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La Haine (Hatred) is a drama in five acts and eight tableaux by Victorien Sardou, premiered at the Théâtre de la Gaîté in Paris on 3 December 1874. Jacques Offenbach, director of the theatre, composed extensive incidental music for chorus and orchestra to accompany the play.
Background
Offenbach had composed songs and incidental music for eleven classical and modern dramas for the Comédie Française in the early 1850s, gaining valuable experience in writing for the theatre.[1] Sardou and Offenbach created their first joint work in 1872 with the opéra-bouffe-féerie Le Roi Carotte, which ran for 195 performances,[2] and this encouraged the two to renew their collaboration.
By 1874, Jacques Offenbach had become the director of the Théâtre de la Gaîté. To follow a revival of Orphée aux Enfers on 7 February, he decided to mount Sardou's drame using the under-used theatrical troupe at the theatre.[3]
Rehearsal
Orphée aux Enfers closed on the 18 November to allow the rehearsals for La Haine to start, directed by Sardou himself who did not spare his efforts. Le Figaro reported that "Sardou is the most meticulous director in the world" and that he "places particular importance on the extras being actively involved as much as any of the actors."[4] Rehearsals increased and the dress rehearsal took place on 27 November.[5]
The premiere was announced for the 29 November, but was postponed on the day itself, due to the flu epidemic in the capital which indisposed two principal actors, Lafontaine et Clément Just. First of all it was postponed until 30 November but only took place on Thursday 3 December,[6] but as the actors had not completely recovered, Sardou cut the final scene.[7]
Reception
The premiere audience marvelled at the magnificence of the production.[6] The scenery was especially dazzling. Francisque Sarcey noted "It is only right to recognize that, of the décors, several are masterpieces of exquisite taste; the cathedral dome is a marvel of lightness and grave; the inside of the church is superb."[8]
Everything was done to dazzle : dramatist and composer went so far as to transport a Cavaillé-Coll organ into the theatre. The settings were grand and impressive: the stage accommodated 535 persons.:[9] "The war-cries of the soldiers, the moans of the terrified women, the clanking of armour, the booming of guns, the conquerors' entrance in the city, the sacking of the palace, all was of an exact and admirable motion."[10]
The words of Victorien Sardou were also noted, but critics commented that the direction was rather against the drama.[9] Francisque Sarcey regretted that the principal roles appeared crushed : "The supernumeraries and props are too prominent. The crowd is the principal character. Tableaux follow tableaux, and in this new work, they are equally dark."[8]
For Auguste Vitu the play evoked painful memories of 1870 : "Streets full of bodies, palaces in flames, the homeland forsaken in the presence of the dumbfounded foreigner, and as if scandalized by so many distractions, such are the unforgettable sights which our consciousness is still soured, and of which our hearts still bleed. The widows and orphans in black, I have seen them bowed in our churches, the air rent with their sobs. The door of deathly memory re-opens wide within us; and sadness envelops us with its great black wings."[11]
While receipts came to around 8,000 francs per performance in mid-December,[12] they fell to around 5,000 francs during the second fortnight[13] On 28 December Le Figaro printed a letter from Sardou requesting that Offenbach recall his piece from the stage; Offenbach replied that as the public prefer lively art he would bring back Orphée.[14] The announcement had the effect of filling the theatre for the last performances of La Haine. After 27 performances the play closed on 29 December 1874 and Orphée aux Enfers was brought back.[15] The short run left the theatre in a parlous financial position. Some costumes were used in the revised version of Geneviève de Brabant which opened on 25 February 1875.[16]
Despite the failure, Sardou and Offenbach did contemplate a further collaboration on a spectacular production of the playwright's Don Quichotte.
A modern performance with reduced text but complete score took place on 19 July 2009 at the Festival de Radio France et Montpellier Languedoc Roussillon, with Fanny Ardant and Gérard Depardieu playing Cordelia and Orso. The concert was broadcast on France Musique on 30 July 2009.[17]
Pictures from the original production
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Scenery sketch for La Haine -
Scenery sketch for La Haine -
Scene from Act III of La Haine -
Orso and Cordélia, Act III, tableau 2, scene II
First cast
| ORSO | MM. | Lafontaine | |
| GIUGURTA SARACINI | Clément-Just | ||
| ERCOLE, his frère | Reynald | ||
| LODRISIO MARISCOTTI | Angelo | ||
| AZZOLINO, Bishop of Sienna | Dugaril | ||
| BRAGUELLA, merchant | Courcelles | ||
| MALERBA | } Guelph chiefs | Scipion | |
| SPLENDIANO | J. Vizentini | ||
| UGONE | Antonin | ||
| SOZZINI | } Ghibelline chiefs | Sudrac | |
| PICCOLOMINI | Alexandre fils | ||
| TOLOMEI | Bilhaut | ||
| MALAVOLTI | Henri | ||
| BUONOCORSO | } Guelph soldiers | Galli | |
| ZANINO | Barsagol | ||
| SCARLONE | Chevallier | ||
| MASTINO | Gaspard | ||
| LE LOMBARD | Henri | ||
| LE PÉROUSIEN | Barsagol | ||
| LE FLORENTIN | Meyronnet | ||
| LE LUCQUOIS | Colleuille | ||
| LE BOLONAIS | Mallet | ||
| LE PISAN | Gaspard | ||
| CRISTOFORO | Paulin | ||
| UN CHANOINE | Seligny | ||
| UN MOINE | Bilhaut | ||
| CORDELIA, sister of Giugurta and Ercole Saracini | Lia Félix | ||
| UBERTA, her nurse | Laurence Grivot | ||
| ANDREINO, son of Uberta, 15 years old | Marie Godin | ||
| PORCIA | Angèle | ||
Music
In 2006 the autograph orchestral score of the incidental music was found in the archive of the Offenbach family. Some early sketches preserved in the Archives Historiques de la ville de Cologne were destroyed in an accident on 3 March 2009. Jean-Christophe Keck, responsible for the 2009 critical edition,[18] commented that "Offenbach composed a rich score of 30 numbers. The first sketches were noted down while travelling in his barouche where he had set up a work-table - the manuscripts bear witness to the jumping pen as it rode over Parisian cobbles. It consists of many mélodrames, off-stage choruses, interludes...".
During Offenbach's tour of the US, he conducted with much success the Marche religieuse from La Haine for American audiences.[18]
Keck notes that just before he died, Offenbach recalled the opening of the overture to La Haine in the opening bars of the finale of the Venetian act from Contes d'Hoffmann.
| Number | Title | Tempo | Cue words | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACT I | ||||
| Nº 1 | Introduction | Allegro maestoso | ||
| Nº 2 | Moderato | Je suis seule ici, je n'ai que lui, laisse le moi ! (Scène IV) | ||
| Nº 3 | Allegro | Leads from N°2 | On-stage fanfare | |
| Nº 4 | Victoire ! à nous la ville ! (Scène XI) | |||
| ACT II — Premier Tableau | ||||
| Nº 5 | Entracte | Agitato | ||
| Nº 6 | Allegro moderato | Au moindre soupçon de trahison ! C'est dit ! Allez ! (Scène II) | ||
| Nº 7 | Andante | Ah ! Je me meurs ! (Scène IV) | Cut in performance and included in Nº 8 | |
| Nº 8 | Close of Premier Tableau | Andante | ||
| ACT II — Deuxième Tableau | ||||
| Nº 9 | Entracte | Allegro Maestoso | Repeat cut at the premiere. | |
| Nº 10 | Andante | L'enfant descend avec l'Évangile ouvert. (Scène I) | ||
| Nº 11 | Sponsa Dei | Qu'il le soit ! (Scène II) | 2 versions of several bars | |
| ACT III — Premier Tableau | ||||
| Nº 12 | ||||
| Nº 12 bis | Douce Madone | Andantino | ||
| Nº 13 | Le marché ne tient plus, tu es trop lâche ! (Scène II) | |||
| Nº 13 bis | Allegretto | Du courage, chrétienne, et au revoir. (Scène III) | ||
| Nº 13 ter | Allegro | Vous, à vos postes, sans bruit. Allez ! (Scène VI) | ||
| Nº 14 | Moderato | Après les cloches. | ||
| Nº 14 bis | Allegro | Leads from N°14 | ||
| ACTE III — Deuxième Tableau | ||||
| Nº 15 | Andante | Viens, je ne recommencerai pas ce que j'ai fait. (Scène X du Premier Tableau) | ||
| Nº 16 | Allegro | J'ai prié pour toi. (Scène II) | 2 versions of several bars | |
| ACTE IV — Premier Tableau | ||||
| Nº 17 | Moderato | |||
| Nº 18 | Andante | Il le faut. Viens (Scène IV) | ||
| Nº 19 | Allegro | Va combattre la guerre. (Scène V) | ||
| ACT IV — Deuxième Tableau | ||||
| Nº 20 | Agitato | |||
| Nº 21 | Moderato | |||
| Nº 22 A | Lento | Leads from N°21 | First version abandoned | |
| N° 22 B | Andante | Leads from N°21 | Final version | |
| Marche religieuse | ||||
| Nº 23 | ||||
| ACT V | ||||
| Nº 24 | Entracte | Allegro | ||
| Nº 25 | Andantino | |||
| Nº 25 bis | Andante | Leads from N°25 | ||
| Nº 26 | Moderato | … à la porte romaine nos troupes victorieuses. (Scène II) | This number does not occur in Sardou's play. | |
| Nº 27 | Moderato | Madone, sauve-moi ! (Scène III) | ||
| Nº 26 bis | Petite Marche | Maestoso | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=La_Haine_(drama) | |