LE DOMINO NOIR

An opera by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber 1782 - 1871

Synopsis

Act 1.

A year before the action opens, a young Spaniard, Horace de Massarena, attended a masked ball, which the Queen gives in her Madrid apartments each year on Christmas Eve. There he met and fell instantly in love with a young woman, pouring out history and his hopes and fears to her but without learning her name or, until she raised her mask as she and her female companion made a hasty departure by hired fiacre at midnight, without even seeing her face. Realising from their embarrassment that they had no money to pay the fare for the fiacre, Horace came to their rescue, and was rewarded some days later by receiving reimbursement, accompanied by a letter announcing that a position as secretary in an embassy a position he had said he was anxious to obtain was his.

Now, a year later, he attends the same ball hoping to meet his fair unknown again. Once more she appears, accompanied by the same companion. Much of the interest of the action results from the fact that neither he nor the audience succeeds in learning her identity until the last act. For the sake of clarity we must anticipate, however, and reveal that she is a cousin of the Queen, Angéle d'Olivarès by name, and that, a novice nun, she attends this second masked ball as last venture into society before taking her final vows and becoming abbess of her convent, the Annonciades. Her companion, Brigitte, is also a novice, but instead of proceeding to her final vows she is about to leave the convent to marry.

Angèle's attendance at the ball on this second occasion is fraught with adventures and crises. Count Juliano, Horace's boon companion, thinks to help his friend gain an extended tête-a tête with his belle inconnue by tricking Brigitte into believing that it is almost midnight, the hour the convent gate is firmly locked, when in fact it is only eleven. Deceived into believing that Angèle has already departed, Brigitte hastily leaves. Consequently Angèle outstays the appointed hour: like Cinderella she hears the clocks striking midnight as she hurries away, convinced that her escapade will be discovered and her reputation ruined.

Act 2

The second act takes place in Juliano's rooms, where, following the ball, he intends to entertain his friends to supper. Before their return a frightened and breathless Angèle, seeing a light in the window, knocks at the door and begs Jacinthe, the housekeeper, to give her shelter until morning. Too late she discovers the identity of the owner of the house, and realises that she is destined again to encounter Horace. Jacinthe, however, is the following morning expecting the arrival from the country of her niece, Inésille, who is coming to town to seek employment. She suggests that Angèle should disguise herself in Inésille's clothes, which have conveniently arrived in advance, and wait at table. All are charmed by the mixture of charm and gaucherie in the young 'Aragonaise' except Horace, who of course recognises her, but is so mystified and confused that he can scarcely believe the evidence of his eyes. Determined to solve the mystery, he manages both to protect her from the attentions of his friends and secure her for future questioning by locking her in the room of Jacinthe.

Jacinthe this same evening receives a visit from her elderly admirer, Gil Perez, the porter of the convent. Coincidence thus favours Angèle: Gil Perez not only releases her, but, frightened by the black domino and mask she has reassumed, surrenders his keys to her. The means of re - entry into the convent thus secured, Angèle makes her escape.

Act 3

Act three is set in the convent parlour, where we learn that another of the nuns, Ursule, is highly jealous of Angèle and is exerting all her family's influence at court to become abbess herself.

Angèle returns from her nocturnal adventures, her absence, thanks to a faithful Brigitte, still undiscovered. She is about to proceed to chapel to pronounce her vows when she receives a letter from the Queen. Ursule's plots have been successful: it is she who is now to be the new abbess, whereas Angèle is ordered to leave the convent and choose a husband forthwith. By good fortune Horace is at this very moment a visitor in the convent. His ambassador, the Comte de San Lucar, has proposed that he should marry his daughter, a boarder at the convent, but Horace has come to announce that, since his heart belongs elsewhere, he cannot possibly go through with such a marriage. Introduced to Angèle, he is bewildered to discover his fair unknown in yet another apparent disguise, but, learning her true identity at last, he joyfully agrees to be the husband she has been ordered to seek. Mademoiselle de San Lucar, meanwhile, turns out to be Brigitte, who by this time has attracted the eye of Juliano. Although the libretto does not actually tell us, we may assume that there will be two marriages: not only will Angèle marry Horace, but Brigitte may well reform and wed Juliano.

A further thread of complication is cleverly woven into the above plot. In Act 1 Lord Elfort, attaché at the British Embassy, mistakes Angèle in her mask for his own wife, whom he has left ostensibly ill at home, and he leaves the ball to seek revenge. Lady Elfort is Spanish a close relative of Angèle and when her husband, having found her innocently in her bed asleep, arrives at Juliano's house in Act 11, Angèle/Inésille realises that, without her mask, he will recognise her. It is this realisation that induces her to take refuge in Jacinthe's room, where Horace proceeds to lock her up. Lord Elfort also appears in Act Ill, where he is left discomfited by the outcome of events. Had Angèle become a nun, he would, through his wife, have inherited her fortune. As it is, the fortune remains in her possession to be shared with Horace.

A note on the performance

by Richard Bonyinge

In preparing Le Domino noir for recording I have made certain changes. The libretto of Scribe is long and quite amusing but I have retained only enough spoken dialogue to keep the flavour of an opéra comique. In Moscow in 1869 there was a visiting Italian opera company with the Marchisio sisters and Désirée Artôt. This latter was for a time the fiancée of Tchaikovsky, although no marriage took place. For her benefit, Artôt chose Le Domino noir. The Italian company, unused to dialogue, commissioned Tchailkovsky to write recitatives for the opera. It seems unlikely that the performance actually took place, but the sketches for the recitatives which include a vocal line, a figured bass and some orchestral indications have been published in the complete Russian edition of Tchaikovsky's works.

Just as a point of interest, I have used four of recitatives in the second act. The first comes after the couplets of Jacinthe, another before the Réveillons ensemble, a third before the Rondo aragonese and the fourth before the couplets of Gil Perez. I would like to thank Stephan von Cron for his help in reconstructing these recitatives.

I have taken liberties with the vocal lines, as was the practice in the 1830s. For those who think I have exaggerated a little, I can only protest that the variants here used are probably models of discretion compared to those sung by Laure Cinti-Damoreau, Auber's first Angèle. I came across some of Cinti's own decorations for the last act aria, but unfortunately (or fortunately) only after making the recording.

A piece of trivia for film buffs: a silent movie of Le Domino noir was made in Germany in 1929 with Harry Liedke as Horace and Vera Schmiterlow as Angèle.