
Count de Nevers, a Catholic, betrothed to Valentina. Raoul de Nanges, a Huguenot captain.
Marcel, Raoul's Huguenot servant.
De Cosse.
De Bretz.
Meru.
Tavannes.
Maurevert.
Chorus of Catholic and Huguenot soldiers and women, maids of honor, nobles and gentlemen, students, night-watch, populace and monks.
The action takes place in Paris and Touraine in 1572, just previous to and during the massacre of St. Bartholo mew. The drama is concerned with the personal motives and passions which led directly to that most horrible affair of all history. The De Medicis and the Huguenot leader, Admiral Coligny, apparently have made peace and, in a moment of calm preceding the storm, we first meet the hero, Raoul de Nanges, and his faithful Marcel in the Catholic stronghold, the castle of the Count de Nevers. There is a banquet in progress and the talk turns to senti mental themes, each guest being required to give the name of his lady-love. This Raoul cannot do for the simple reason that he is ignorant of the identity of the woman who has engaged his affections. In a lull in the revelry he tells of a fair girl he once rescued from the rude attentions of a carousing band of students, of her gratitude and of her beauty and graciousness, which he cannot forget. Marcel is not pleased to find his master so content in Catholic com pany and, half in warning, he sings for the revelers a fanati cal Huguenot ballad. At this juncture, a lady comes to interview De Nevers and the breathless Raoul recognizes the unknown object of his love. He is grievously disap pointed, as he can look upon her coming in this fashion only as an indication that she is not worthy of his respect. The truth of the matter is that she is Valentina, daughter of the Catholic Count de St. Bris, the promised bride of De Nevers, whom she does not love and whom she has come to implore to set her free. Meantime, Catherine de Medici's daughter, Marguerite of Valois, believes that she has discov ered a plan which may tend to ease the ominously strained relations existing between Catholics and Protestants. She will effect a union between the popular Huguenot Raoul and Valentina, daughter of a representative Catholic family. Since the lady wishes to be free from her former engage ment, the matter presents less of difficulty. The Queen sends her page to summon Raoul to her presence. He listens to her project and consents to be party to it but when he discovers Valentina to be the lady he just has seen at De Nevers' house, he refuses to enter into an engage ment, which before the arousing of his suspicions, would have made him supremely happy. The proud Count de St. Bris, deeply indignant at the insult, challenges him but Queen Marguerite prevents the duel.
The marriage of Valentina and De Nevers is urged with renewed vigor and the girl goes to pass the day in supplication at the chapel. Raoul has challenged St. Bris and the latter plans to fight him with poisoned weapons and thus to assassinate him. Valentina overhears the plotting and manages to warn Marcel of the danger. He, with a party of Huguenots, lies in wait, to aid Raoul when the conflict begins. The contestants meet and a general fight is about to take place when Queen Marguerite appears and again prevents it. Raoul then learns the truth concerning Valentina's love for him and the reason for her visit to De Nevers. But the knowledge comes too late, for the wedding festivities are begun, the bridegroom and his friends having already arrived, and Valentina and De Nevers depart for the marriage ceremony. Raoul visits Valentina for a last farewell. They are surprised by the entrance of St. Bris, De Nevers, the priests and the Catholic conspirators. Raoul, hidden by Valentina, overhears the plans for the St. Bar tholomew massacre and, unmindful of her entreaties, rushes out to warn his friends and fellow Huguenots. He first seeks Marguerite and the King to implore their aid but the massacre is already under way, Admiral Coligny has been shot from a window of the palace and the Huguenot dead are lying in the streets. Raoul at last finds himself at the door of a church to which many of his brethren have fled. Here he meets the wounded Marcel and learns of the death of De Nevers. Here, too, comes Valentina seeking him and willing to accept his fate. Marcel blesses and unites the lovers, and chanting together the Lutheran hymn, " Ein' feste Burg," they go forth to perish in the massacre.
" The Huguenots " which, in the United States and England, is usually given in curtailed form, the performance ending with the duet for Raoul and Valentina in the fourth act, is generally acknowledged Meyerbeer's masterpiece. It contains many pages which are of true dramatic power and undeniable operatic effectiveness but also many which are trivial, bombastic and banal. It permits of indulgence in virtually unlimited stage spectacle and display and the employment of a showy cast of principals, hence its popular ity in this country and England.
The music is much of it pompous and insincere, but popularly admired in the score are Raoul's romanza " Piii bianca del velo " (" Fairer than the fairest lily "), sung in the opening act to the obbligato of a viola d'amore; Marcel's " Piff, Paff," in which he describes battles he has seen; the familiar " Page's Song," " Nobil donna " (" Noble is the lady fair "), sung by the Queen's page Urban; Margue rite's florid "Aquesta voce cola " (" For at that word of Power "); the duet for Marguerite and Raoul; the " Rata plan " and "Ave Maria " choruses in the third act (bril liant examples of Meyerbeer's love for show and contrasts); the duet for Valentina and Marcel; the ballet and wedding music with which the third act closes; the sonorous " Bless ing of the Swords " in the scene of conspiracy, and the great duet for Valentina and Raoul, the finest number in the entire score and one which shows Meyerbeer's powers at his best.