French Grand Opera in particular was predicated on the idea of forbidden love taking place against grand public events. The problem is that the writers (men of course) were not really interested in women except as vehicles for the plot, icons to be broken or tempted. In this opera the fallen woman, Fenella, doesnвЂ™t even sing but is represented by a dancer and she commits suicide at the end (whilst Vesuvius is erupting). This is set against the revolt in Naples against the Spanish (Fenella is conveniently for the plot the sister of Masaniello who leads the revolt). In AuberвЂ™s La muette de portici the long suffering Elvire must put up with the fact that her fiancee is obsessed by a woman, Fenella, he has seduced and abandoned. MeyerbeerвЂ™s previous opera Robert le Diable is little better, as the heroine Isabelle is in love with a man who is being seduced to the dark side by his satanic father. It has to be admitted that Valentine in Les Huguenots isnвЂ™t strictly soiled, but she is led astray by being in love with the wrong man (heвЂ™s a Protestant and sheвЂ™s a Catholic). These roles would almost become standard types the first Rachel, Cornelie Falcon, whose soprano voice had a dark mezzo-soprano quality, would become known for her playing of such soiled virgins such as Rachel or Valentine in MeyerbeerвЂ™s Les Huguenots. HalevyвЂ™s La Juive has just two major female roles, Princess Eudoxie is the coloratura soprano, she is worldly, flirty and not particularly germane to the plot, whereas Rachel is virginal, led astray, pure but misguided in her love and ultimately sacrifices herself. This seems to have become codified in the early part of the century when grand opera based on classical myth gradually made way for the French Grand Opera of the type written by Auber, Meyerbeer and Halevy. Whilst this is generally true of a lot of 19th century opera, it is particularly true of 19th century French opera where complex roles for women were limited and strong roles barely existed. But, of course, if a virgin is led astray then the result almost certainly had to lead to tragedy and similarly for tarts with hearts. There are of course variants on these, virgins can be led astray usually by being deceived and tarts can have hearts. In fact the early 19th century in France wasnвЂ™t a particularly good time to be an operatic heroine, the roles available seem to have been confined to two, the virgin and the tart. Covent Garden are going to be performing Meyerbeer's Robert le DiableВ next season (and booking has already opened for Friends of Covent Garden), so it seemed a good time to take a sideways look at women French grand opera.

Opera women