Maillart: les Dragons de Villars
Soloists
Richard Balareau
This is the start of an exploration of some of the lighter French repertoire. You couldn’t get a greater contrast between Taverner (opera no 82) and this piece of delightful froth. Maillard was a fully trained French musician - a pupil of Halévy - who was a winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1841. He wrote several opera, but this is the only one which had any lasting fame. It is all but forgotten now but collectors of historic vocal records will recognise the title as early French singers often recorded extracts from the piece.
It is very much in the lighter opera tradition of Auber which, as we have discussed before in this project, relates back to late 18th century models. It is part of that continuing thread of lighter French operas which spreads through the 19th century and into the early 20th before it was finally subsumed into musical comedy. All of the composers working in this genre were musicians of real quality and the musical values of these works are high. This one is no exception. It is a joy from start to finish. Nothing too taxing but lots of moments of refinement and subtlety. It is a good start to this part of the project.
