The Art of Christiane Eda-Pierre Finally Gets Its Day on Decca

Nearly 2 years ago, a post was developed in the "From the Vault" series on Opera Fresh complaining about the lack of releases from soprano Christiane Eda-Pierre's discography. Well, at long last the public will be able to savor this wonderful artist's catalog drawn from Philips Classics recordings that will be issued now on the Decca label for a launch date of May 27, 2013. Pre-order by clicking here.

From the Vault: Christiane Eda-Pierre 18th Century French Arias

Soprano Christiane Eda-Pierre is a French lyric soprano of Martiniquan origin. Her limited discography includes Dardanus (Rameau) and Le Roi David (Honegger) on Erato, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart), Benvenuto Cellini (Berlioz), Béatrice et Bénédict (Berlioz), Missa Solemnis (Beethoven) and Mass in C minor (Beethoven) for Philips, as well as Les Illuminations (Britten) on the Arion label and Pour un Monde Noir (Chaynes) for Caliope. But perhaps her greatest recorded legacy is an LP titled Airs d’opéras-comiques with The Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields under the direction of Neville Marriner in 1979 for Philips. The tracks include arias from comic opera of André Grétry and François-André Danican Philidor. Although this recital would have been a perfect fit for Universal's "Classic Recital" series, no re-issue on CD or MP3 is available. But thanks to the generosity of YouTube user PopoliDiTessalia, you can sample the tracks below:

1. "Comme un éclair, la flatteuse espérance" La Fausse magie (Grétry)


2. "Tout dormait" Mélide ou le Navigateur (Philidor)


3. "Éprise d’un feu téméraire" Anacréon chez Polycrate (Grétry)


4. "Je crains de lui parler la nuit" Richard Cœur-de-Lion (Grétry)


5. "O ciel!...Quel espoir est pour moi?" La Belle esclave (Philidor)


6. "Plus d’ennemis dans mon empire" Céphale & Procris (Grétry)


7. "De la coquette volage" Les Femmes vengées (Philidor)


8. "Je ne le dis qu’à vous" La Fausse magie (Grétry)


9. "Ô toi qui ne peux m’entendre" Tom Jones (Philidor)

World Premiere of Rameau's Revised "Dardanus" by EOC

Cast member Svetli Chaumie

The European Opera Centre will present the world premiere performance of Jean-Philippe Rameau's rarely heard 18th century opera Dardanus on July 20 (Limerick, Ireland) & 22 (Liverpool, England). "The musicians are French, handpicked and each of them is specific to their basse de viole, clavecin, hautbois and hautes-contre de violin. There’s a list of 28 instruments in all..." The opera is performed on occasion around the world, but generally in its first version given in Paris in 1739 at the Académie Royal de Musique. This production presents the revised edition by Rameau five years after the premiere, which has never been revived in modern times.

"This new edition – commissioned by the European Opera Centre from the French musicologist, Dr Gilles Rico - is based on the 1744 version of the opera. It incorporates the numerous emendations made by Rameau during the 1744 and 1760 runs of the opera to tighten the dramatic grip and enlarge the emotional range of musical expression. Using autograph and non-autograph eighteenth-century manuscript and printed sources, it makes available for the first time to modern audiences some of the most beautiful and inspired musical passages of an opera which epitomizes the evolution of French opera in the eighteenth century from a court entertainment - constrained by the grand display of technical prowess and a pronounced taste for extraordinary stories - to a more intimate and more humanistic drama."

[Watch an excerpt of Christiane Eda-Pierre as Vénus singing "Marlgre le Dieu Des Mers" in a 1980 production of Dardanus at the Théâtre National de Paris with conductor Raymond Leppard]