Adam, Le Châlet, part 6 (n8: duet: Max and Daniel)

This picks up the commentary on Adolphe Adam's one-act opera comique Le Châlet (1834). Link to the (previous post); to the (first post) in the series.

After the large central chorus scene, the music turns to duets: first, Daniel and Bettly (in n7: "Prêt à quitter ceux que l'on aime"), then Max and Daniel (in n8: "Il faut me céder ta maitresse"), and Daniel and Bettly (in n9: "Adieu vous que j'ai tant chérie").

Daniel announces to Bettly that he is going to join the army, but she enjoins him to stay, as she is worried about her safety while the company of soldiers are camped at the chalet. The duet follows; it is in three parts, all in D major: Andantino in 4/4 -- Allegro in 3/8 -- Allegro moderato in 4/4. In the Andantino Bettly continues her increasingly agitated request that Daniel stay, and in asides he says he cannot believe what he is hearing. In the Allegro, a full ternary form, Daniel confirms that he will stay as Bettly continues to implore him. In the Allegro moderato, the two alternate between expressions to each other and in interior monologue, Bettly thankful that Daniel will stay, he happy that she wants him to.

Max enters, feigning drunkenness, and argues with Bettly and Daniel. The duo that follows (n8) is really two separate pieces. In the first part, Max demands that Daniel give up Bettly to him (in case you've lost the thread of the plot, this is a ruse, as Max is actually Bettly's brother, whom she has failed to recognize), and the two agree to a duel. In the second part, they agree on time and place. The same combination of interaction and interior monologue as in n7 is evident throughout here.

The first part, "Il faut me céder ta maitresse," is a large binary form with parallel endings to the two sections. The second part, "Dans ce bois de sapins," is a two-part aria form, with Andante sostenuto (the cavatina), and Allegro (the cabaletta), the sections being in Gb major and Bb major, respectively.

Max sings the first half of the cavatina, which traces an arch-shaped pattern with a gradual ascent (circled notes below) balanced by a more rapid descent that becomes exaggerated in the cadence (arrow).  (Note: As in earlier posts, I am using the German edition of 1835 for examples.)

Daniel responds anxiously. He repeats the figure below -- or a close variant --  several times before a cadenza interrupts (second example below). Note the density of the arpeggio frame in the figure.

The upper Gb of this frame moves to F over and over because of the repetitions of the figure. When the cadence (and two cadenzas) interrupt, F5 is over-leapt by Cb6 but the goal of the falling rapid notes is F4. When Daniel returns to F5 to close, the two singers together create the cadenza perfetta, 6-8.

Adam, Le Châlet, part 4 (n4: Max's aria)

After Daniel's aria (n2), there follows extended and animated dialogue between Daniel and Bettly, during which (a) he reads a letter in which Bettly says she will marry him; (b) Bettly reveals that the letter is a hoax perpetrated by other young people in the village; (c) that in any case she will not marry him. The third number of Le Châlet,"Dans ce modeste et simple asile," explains why: she is satisfied with her life as it is, doesn't want to give up her freedom, and (rough summary!!) thinks a man would be a nuisance anyway. After Bettly's couplets (n3) finish, another extended round of dialogue has Bettly admitting that Daniel has some fine qualities, but she stands by her decision. Daniel reads from another letter she has received (she cannot read herself, btw), this time from her brother Max, who is to pass through the area with his company of soldiers. Max advises Bettly to marry someone, and in the course of conversation Daniel is obliged to admit that he asked Max for help.

This is where things stand when a group of soldiers approaches, to the martial music of the Allegro theme from the overture. Max enters the chalet with his company and sings "Arrêtons-nous ici!"   (As with the previous post on Daniel's aria, I am drawing the musical examples from the German edition of 1835.)

The design is recitative-Andante in 6/8 (the cavatina)-Moderato in 4/4 (the cabaletta), this last being the bulk of the movement. "Arrêtons-nous ici!" opens the recitative, "Vallons de l'Helvétie" the Andante, and "Chant de nos montagnes" the Moderato.

The theme of the Andante is an 8-bar period with modulating consequent, but as it turns out this theme is also the presentation unit of a 16-measure sentence. The continuation, which is expanded from 8 to 11 bars, contains the first point of interest. Max's energetic exclamations of love for the "Vaterland" bring repeated surges to Eb4 (circled), the space defined being Bb3-Eb4. As the continuation unit moves on, the lower end of the space is expanded downward to G3 (see the arrow in the second system). This persists to the cadence, readily generating another ^7-^2-^1 figure (which we saw in the cabaletta of Daniel's aria in yesterday's post) -- with a firm descent ^3-^2-^1 and an ascending rising line variant complete except in its final note: ^6-^5-^7-(^8).

In the Moderato, a ^3-^5 frame is quite strong in the principal period and expands briefly upward but, in the cadence, again firmly downward, the end result (that is to say, the final interval) being the fifth space ^1-^5.

After a short B-section (14 bars total, with an "old-fashioned" emphasis in V and on ^b3),* a full reprise draws in the figure of the cavatina as a way of intensifying (and expanding) the approach to the cadence -- see circled notes below. All this makes the implication of ^8 above the final tonic all the more convincing.

* I say "old-fashioned" because one can find the mode-shift device already in Baroque-era da capo arias, and the combination of an unstable and therefore dramatically intensified V with lowered ^3 even before Glück's "Che faro" (section C in a five-part rondo).

Adam, Le Châlet, part 3 (n2: Daniel's aria)

The opening chorus (n1) does not follow up on the overture's rising-line figures in the cadence, but the following number does. "Elle est à moi! C'est ma compagne" is labeled an "Air" in the French editions; it is basically a classic two-part Rossinian aria, with cavatina and cabaletta, but these are preceded by an Allegro risoluto that starts out as an aggressive aria, "Elle est à moi," in which Daniel announces that he has claimed the hand of Bettly. (For these examples, I am using the German edition from 1835.)

An eight-measure sentence initiates what looks to be a three-part small form, and it is followed by the expected B-section that focuses on the dominant. The whole thing suddenly unravels, however, with a couple fortissimo chords on V/V (see below), and the introduction to the cavatina begins, Andante non troppo. Note the rising gesture in the cadence (circled).

In the cavatina, "Ô bonheur extrême! Enfin elle m'aime," Daniel enthusiastically invites everyone to a feast for a wedding that, alas, will not occur (at least, not so soon as he thinks). The pattern of the introduction repeats itself -- the high note F#5 clearly dominates and descends by step through E5 to D5 (beamed notes), while an alto voice works its way up from ^5 (circled notes).

In the orchestral score, the first clarinet can be seen to assist with putting emphasis on the descending line from ^3 (circled notes in its part). The first violin, on the other hand, follows the tenor from ^5 to ^6 -- see the beginning of the two boxes, where ^6 is circled in both parts -- but then the violins drop back to ^5 (A4) while the lower strand of the tenor moves upward toward ^8. This split in the progression from ^6 was already clear in the previous example, where the violins are the uppermost notes of the piano reduction.

The structural cadence looks the same in the vocal score (bars 1-5 below), but the orchestral score (second example below) shows some differences: the clarinet is missing, and the flute now takes the ^6 instead of the first violins. The arrow in the flute part points to a tiny but pleasant detail: ^6 is held a beat longer and thus the flute and the tenor harmonize (that is, hold ^6 together), briefly creating a clear dominant ninth sound.

The coda to the cavatina is a very common descent/ascent pattern that one can find already in opera in the 1780s. Only the solo part is shown, with scale degrees (bars 5 ff below). The play on nat-^7 leads easily into the key of the cabaletta (see the last bars of the example).

(orchestral score for the structural cadence)

A full ternary form, the cavatina is the body of the number, whereas the cabaletta—to the same text—acts more like an extended coda than is even usually the case in Rossini. The cabaletta is marked Allegretto in the Tallandier edition, Allegretto moderato in the 1834 full score.

The tonal frame of the whole, then, doesn't line up with these form priorities: G major in the (abandoned) Allegro risoluto, D major in the (long) cavatina, then a return to G major for the (coda-like) cabaletta. On the other hand, there is no particular reason that the two needed to line up—a fluid relation of keys in the sections of a multi-part aria was common, and typically in some relation of tonic, dominant, and subdominant (in addition to parallel minor/major shifts).

The cabaletta theme is a straightforward 16mm period. The ending formula (boxed) can also be found fairly often in the first quarter of the nineteenth century as a dramatic variant of the Baroque era figure in which a rise, usually to ^8, is immediately offset by a quick and firm stepwise descending cadence.

It is possible to hear a line ^5-^7-^8, or what I have called the "primitive" rising line cadence, but with ^8 replaced by ^1 -- see the circled notes below. I think, though, that it is much easier to hear a tonal frame of the octave and fifth, G4-D5-G5, throughout this passage.

 The coda-like character of the cabaletta makes it difficult to pin down just where a structural cadence can be found, but an obvious candidate does emerge, beginning in the third bar of the example below. Several failed attempts to close have preceded it (as in bars 1 to bar 3, beat 1, here), but this one is emphatic and then repeated. A simplified version with main melody notes and bass is at the bottom of this post.

 (simplified version of the structural cadence above)