Camille Saint-Saëns. Phryné

CD-Book. Bru Zane Label. French Opera Collection n. 31.

Phryné was one of Saint-Saëns’s most performed and esteemed operas until the First World War, even competing with Samson et Dalila. The score, completed in March 1893, was premiered at the Opéra-Comique on 24 May of that year. It recounts the love affair between Nicias and Phryné, who dupes the old archon Dicéphile to avenge his cruelty. Saint-Saëns – whom no one had expected to write in humorous vein – surprised listeners with his witty melodies and piquant orchestration. Two composers expressed their admiration when they discovered this little gem: André Messager (‘My God, how delicious your act is!’) and Charles Gounod (‘Thank you for your delightful Phryné. I am going to hear it through the eyes [those two second ears of the musician] now that my ears, those eyes of music, have been intoxicated by it’). The immediate success of the work in Paris quickly spread throughout France. In order to promote it in opera houses abroad, Durand published it in June 1896 with recitatives composed by Messager. The Palazzetto Bru Zane now offers a chance to discover this extremely rare version.

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