Thérèse

by Jules Massenet

This drama of impassioned tenderness set against the violence of the French Revolution is the most concise of Massenet's operas. As the librettist Jules Claretie wrote, 'The work will be short, as the emotion contained in it can in no way be prolonged'. Massenet composed the score between the end of 1905 and the summer of 1906, and the opera was first performed in Monte Carlo on 7 February 1907 with Lucy Arbell in the role of Thér7egrave;se, Édouard Clément as Armand and Hector Dufranne as André.

Synopsis

Act One

The grounds of a near deserted chateau near Versailles, in the autumn of 1792. André Thorel and his young wife Thérèse have recently bought the chateau at auction after the flight of the Marquis de Clerval. André, son of the former steward, was brought up together with Armand, the Young Marquis, and has divided loyalties: as a man of the people he belongs to the revolution; but his sympathies also lie with his childhood friend to whom he intends one day to return the chateau. Unknown to André, his wife formerly loved Armand, and her feelings towards her husband are more those of kindness and duty than true love.

A group of soldiers who have been resting in the park of the chateau leave for war. André and Thérè both reflect on their different concepts of duty, but when André leaves, Thérè's thoughts go back to her first love, Armand. She goes into the chateau. Soon afterwards a cloaked figure appears: it is Armand, who cannot remain away from the scene of his childhood and his memories of his love for Thérè. When the two meet again, they recall their former happiness, but Thérèse insists on her duty to her husband, and expresses her fears for Armand's safety. When André returns he welcomes his old friend and offers to conceal him in his house, unaware of the tensions between Armand and his wife.

Act Two

Paris, June 1793. A large room overlooking the Seine. Thérè is sombre and preoccupied, unable to be happy amidst the revolutionary violence. André reassures her of his loyalty to Armand, even though they are politically on opposing sides. Nevertheless, Thérè begs him to provide Armand with a safe conduct so that he can escape the danger. When the porter Morel announces that the mob is becoming increasingly violent, André decides to give Armand his own papers, and then leaves to join his fellow Girondin representatives. Armand tries to persuade Thérè to leave With him. Her resistance crumbles, and she agrees to meet him later in the evening. Armand hides when there is a banging on the door: it is Morel, returning with the news that André and the other Girondins have been arrested. Thérè persuades Armand to go, letting him think that she will rejoin him later. It is her farewell to the past. From the window she sees her husband in the tumbril on the way to the guillotine. As he calls out to her she knows where her duty lies. 'Vive le roi' she cries. The crowd denounces her, and she joins her husband in death.

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Jules Massenet
1842 - 1912