Sunday Afternoon at the Opera - Rameau: Zaïs

Sunday Afternoon at the Opera host Keith Brown writes:

Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) is now considered to be the greatest composer of the French baroque: a figure who should rank alongside Bach and Handel. Rameau was a musical theorist who established the foundation principles of the science of acoustics. He was as well a prolific composer of opera. New recordings of his many lyric theaterworks keep coming out. I have drawn upon the growing Rameau discography, most recently in airing the 2013 Glossa release of Les Surprises de l'Amour (1748/1758) on Sunday, February 7th.

In 2015 another one of Rameau's works from 1748 came out on three silver discs through the limited edition Aparte line of the French Harmonia Mundi record label. Zaïs is styled a Pastorale Heroique, but it is really a kind of fairy opera with Masonic influence like Mozart's Magic Flute. More so than The Magic Flute it has elements of the supernatural. The overture to Zaïs is astounding. It depicts in sound the universe and its four primordial elements arising out of chaos. It is far more innovative in its baroque fashion than Haydn's orchestral introduction to his Creation oratorio.

Rameau's score for Zaïs is replete with wonderful dance music for the ballet sequences that were required in opera of the French baroque. Zaïs tells a tale of constancy in love, a love that overcomes all trials. The shepherdess Zelidie, as voiced by soprano Sandrine Piau, will not be deceived by the shapeshifting tricks of her beloved Zaïs, the king of fairyland. The Sylph monarch is portrayed by tenor Julian Prégardien. The vocal soloists are backed by the French period instrument ensemble Les Talens Lyriques, directed by Christophe Rousset. The Chamber Choir of Namur is also heard in certain numbers.