Whether it is by interpreting
Gloire à l'Égypte
in
Aida
or
Immortal Glory of our ancestors
in
Faust
, the image is unique: at the Paris Opera, the masked choirs take up the challenge of singing in unison despite this "
barrier. of his
”.
Nearly 70 of them participate in a new version of
Faust
by Charles Gounod which will be broadcast on Friday on the France 5 television channel. That is, after
La Flûte enchantée
and
Aida
, the third audiovisual recording of a lyrical work within the institution, since the theaters closed at the end of October due to a pandemic.
Read also: A
devilishly insolent
Faust
at the Opéra Bastille
Deprived of spectators for a year, the artists are happy to be on stage.
But singing in times of coronavirus remains a challenge because, unlike soloists, choir members have to wear the mask - due to their proximity - and get tested every week, unlike soloists, who are only tested on weekdays. representation or rehearsal without mask.
Singing with a mask "
greatly disturbs the singing broadcast (...), there is a barrier in front of your sound,
" Sylvie Delaunay, choir artist, told AFP.
“
When we sing opera, we have big inhales, big exhalations, so if the breathing is disturbed, we tire a lot
”.
Playing despite the epidemic
Not being able to use the most filtering masks, of the FFP2 type - "as
soon as you take a breath, you swallow them!"
- the artists favor stiff surgical masks (and black for the show).
And during studio rehearsals, maintaining a safe distance adds an extra layer of difficulty.
"
We get along less well: we hear the neighbor on the right, the neighbor on the left who are 1.50 m away, the one behind but the sound of the group is much more distant
," Sylvie Delaunay, who works at the Opera, described. for 23 years.
The resonance of the volume is no longer the same
».
We lost a little in the articulation, the diction (...), ... The work of the choir artists is precisely to exaggerate the pronunciation of words, but the results are not bad.
José Luis Basso, choir director of the Paris Opera
Despite a unique nightclub sequence, an evocation against the tide of the world before, Tobias Kratzer's modern staging has been adapted to limit contact on stage.
A sacrificed distance for the case of the choirs, in order to respect the cohesion of this musical unity.
Artists voluntarily comply with these rules, "in order
to be able to work
".
And the result may be surprising, given the resonance of their voices at the Opera Bastille during the dress rehearsal which AFP attended last week.
“
Lyrical artists are exuberant, so we are limited in expression,
” said Sylvie Delaunay.
The standardization of this ensemble is not an easy thing for José Luis Basso, the choir director of the Opera since 2014. With the mask, “
we lost a little in the articulation, the diction (... ), the choir artists' job is to exaggerate the pronunciation of words, but the results are not bad,
”said the Italian-Argentinian conductor, who will soon be replaced by Ching-Lien Wu, the first woman named, with a smile. to this post at the Paris Opera.
Read also: The University of California is developing an anti-Covid-19 mask for opera singers
If they often have an accompanying role, the choirs are sometimes a character apart and sing famous pieces from the repertoire, in particular with Verdi (the famous
Va pensiero
by
Nabucco
, the choir of the gypsies in
Le Trouvère
) or even with Wagner. In
Faust
, one of the most famous French operas with
Carmen
, the choirs perform in particular the famous arias
Wine or beer
and
Immortal Glory of our ancestors
. A work as important as it is complex, and too often depreciated, as José Luis Basso laments. The cliché that annoys him the most? “To
think that a choir artist is someone who hasn't had a great career as a soloist, so for a living he sings in a choir. It's not like that at all!
". "
The exams to enter the Opera are very demanding,
" he said, citing mastery of several languages, different musical styles, musicality, and sight reading among the skills necessary for the profession. For Alexander Neef, Director General of the Opera, the important thing is to ensure above all a safe sanitary environment for staff and artists. This should not prevent people from continuing to work. “
We don't exist if we don't play
,” he summed up.