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Opera matinée: Ethel Smyth's Fête galante

Ethel Smyth's Fête galante. Poetic version by Edward Shanks, after Maurice Baring’s story, with the Lontano Ensemble conducted by Odaline de la Martinez.

Presented by Penny Gore.
Ethel Smyth's one-act opera Fête galante, which was described by the composer as a Dance Dream. It was inspired by the commedia dell'arte and aristocratic open-air festivities of old, with costumes and masques. The piece, written in the neo-classical style to pay homage to its legacy, has dark connotations though, as it features the death of Pierrot, hanged by a jealous king. This version was recorded last year by the Lontano Ensemble under conductor Odaline de la Martinez, accompanying a cast including Felix Kempe as Pierrot and Charmian Bedford as Columbine.
It's followed by another excerpt from the recent BBC Symphony Orchestra's Total Immersion cycle, dedicated to the music of the German composer Detlev Glanert. Today we've selected his Three Pieces for Clarinet, performed by musicians of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Then the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with conductor Michael Seal, present a concert with pieces by female composers, among them Dani Howard, Florence Price, Elzabeth Maconchy and Isidora Žebeljan. Violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen makes an appearance too.
The afternoon closes with the ensemble performing Shchedrin's Carmen Suite, inspired in the opera by Georges Bizet, under the baton of Gergely Madaras.

2.00pm
Ethel Smyth: Fête galante - a Dance-Dream in One Act: Poetic version by Edward Shanks, after Maurice Baring’s story

Columbine - Charmian Bedford (soprano)
The Queen - Carolyn Dobbin (mezzo-soprano)
Pierrot - Felix Kemp (baritone)
The King - Simon Wallfisch (baritone)
The Lover - Mark Milhofer (tenor)
Harlequin - Alessandro Fisher (tenor)

Lontano Ensemble
Odaline de la Martinez, conductor

2.50pm
Glanert: Three Pieces for Clarinet (2003)
Raymond Brien, clarinet
Matthew Gemmill, piano

3.10pm
Dani Howard: Argentum
Florence Price: Sinner Please Don't Let This Harvest Pass
Elizabeth Maconchy: Serenata Concertante*
Isidora Žebeljan: The Horses of Saint Mark

Tamsin Waley-Cohen, violin*
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Michael Seal, conductor

4.10pm
Bizet-Shchedrin: Carmen Suite
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Gergely Madaras, conductor

3 hours

Last on

Thu 5 Mar 2020 14:00
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Ethel Smyth

    Fête galante; a Dance-Dream in One Act

    Ensemble: Lontano Ensemble. Conductor: Odaline de la Martínez.
    • Retrospect Opera.

  • Detlev Glanert

    Three Pieces for Clarinet

    Performer: Raymond Brien. Performer: Matthew Gemmill.

  • Dani Howard

    Argentum

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Seal.

  • Florence Price

    Sinners Please Don't Let this Harvest Pass

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Seal.

  • Elizabeth Maconchy

    Serenata Concertante

    Performer: Tamsin Waley-Cohen. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Seal.

  • Isidora Zebeljan

    The Horses of Saint Mark

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Seal.

  • Franz Schubert

    On the River (Winterreise, D.911)

    Singer: Roderick Williams. Performer: Christopher Glynn.
    • Schubert: Winter Journey.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 7.

  • Rodion Shchedrin

    Bizet-Shchedrin - Carmen Suite

    Composer: Georges Bizet. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Gergely Madaras.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Variations on 'Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen', WoO 46

    Performer: János Starker. Performer: Rudolf Buchbinder.
    • Beethoven: Complete Works for Cello & Piano.
    • Apex.
    • 6.

SYNOPSIS - Fête galante

The action starts by moonlight in a garden, described in the score as painted by Watteau. The King and Queen host a courtly fete, which opens with a ceremonial Sarabande, with guests in attendance and a commedia dell’arte troupe ready for action too. The Queen sees in shock a mysterious masked man, her Lover, pick up her dropped handkerchief. A puppet-drama quickly starts, introduced by a fanfare, and the traditional characters of Harlequin, Pantaloon, Pierrot, and Columbine perform. When the show ends, The King claims one dance with Columbine while Pierrot rests by the bushes. The Queen now in disguise meets her Lover, whom she embraces, but when he takes off his cloak, he’s also dressed as Pierrot. Columbine, who catches the scene, mistakenly believes she’s now been betrayed. The real Pierrot swiftly confronts the Lover and asks him to leave, and he disappears just in time as the King summons the Queen and their guests to get together again. Columbine challenges Pierrot adding that she’s always suspected he had feelings for the Queen. The King now intervenes stating that the man Columbine saw was a different person, but still Pierrot refuses to say what really happened. His silence is suspicious, though, and despite pleas by the Queen the guards seize Pierrot as the King declares that he must be punished. Pierrot is prepared to die for the Queen, but avoiding being hanged he stabs himself to death. As the opera closes the opening gentle dance heard at the beginning comes back, but Pierrot’s body hangs from a beam.

Broadcast

  • Thu 5 Mar 2020 14:00
    BBC Radio 3

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