Dauvergne: Hercule mourant Christophe Rousset

• Antoine Dauvergne (1713-1797): Hercule mourant:
• 1Ouverture02:32
• 2Prestissimo01:33
• Act I:
• 3Act I Scene 1 Dircé, voici le jour où mon sort se décide01:14
• 4Act I Scene 1: Il vit pour l'univers ; il ne vit plus pour nous01:35
• 5Act I Scene 2: Mais que vois-je ? Mon fils !01:14
• 6Act I Scene 2: Tout en elle intéresse, enchante01:24
• 7Act I Scene 3: Victoire, victoire !02:13
• 8Act I Scene 3: Air pour les peuples01:20
• 9Act I Scene 3: Air pour les peuples02:27
• 10Act I Scene 3: Triomphe aimable paix, enchaîne les héros02:33
• 11Act I Scene 3: Sarabande01:05
• 12Act I Scene 3: Première et deuxième gavottes01:26
• 13Act I Scene 3: Contredanse00:22
• 14Act I Scene 3: Peuple, c'est votre appui qui revient dans ces lieux00:14
• 15Act I Scene 4: N'es-tu qu'à moi seule fatale01:22
• 16Act I Scene 4: Non, non, dans la nature entière00:56
• 17Act I Scene 4: Va, répands dans son sein les feux qui me consument02:03
• Act II:
• 18Act II Scene 1: Quelle voix suspend mes alarmes ?03:32
• 19Act II Scene 2: Venez, fille des rois, il est temps de paraître03:00
• 20Act II Scene 2: Fille de Palénor, j'ai vu la flamme errante01:37
• 21Act II Scene 2: Le plaisir de mêler nos larmes n'adoucira plus nos malheurs01:23
• 22Act II Scene 3: Mon fils, que tes vaisseaux, avant la fin du jour00:40
• 23Act II Scene 4: De mon bonheur puis-je douter encore, Dircé ?01:11
• 24Act II Scene 5: Épouse d'un héros qui a des dieux sur l'image01:01
• 25Act II Scene 5: Air pour tous les captifs01:17
• 26Act II Scene 5: Air pour les Européens02:07
• 27Act II Scene 5: Premier et deuxième airs des Africains02:04
• 28Act II Scene 5: Je trouve mes dieux partout où l'on aime02:50
• 29Act II Scene 5: Premier air pour les Asiatiques02:29
• 30Act II Scene 5: Premier et deuxième rigaudons01:20
• 31Act II Scene 5: Princesse, au gré de la victoire02:02
• 32Act II Scene 6: Est-ce à vous de la retenir ?01:11
• 33Act II Scene 6: La honte, la douleur, le désespoir, la rage03:08
• 34Act II Scene 6: Air pour les Européens02:59
• Act III:
• 35Act III Scene 1: Trompeuse image de ma gloire02:18
• 36Act III Scene 2: Au pied du mont Olympe02:27
• 37Act III Scene 2: Annonce des jeux Olympiques (Solo – Marche)01:34
• 38Act III Scene 3: Arbitre des destins03:05
• 39Act III Scene 3: Prélude00:34
• 40Act III Scene 3: Chantons Alcide et ses combats02:04
• 41Act III Scene 3: Air des lutteurs01:32
• 42Act III Scene 3: Fanfare00:52
• 43Act III Scene 3: Amour, vole sur le char de la gloire03:52
• 44Act III Scene 3: Loure pour le prix de la danse01:43
• 45Act III Scene 3: Air en fanfare00:33
• 46Act III Scene 3: Peuples, que l'univers célèbre, à votre exemple00:37
• 47Act III Scene 3: Fanfare00:36
• 48Act III Scene 4: Quoi ! Mon fils de retour ?04:06
• Act IV:
• 49Act IV Scene 1: Qu'ai-je fait ! Ô Nessus, ta fureur m'a trompée01:44
• 50Act IV Scene 2: Dieu, grand Dieu, sois sensible03:10
• 51Act IV Scene 2: Premier air des prêtres de Jupiter01:10
• 52Act IV Scene 2: Sarabande01:36
• 53Act IV Scene 2: Première et deuxième gavottes02:28
• 54Act IV Scene 2: Père d'Alcide à tes genoux pour lui, nos vœux se font entendre00:51
• 55Act IV Scene 2: Premier et deuxième airs02:40
• 56Act IV Scene 2: Le temple est ébranlé ! Quels éclats menaçants !00:34
• 57Act IV Scene 3: Ah, mon fils !01:36
• 58Act IV Scene 3: Couvert de la robe fatale02:47
• 59Act IV Scene 3: De mes transports jaloux ton père est la victime01:23
• 60Act IV Scene 3: Air01:07
• Act V:
• 61Act V Scene 1: Alcide au tombeau va descendre03:47
• 62Act V Scene 2: Enfin je succombe à ma rage01:12
• 63Act V Scene 3: Approche01:13
• 64Act V Scene 4: Ô jour fatal ! Ô mort cruelle !01:49
• 65Act V Scene 4: Que dis-je ? Arrête, éloigne toi01:39
• 66Act V Scene 4: Au défaut de mes mains tremblantes01:39
• 67Act V Scene 4: Il expire dans les tourments00:56
• 68Act V Scene 4: Hilus, jure moi d'accomplir la volonté d'un père01:04
• 69Act V Scene 4: Tonnerre et embrasement du bûcher00:39
• 70Act V Scene 4: Descente de Jupiter et de la cour Céleste00:53
• 71Act V Scene 5: Viens mon fils00:51
• 72Act V Scene 5: Que tout l'univers soit ton temple01:54
• 73Act V Scene 5: Air pour les divinités célestes01:49
• 74Act V Scene 5: Premier et deuxième airs03:19
• 75Act V Scene 5: Peuples, recevez mes adieux00:47
• 76Act V Scene 5: Chaconne08:44
• Total Runtime02:18:38

Info for Dauvergne: Hercule mourant

Following on the international success of their recording of Lully's Bellerophon, Christophe Rousset and his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques present Hercule mourant (Hercules Dying) - an undiscovered operatic treasure by Antoine Dauvergne. When Francoeur and Rebel took over as directors of the Academie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opéra) in 1757, they decided to promote some of the new generation of composers. Among them was Dauvergne, who appears to have enjoyed great favor at that time. Premiered in 1762, Hercule mourant was a success, receiving eighteen performances. The opera's libretto by Jean-Francois Marmontel extended the scope of French opera: he was the first to have the courage to bring opera closer to the great spectacles of ancient Greece. Inspired and guided by Marmontel's libretto, he clearly aimed to take the genre in a completely new direction, anticipating the Romantic model for opera that was born with Gluck, while at the same time giving one of the last tributes to the great French tragedie lyrique tradition inherited from Lully.

“Rousset’s theatrical pacing is spot-on; Les Talens Lyriques are on fine form in the lithe Ouverture; and dances are played with a keen sense of balletic movement. Véronique Gens’s authoritative recitatives convey the swinging emotional fortunes of the anxious Déjanire … Hercules’s bitter shame at his unworthy deceit of his wife at the start of Act 3 is sung commandingly by Andrew Foster-Williams.” (Gramophone)

“The remorseful Dejanire is the real tragic figure here, and Veronique Gen’s commanding assumption conveys the anguish of a woman sick at heart. Singing multiple roles, Jael Azzaretti is heard to fine effect … Rousset and his choral and instrumental forces are on top form.” (Opera)

„This is an enjoyable disc, and Christophe Rousset’s accompaniment is mostly flawless. Andrew Foster-Williams (Hercules) has the measure of the drama in his role, even if his tone is occasionally a little rough. Very well recorded, this is a work to savour even if it doesn’t pack the punch of Dauvergne’s teachers, Rameau.“ (BBC Music Magazine)

Les Chantres du Centre de musique baroque de Versailles
Les Talens Lyriques
Christophe Rousset, conductor

Christophe Rousset
the founder of the Les Talens Lyriques and an internationally renowned harpsichordist, is a musician and an orchestral conductor inspired by a passion for opera and the rediscovery of the European musical heritage.

After harpsichord studies at La Schola Cantorum in Paris with Huguette Dreyfus, followed by the Conservatoire Royal in The Hague with Bob van Asperen (winning, at the age of 22, the prestigious First Prize in the 7th Bruges Harpsichord Competition), and followed in turn by the creation of his own ensemble, Les Talens Lyriques, in 1991, Christophe Rousset has a perfect grasp of the richness and diversity of the Baroque, Classical and Preromantic repertoires.

After initially attracting attention for his extraordinary talent as a harpsichordist, he soon made his mark as a conductor, with invitations from around the world to perform with his ensemble (Opéra de Paris, De Nederlandse Opera, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Salle Pleyel, Opéra de Lausanne, Teatro Real, Theater an der Wien, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Barbican Centre, Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Aix-en-Provence and Beaune Festivals, to name but a few venues).

Alongside this, he has continued to pursue an active career as harpsichordist and chamber musician, performing and recording on the most beautiful period instruments. His complete performances of the works for harpsichord of F. Couperin, Rameau, d’Anglebert and Forqueray and various recordings of pieces by J. S. Bach (Partitas, Variations Goldberg, Concertos for harpsichord, English Suites, French Suites, Klavierbüchlein) are considered landmarks. His most recent recording of another musical monument by the German Cantor, the 2nd book of the Well-tempered Clavier (Aparté) – a recording made in the Château of Versailles on a Joannes Ruckers harpsichord (1628) – has been awarded a number of honours, including a “Choc” from Classica magazine and CD of the week from Britain’s Radio 3. The instruments of the Paris Museum of Music have also been entrusted to him for the recording of three CDs of music by Royer, Rameau and Froberger.

Teaching is also an aspect with major importance for Christophe Rousset, who conducts and organises master classes and academies for young people (Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, CNSMDs Paris, Académie d’Ambronay, Orchestre Français des Jeunes Baroques, Jeune Orchestre Atlantique, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, the Britten-Pears Orchestra) and he devotes himself with great energy, alongside the musicians of Les Talens Lyriques, to introducing young secondary school pupils in Paris and the surrounding region to the world of music.

Christophe also has a career as guest conductor (Liceu Barcelona, San Carlo Naples, La Scala Milan, Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Orquesta Nacional de España and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orchestre du Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, among other orchestras) as well as the active pursuit of musical research, with the production of critical editions and the publication by Actes Sud of a study on Rameau in 2007.

Christophe Rousset has been awarded the French honours of Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur, Commandeur in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite.

This album contains no booklet.