Hervé Niquet

Scofield: This music also is very characteristic of what in French music is called “le grand opéra”, which Verdi also composed himself and Don Carlo is one of those grand opéras; Meyerbeer’s Le prophète, and Rossini with Guillaume Tell, these were all in that tradition of le grand opéra. Can you tell us, what is your feeling about this period of French opera, Hervé?

Niquet: Le grand opéra is older than this period. Don’t forget that it is Lully who invented tragédie lyrique; it is Lully who invented Broadway and Hollywood, the musical. Because he observes that to do a good show, you need a good story, a good designer, a good dancer, choreographer, you need good light, you need effect with painting and so on, good singers, good dancers, and you do a show with many surprises and a big conclusion. And in France, we like this big show from the 17th century, so American people catch it at the end of the 19th century and now we have musical, we have Broadway and so on. But it is an idea for the French composer and the audience in France like it from the 17th century, so it is a tradition. Meyerbeer, Halévy do the same thing at The Académie royale de musique de Paris, Opéra de Paris, with big choirs, big ballet, many big paintings, nice costumes, the number of the artists on stage is huge from the 17th century. So far in French, it’s normal.

For me, to conduct le grand opéra is not normal, but because it’s a hard job. When I was 20, I was a pianist to prepare the singers, and the ballet, and the first conductor I had was Seiji Ozawa, to conduct Turandot with Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Mirella Freni. So, for me, I was born in the grand opera, so I had a part of my life for this Baroque with my friends in Orchestra in Le Concert Spirituel. But now, for more than 10 years, I do more than 40 recordings of French romantic music, just to show you how I like this repertoire, and how I am involved in the revival of this repertoire. I like it so much. It’s my passion so, it’s not easy, but for me, it’s a pleasure.