Albert Roussel's opera-ballet Padmāvatī has not been treated well by posterity, and on the basis of its music, it's difficult to understand why. The "Mediocre Libretto" excuse could be trotted out, but if it were applied objectively, quite a few anchors of the repertoire would be disqualified. The libretto, by Louis Laloy, is loosely based on a fourteenth century Indian legend, in which the wife of a regional king sacrifices herself to save her people and to avoid falling into the clutches of the enemy. The libretto is ...
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Albert Roussel's opera-ballet Padmāvatī has not been treated well by posterity, and on the basis of its music, it's difficult to understand why. The "Mediocre Libretto" excuse could be trotted out, but if it were applied objectively, quite a few anchors of the repertoire would be disqualified. The libretto, by Louis Laloy, is loosely based on a fourteenth century Indian legend, in which the wife of a regional king sacrifices herself to save her people and to avoid falling into the clutches of the enemy. The libretto is unclear whether she has effectually saved her people, or simply avoided capture by being dead, so the dramatic impact is ultimately too ambiguous to be satisfying, even though the closing music is powerfully cathartic. Roussel's music uses some authentic Indian ragas and is generously flavored by the Eastern exoticism that had intrigued French composers for a generation. The music of Padmāvatī could generally be characterized as gently perfumed impressionism, but there are moments,...
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