Thomas - Psyche (CD + Book)

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Label: Bru Zane

Cat No: BZ1062

Format: CD + Book

Number of Discs: 2

Genre: Opera

Release Date: 31st October 2025

Works

Thomas, Ambroise

Psyche

Artists

Helene Guilmette
Antoinette Dennefeld
Tassis Christoyannis
Mercedes Arcuri
Anna Dowsley
Artavazd Sargsyan
Philippe Estephe
Christian Helmer
Hungarian National Choir
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor

Gyorgy Vashegyi

Works

Thomas, Ambroise

Psyche

Artists

Conductor

Gyorgy Vashegyi

About

Premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 26 January 1857, Ambroise Thomas’s Psyché tells the story of the ill-starred love between Eros and Psyche, who are manipulated by the cynical Mercury and envied by Daphne and Berenice, the heroine’s own sisters. The style of the work represents the nec plus ultra of mid-nineteenth-century French opéra-comique, notably in the Italianate influence of Rossini, which gives the singers of the two leading roles – one of which, Eros, is a breeches part for mezzo-soprano – a chance to glitter amid torrents of coloratura poured forth in impressive, passionate love duets. The librettists Jules Barbier and Michel Carré achieved an inspired blend of comedy and tragedy by contrasting a quartet of cruel and grotesque characters (Psyche’s sisters and their suitors) with the noble hero and heroine. Ambroise Thomas’s music does not merely foreshadow the future triumphs of Mignon and Hamlet: it is worthy to stand beside them at the pinnacle of his operatic legacy, as his obituarists declared. This recording confirms their judgment.

Cast:
- Psyché: Hélène Guilmette
- Éros: Antoinette Dennefeld
- Mercure: Tassis Christoyannis
- Dafné: Mercedes Arcuri
- Bérénice: Anna Dowsley
- Antoniüs: Artavazd Sargsyan
- Gorgias: Philippe Estèphe
- Le Roi: Christian Helmer

Sound/Video

Paused

1

Act 1: Introduction
2

Act 1: Hymne à Vénus. Vénus, fille de l’onde
3

Act 1: Scène. Amis, calmez vos craintes
4

Act 1: Air avec chœur. Ah ! si j’avais jusqu’à ce soir
5

Act 1: Dialogue. Eh bien, ma sœur !
6

Act 1: Duo. Ah! quel affront pour nous !
7

Act 1: Dialogue. C’est à Psyché, j’en suis sûre
8

Act 1: Mélodrame et Mélodie. Qui est-ce ?
9

Act 1: Dialogue. Seigneur Éros, nous voici arrivés.
10

Act 1: Air. Des dieux je suis le messager
11

Act 1: Dialogue. Et comment perdras-tu Psyché ?
12

Act 1: Romance. Ô toi, qu’on dit plus belle
13

Act 1: Dialogue. Seigneur Gorgias, expliquons nous avec sincérité !
14

Act 1: Quatuor. La voici !
15

Act 1: Dialogue. Qu’as-tu à rire ?
16

Act 1: Duo. D’effroi saisi, mon cœur frissonne !
17

Act 1: Finale. Entendez-vous
18

Act 1: Finale (Concertato). Du ciel, contre nous courroucé
19

Act 1: Finale (Suite). Respectons des grands dieux
20

Act 1: Finale (Fin). À moi, Zéphire !
21

Act 2: Prélude
22

Act 2: Chœur. Ah ! ah ! ah ! Quoi ! c’est Éros lui-même
23

Act 2: Récit et Cantabile. Salut ! divinités des champs
24

Act 2: Strette. Prenez donc vers elle
25

Act 2: Dialogue. Eh bien ! tu vois ! J’ai tenu parole
26

Act 2: Couplets. Simple mortelle ou déesse
27

Act 2: Dialogue. Il faudra qu’elle se console !
28

Act 2: Mélodrame. Mais Psyché pourrait vous voir
29

Act 2: Entrée de Psyché. Psyché, sois sans crainte !
30

Act 2: Air avec chœur. Ah ! malgré moi
31

Act 2: Dialogue. Grands dieux ! La nuit m’environne
32

Act 2: Duo. Un inconnu ! Vos yeux n’ont-ils pas vu
33

Act 2: Duo (Suite). Mais qui donc êtes-vous ?
34

Act 2: Dialogue. Ciel ! Disparu !...
35

Act 2: Trio. Oui, vraiment ! Un monstre !
36

Act 2: Dialogue. Non ! Ce n’est pas possible !...
37

Act 2: Morceau d’ensemble. Seigneur Gorgias !
38

Act 2: Chanson à Bacchus. Le vin, par d’étranges charmes
39

Act 2: Ballet chanté. Dansons, chantons, et tour à tour
40

Act 2: Scène. Ah ! j’ai peur !
41

Act 2: Dialogue. Où me conduisez-vous ?
42

Act 2: Cavatine. Psyché ! Psyché ! Non ! ne la suivons pas…
43

Act 2: Finale. C’est en vain que j’écoute
44

Act 2: Air de l’extase. Éros ! c’est toi ! bonheur ! délire !...
45

Act 3: Bacchanale. Accepte pour offrandes
46

Act 3: Couplets avec chœur. Fidèles compagnons
47

Act 3: Scène et reprise de la Bacchanale. Ah ! je succombe !...
48

Act 3: Duo. Maintenant, à nous deux !
49

Act 3: Duo (Suite). Va-t’en ! Je t’en supplie !
50

Act 3: Trio. J’arrive à temps
51

Act 3: Dialogue. Éros !
52

Act 3: Mélodrame. Ma beauté flétrie, voilà ce qui le repousse
53

Act 3: Mélodie. Pour vaincre un époux bien-aimé
54

Act 3: Dialogue. Par ici, princesses !...
55

Act 3: Duo. Goûtons à ce nectar d’amour
56

Act 3: Quatuor. Ah ! Ah !
57

Act 3: Dialogue. Eh bien ! Mon fard aura servi
58

Act 3: Finale (Cantabile). Non ! ce n’est pas Éros !...
59

Act 3: Finale (Trio). Psyché !...
60

Act 3: Chœur. À nous, Psyché, ton âme !
61

Act 3: Imprécation. Je suis Éros
62

Act 3: Apothéose. Miracle ! le ciel s’ouvre
63

Act 3: Scène finale. Apaise-toi !

Europadisc Review

Even during his lifetime, the operas of Ambroise Thomas (1811–1896) were subject to the vicissitudes of fashion. Before the great hits for which he is now almost solely remembered – Mignon (1866) and Hamlet (1868) – he had written a whole series of works (mostly, like Mignon, in the opéra comique genre, with spoken dialogue rather than recitatives) which are now forgotten. It doesn’t help that Thomas’s reputation is often pitted against the more gifted and inspired talents of Gounod, Saint-Saëns and Bizet. Indeed, with their subjects taken from Goethe and Shakespeare, Mignon and Hamlet have been viewed as riding on the coat tails of Gounod’s Faust and Roméo et Juliette. Yet Thomas was not just an excellent craftsman (as one might expect from a Prix de Rome winner who eventually rose to head the Paris Conservatoire for the last 25 years of his life), but also a master of musical characterisation.

That much is abundantly clear from his three-act opéra comique Psyché (1857), subsequently considerably revised as a four-act opera (1878), which is the latest neglected work to benefit from the fastidious musical archaeology of the Palazzetto Bru Zane. Their splendid new recording, under the baton of György Vashegyi, was originally intended as a vehicle for the stellar Belgian soprano Jodie Devos, before first the Covid pandemic and then her untimely death in June 2024 intervened. Nevertheless, with an excellent cast headed by Hélène Guilmette as the eponymous heroine and mezzo Antoinette Dennefeld as the deity Éros captivated by her beauty, this is an enthralling set, keeping to the original 1857 form of the work, but with judiciously pruned dialogue and incorporating a few numbers from the 1878 revision to telling effect.

The libretto, by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, makes the most of the folk-tale and fairy-story elements of the classical tale, with Psyché’s scheming sisters Dafné and Bérénice (together with their suitors, Antoniüs and Gorgias) at times lending a pantomime atmosphere, at others a mood of arch melodrama, rather like a classical version of the Cinderella story. At the same time, the fateful love of the two central characters provides sufficient opportunities for unrestrained lyricism to result in a work that is both entertaining and captivating.

As Psyché, Guilmette is in particularly radiant voice, and it is little wonder that Vashegyi and the Bru Zane team chose to include her ‘Air de l’extase’ (Ecstasy Aria) from 1878 at the close of Act 2, just as she has uncovered the true identity of her mysterious husband. As Éros himself, Dennefeld has a velvety sheen that perfectly complements Guilmette’s brightness, and makes Éros’s Act 2 cavatina another of the score’s many highlights. The spirit of Rossinian bel canto hovers over much of the opera, and the Act 1 duo ‘Ah! quel affront pour nous!’ for Dafné and Bérénice (sung with evident relish by soprano Mercedes Arcuri and mezzo Anna Dowsley) serves as a generous taster for vocal riches to follow.

Baritone Tassis Christoyannis, supported by quicksilver playing from the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra under Vashegyi, makes the most of Mercure’s capricious Act 1 aria, and the roles of the two suitors and the King (taken by Artavazd Sargsyan, Philippe Estèphe and Christian Helmer) complete the impressive line-up. Thomas and his librettist created plenty of opportunities for the chorus (the Hungarian National Choir) to shine, from the (very un-Wagnerian) opening hymn to Vénus to the glorious final apotheosis, while the vigorous bacchanales in Acts 2 and 3 also bring gloriously energetic playing and sparkling detail from the orchestra.

Ultimately, however, it’s the combination of colourful, characterful writing with the finely-shaped lyricism for the central characters that makes Thomas’s Psyché eminently worth investigating. Bru Zane’s presentation is (it almost goes without saying) superb, and here they have done both us and Thomas himself a huge favour, shining a valuable light on his manifest strengths as one of the finest of opéra comique composers. Another winner, then, from Gramophone’s label of the year!

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Thomas - Psyche (CD + Book)

In stock - available for despatch within 1 working day

Despatch Information

Contents

Works

Artists

Conductor

Works

Artists

Conductor

About

Sound/Video

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Europadisc Review