| Second
Libretto: Voltaire and Rameau's Samson |
10/2002
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The
Programme Poetry,
Declamation & Music at the Classical Age aims to
examine and describe correspondences, in works written for the
stage in France in the XVIIth and XVIIIth
centuries, between the internal structure and meaning of a
written text and its setting in music by composers. This second
study proposes an untypical and explorative approach of a text:
the libretto chosen is the one of an opera which music is lost.
Voltaire and Rameau wrote together an opera about the story of
Samson and Delilah, which was Rameau’s first operatic
composition and has been completed and rehearsed in 1732; but,
because biblical subjects were forbidden on the stage of the
opera just two weeks before the Première, the show was
cancelled. Rameau is said (and declared himself) to have used a
large part of the music in further pieces. The study is a
proposal for a general method for reconstructing a lost piece,
inspired by the destiny of this opera. The process is
articulated in three steps, in relation with the three other
studies led in the Programme: - first, a comparison with
other librettos set in music by Rameau, on the basis of the
rules of Quantité in declaimed texts, may allow to find
music re-used by Rameau (Airs
& Chorus); - second, a typology of the musical
moments should help choosing instrumental music (dance parts, etc.); - third, the
reference to artificial intelligence methods might allow oneself
to imagine a process for reconstructing the music of the Recitatives,
following Rameau’s own writing manners.
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