| Lakmé | |
|---|---|
| Opera byLéo Delibes | |
 Original poster | |
| Librettist | |
| Language | French |
| Based on | Théodore Pavie's story "Les babouches du Brahmane" andPierre Loti's novelLe Mariage de Loti |
| Premiere | |
Lakmé is anopera in three acts byLéo Delibes to a Frenchlibretto byEdmond Gondinet andPhilippe Gille.
The score, written from 1881 to 1882, was first performed on 14 April 1883 by theOpéra-Comique at the (second) Salle Favart in Paris, with stage decorations designed byAuguste Alfred Rubé andPhilippe Chaperon (act 1),Eugène Carpezat and (Joseph-) Antoine Lavastre (act 2), andJean-Baptiste Lavastre (act 3). Set inBritish India in the mid-19th century,Lakmé is based onThéodore Pavie's story "Les babouches du Brahmane" (1849) and the novelLe Mariage de Loti (1880) byPierre Loti.[1] Gondinet proposed it as a vehicle for the American sopranoMarie van Zandt.[2]
The opera includes the popular "Flower Duet" ("Dôme épais le jasmin") for asoprano andmezzo-soprano, performed in act 1 by Lakmé, the daughter of aBrahmin priest, and her servant Mallika.[2] The nameLakmé is the French rendition of SanskritLakshmi, the name of the Hindu Goddess of Wealth. The opera's most famousaria is the "Bell Song" ("L'Air des clochettes") in act 2.
Lakmé combines manyorientalist aspects that were popular at the time:[3] an exotic location, similar to other French operas of the period, such asBizet'sLes pêcheurs de perles andMassenet'sLe roi de Lahore, a fanatical priest, mysteriousHindu rituals, and "the novelty of exoticallycolonial English people".[4]
Following its premiere at theOpéra-Comique in 1883,Lakmé reached its 500th performance there on 23 June 1909 and 1,000th on 13 May 1931. A series of performances took place at theThéâtre Gaîté Lyrique Paris in 1908, withAlice Verlet,David Devriès andFélix Vieuille.[5]
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast,[5] 14 April 1883 Conductor:Jules Danbé |
|---|---|---|
| Lakmé, a priestess, daughter of Nilakantha | coloratura soprano | Marie van Zandt |
| Gérald, a British army officer | tenor | Jean-Alexandre Talazac |
| Nilakantha, a Brahmin priest | bass | Cobalet |
| Frédéric, officer friend of Gérald | baritone | Barré |
| Mallika, slave of Lakmé | mezzo-soprano | Elisa Frandin |
| Hadji, slave of Nilakantha | tenor | Chennevière |
| Miss Ellen, fiancée of Gérald | soprano | Rémy |
| Miss Rose, companion of Ellen | soprano | Zoé Molé-Truffier |
| Mistress Bentson, a governess | mezzo-soprano | Pierron |
| Fortune teller (Un Domben) | tenor | Teste |
| A Chinese merchant | tenor | Davoust |
| Le Kouravar | baritone | Bernard |
| Chorus: Officers, ladies, merchants, Brahmins, musicians | ||
The Hindus go to perform their rites in a sacred Brahmin temple under the high priest, Nilakantha. Nilakantha's daughter Lakmé, and her servant Mallika, are left behind and go down to the river to gather flowers where they sing together the "Flower Duet". As they approach the water at the river bank, Lakmé removes her jewellery and places it on a bench. Two British officers, Frédéric and Gérald (Delibes uses Frenchified versions of the then common English names Frederick and Gerald), arrive nearby on a picnic with two British girls and their governess. The British girls see the jewellery and, impressed with it, request sketches of it; Gérald volunteers to stay and make sketches of the jewellery. He spots Lakmé and Mallika returning and hides. Mallika leaves Lakmé for a while; while alone Lakmé sees Gérald and, frightened by the foreigner's incursion, cries out for help. However, simultaneously, she is also intrigued by him and so she sends away those who had responded to her call for help when they come to her aid. Lakmé and Gérald begin to fall in love with each other. Nilakantha returns and learns of the British officer's trespassing, vowing revenge on him for what he assumes to be an affront to Lakmé's honour.
At a busybazaar, Nilakantha forces Lakmé to sing (the "Bell Song") in order to lure the trespasser into identifying himself. When Gérald steps forward, Lakmé faints, thus giving him away. Nilakantha stabs Gérald, wounding him. Lakmé takes Gérald to a secret hideout in the forest, where she lovingly nurses him back to health.
In the forest, Lakmé and Gérald hear singing in the distance. Gérald is frightened, but Lakme tells him that the singers are a group of lovers that seek out the water of a magical spring. When drunk, the water grants eternal love to the couple. While Lakmé fetches water that will confirm the vows of the lovers, Fréderic, Gérald's fellow British officer, appears and reminds him of his military duty to his regiment. Gérald sadly accepts that his colleague is correct. After Lakmé returns, she senses the change in Gérald and realises that she has lost him. Rather than live with dishonor, she tears a leaf from a poisonous datura tree and bites into it. She tells Gérald what she has just done and they drink the water together. Nilakantha finds their hut and enters as Lakmé is dying. She tells her father that she and Gérald drank from the magical spring. In that instant, she dies.
In conventional form and pleasant style, but given over to the fashion for exoticism, the delicate orchestration and melodic richness earned Delibes a success with audiences.[6] The passionate elements of the opera are given warm and expressive music, while the score in general is marked by subtle harmonic colours and deft orchestration. Oriental colour is used in prayers, incantations, dances and the scene in the market.[4]
The act 2 aria "Où va la jeune Hindoue?" (the Bell Song) has long been a favourite recital piece forcoloraturasopranos. (Recordings of it in Italian, as "Dov'è l'indiana bruna?", also exist.)
In recent years, the Flower Duet in act 1 has become familiar more widely because of its use in advertisements, in particular a British Airways commercial,[2] as well as in films.[7] The duet sung by Lakme and Mallika was adapted for the theme "Aria on air" for theBritish Airways "face" advertisements of the 1980s by music composersYanni andMalcolm McLaren.[8]
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