Moïse au mont Sinaï

“Le Désert was grace; Moïse is strength.” (Théophile Gautier)

After the extraordinary success of Le Désert, Félicien David’s next work, due to be presented early in 1846, was eagerly awaited. Would he still charm the public and confirm his reputation? “The bets are open,” announced Le Ménestrel on the eve of the première of Moïse au mont Sinaï. Rather than present another ode-symphonie, David had decided to compose an oratorio on a subject suggested to him by Prosper Enfantin (1796-1864), one of the leaders of the Saint-Simonian movement. Living in Germany at the time, he used a somewhat unconventional approach: rather than setting a text, he composed the work, expecting the words to fit the music, rather than the other way around. The librettist Sylvain Saint-Étienne wrote to Père Enfantin some months before the first performance: “David has composed almost everything without words, there are rhythms, without any regularity, and you need to be a musician rather than a poet to find suitable words.” David’s avant-garde conception took the audience of the Paris Opéra by surprise and Moïse au mont Sinaï was as dismal a failure as Le Désert had been a resounding success. The press almost unanimously decried the new production. Only Théophile Gautier broke ranks to praise its strength: “The final chorus, in which the people hail the promised land, unfolds radiant, sparkling, immense, like a firework display with rockets exploding in a shower of diamonds in a golden sky.” But Gautier’s opinion failed to save Moïse, which disappeared forthwith from the Opéra’s repertoire. Undaunted, Félicien David went on to compose another ode-symphonie, Christophe Collomb. Premièred at the Conservatoire in March 1847 and taken up at the Opéra-Comique in April and May, the work was a success, confirming his talent and fulfilling the hopes the public had earlier pinned on Moïse: he was back in favour. In that more peaceful context, David then presented his oratorio again, in a revised version with the addition of a masterful “scène de revolte”. This second performance, given at the Paris Conservatoire on 14 December 1847, enabled the press to make amends by going back on its original harsh judgement of the work. Le Ménestrel of 19 December, for instance, reported: “The romance for the young Israelite is a masterpiece of grace and sweet melancholy. […] The aria for Moses is full of grandeur and majesty. […] This is therefore another victory for Félicien David.”