Similar to the pronunciation in the spoken text, all the /ə/ vowels are sung as an articulated vowel as in /ø/ in extréme, aime and ennemis. The /œ/ and /ø/ vowels are sung as two different vowels, /œ/ in rigueurs and /ø/ in yeux, as in modern French. The nasal vowels are sung with nasality in languis, mon and ainsi, but not in m’ont, therefore, sometimes violating the rule of Bacilly ‘never sing through your nose’.

The consonant /r/ in the beginning of a word or adjacent to another consonant are pronounced with strength in rigueurs and very clear in traittez, extreme. The /h/ in helas are not as aspirated as in the spoken text and are pronounced gently. Final consonants are pronounced in soûmis, enemis, Iris, but not in rigueurs. Gronder (suspension of consonant) is applied on soûmis (harshness). Pronunciation is generally very clear, and it is easy to hear every syllable easily, though not as clear as in the example taken from the spoken text above.

The song is also sung with dynamic nuances, with little dynamic changes, and with inégalité in the rhythm.

This song has a combination of passion of sadness and tenderness. The singer embellishes the song with a lot of ornamentation in the repeat and in the second half of the song, including ports de voix, coulés, diminutions and passages, as shown in Figure 26.

The port de voix is not specified with any expression, and the coulé is used to soften a song, but as well not specified with any particular expression. It was only mentioned by Montéclair that it should not be used when the words were expressing anger or when the song was in a fast tempo. The singer did not use any of the ornaments specified with sad or tender expression from the research findings in this song.

Conclusion

This production is, in my opinion, one of the best, or perhaps the only attempt to an ‘authentic’ and faithful revival of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. The staging impressively made use of only candlelight as the lighting source which imitate the 17^th-century staging style. The old French pronunciation, the ornamentation and expression, the costume and the dance in the whole performance shows that all the performers in the production are well informed by the 17^th-century performance practice.

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Lully: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme

This is a production by La Poème Harmonique in 2005 in Le Trianon in Paris, France, directed by Martin Fraudreau, with Benjamin Lazar being the stage director and Vincent Dumestre being the conductor. Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1670) is a five-act comédie-ballet written by Molière, with the music composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The comédie-ballet is an entertainment popular in France in the late 17^th century, in which ballet and music interludes were inserted into a spoken comedy.1

This production tries to revive entirely the way the comédie-ballet  was performed on a 17^th-century theatre; the spoken and musical elements are equally important. Therefore, both the declamation and the singing will be reviewed in this section.

French Pronunciation in Spoken text

The chosen language for the opera is the 17^th-century French. Thus, I will compare the similarities and differences of the declamation in this performance and the research findings from the instructions of Bacilly.

Take the following text as an example for the review of the spoken text. In Act 2 scene 2, the fencing master has arrived at Mr. Jourdain’s house and teaches him about the art of fencing:

Allons, monsieur, la révérence. Votre corps droit. Un peu penché sur la cuisse gauche. Les jambes point tant écartées. Vos pieds sur une même ligne. Votre poignet à l'opposite de votre hanche. La pointe de votre épée vis-à-vis de votre épaule. Le bras pas tout à fait si étendu. La main gauche à la hauteur de l'oeil. L'épaule gauche plus quartée. La tête droite. Le regard assuré. Avancez. Le corps ferme. Touchez-moi l'épée de quarte, et achevez de même. Une, deux. Remettez- vous. Redoublez de pied ferme. Un saut en arrière. Quand vous portez la botte, monsieur, il faut que l'épée parte le première, et que le corps soit bien effacé. Une, deux. Allons, touchez-moi l'épée de tierce, et achevez de même. Avancez. Partez de là. Une, deux. Remettez-vous. Redoublez. Un saut en arrière. En garde, monsieur, en garde.

Je vous l'ai déjà dit, tout le secret des armes ne consiste qu'en deux choses, à donner et à ne point recevoir; et comme je vous fis voir l'autre jour par raison démonstrative, il est impossible que vous receviez si vous savez détourner l'épée de votre ennemi de la ligne de votre corps; ce qui ne dépend seulement que d'un petit mouvement du poignet, ou en dedans, ou en dehors.

In terms of vowel pronunciation, the actor declaims all the /ə/ vowel as an articulated vowel as in /ø/, for example, reverence, votre, gauche, ligne, hanche, épaule, quartée, droite, une… etc. All the nasal vowels, except for un, are not pronounced with nasality, and with an /n/ pronounced at the end of the syllable, for example, in allons, monsieur, jambes, pointe, tant, hanche, étendu, main, avancez… etc. The diphthong oi or oy is pronounced /wɛ/ instead of /wa/, for example, in droit, point, poignet, droite, soit and moy. In addition, there is a very tiny /ʊ/ inserted after an /ɔ/ followed by an n or an m in donner and comme. These are the similarities between the performed French pronunciation and the research findings.

The only difference in vowel pronunciation is the /ø/. Bacilly warned singers to bring the lips together close enough for the pronunciation. The actor pronounces the /ø/ in Monsieur, deux and peu without lips closed together, therefore sounds more like /œ/.

In terms of consonants, this actor has pronounced a very vigorous /r/ in reverence, vostre, corps, droit, regard, ferme, remettez, redoublez… etc. The /l/ is also solid, but not as strong as the /r/, in la, le, plus, il and redoublez. The /n/ in hanche is pronounced with gentility, and in contrast, the /h/ in hanche is pronounced with stress. All the final consonants at the end of a sentence are pronounced, for example, droit, écartées, avancez, deux, vous, redoublez, dit, choses, corps, dedans and dehors. These pronunciations are very similar to the research findings.

This dialogue en musique is sung by a soprano, a tenor (or haute-contre) and a baritone. All three musicians sang with clear pronunciation of vowels and consonants. The vowels are sung widely opened for the /œ/ in cœur, and rather closed for/ø/ in amoureux. All the /ə/ vowels are sung as articulated as in /ø/, in some places such as enviein the countertenor song, it sounds even like an /a/. Nasal vowels are heard in the soprano song in monosyllables such as on, un and dans. But in the tenor song, nasal vowels are not sung in rien, tendres, dans and envie. All the oi throughout the dialogue are raised from /wa/ to /wɛ/ evidently in quoi, trouvoit, loi, foi, voit… etc.

In terms of consonants, the /r/ is rolled with strength, especially by the tenro and the baritone, very expressively. The /h/ in Helas is sung forcefully and prominently, but not in horreur. Final consonants are pronounced clearly in the solo in ardeurs, coeurs, désirs, plaisirs, mieux and dieux, but not so consistent in belles and fidèles in the final trio.

The passion throughout the dialogue changes as there are three characters singing. The soprano has a tender and happy song, the tenor has a tender song, and the baritone has a sad song with a bit of anger.

The soprano uses doublement du gosier, tremblement, port de voix, pincé, and diminution. The doublement du gosier is an ornament suggested by Bacilly in expressing happiness and joy. She does not use any accent, which also obeys Montéclair’s suggest that accent is never use in gay airs.

The tenor uses port de voix, tremblement, tremblement étouffé, accent, pincé, sanglot, coulé, and diminution. While the port de voix and tremblement are not specified with any expression, the sanglot is suggested by Montéclair to be used in tender airs (love songs), as well as the accent, but it cannot be applied too much. The tenor has used the accent only once, which matches with Montéclair’s instructions. He also uses the coulé to soften the song. In fact, most of these ornaments are also on the list of expressing sadness, for example, the accent, tremblement étouffé and the sanglot. Since Bacilly did not separate tenderness with sadness, perhaps some of the ornamentation of the two expressions can be shared.

The sad song sung by the baritone is more like a recitative, with no repetition for embellishment. Nonetheless, he uses some ornamentation as well, including tremblement étouffé and coulé. The tremblement étouffé is an ornament for expressing sadness, and the coulé is for softening the song. The middle part of the song has more of an angry passion, and thus, the singer did not add any embellishment to soften the melody. The only possible ornament for angry airs according to the research findings is the sanglot.

In the next part where three singers are singing together, the soprano and the tenor has a more tender expression, thus using a lot of ports de voix and coulé. The baritone, on the other hand, has a more bitter and angry expression, therefore, his lines are sung with almost no embellishment. Only when he is expressing sadness that he uses some ornamentations.

Dialogue en Musique

In Act 1, the musicians continue with their performance as shepherds for Mr. Jourdain. They performed a dialogue between the shepherds, showing different passions in each song, and concluded with a trio.

Figure 26: Ornamentation of Je languis nuit et jour2