POLYVECTORNESS OF THE GENRE PALETTE OPERA WORKS OF EMILE JACQUES-DALCROZE

Abstract

As a composer, E. Jacques-Dalcroze created 11 operas of different genres. These are comic operas in the type of co-plays-musicals: La Soubrette (The Maid, 1881); Riquet à la Houppe (Riquet with a handkerchief, 1883); Ecolier Francois Villon (Schoolboy Francois Villon, 1887). Lyrical comedy became the leading genre, where the author combined the traditions of French opera with the influence of J. Massenet, G. Charpentier, L. Delibes (who studied with E. Jacques-Dalcroze) with elements of opera aesthetics by R. Wagner. Mature lyric-comic operas include the adventure opera Par les Bois (Through the forest, 1888), the lyrical legend Le Violon maudit (The Cursed Violin, 1893), the rustic idyll Janie (1894) and the lyrical comedy Sancho Pança (1896). The latter demonstrates the artist's mature style, where the system of leitmotifs and essential polyphonization are combined with an impressionistic flavor and folk-song material, enriched and developed by ballet scenes.
At the beginning of the 20 th century the author chooses a naturalistic-veristic type of opera, presented in the lyrical everyday drama L'Eau Courante (Gentle Stream, 1903). The last two opera scores gravitate towards the principles of the new modern theater, although they are decided in the spirit of the favorite genre of lyrical-comic opera with a bright domestic and naturalistic component. The chamber opera Le Bonhomme Jadis (The Kind Uncle, 1906) and the Harlequiniad opera Les Jumeaux de Bergame (The Bergamo Twins, 1908) show analogies with the urban and neoclassical tendencies of I. Stravinsky, F. Busoni, a special renewal of the musical language in terms of metrorhythmic modeling, orchestration, vocal technique, etc.
Cooperation with A. Appia over opera productions brought significant changes and innovations in the aspect of opera direction, expansion of the acting skills of vocalists, which was manifested in the synthesis of the art of movement, speech and singing. The work on the eurythmy system also gave rise to a number of youth and children’s
operas (10), written specifically for experimental stagings, and one of the last – Le Petit Roi Qui Pleure (The Little Weeping King, 1932) entered the treasury of national cultural achievements of Switzerland and of Europe.