DELIBES IN INDIA

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 919, 22 March 1957, Page 7

DELIBES IN INDIA

ELIBES, best known for his ballet music Coppélia, wrote several operas, the best of which is Lakme. You may not know the opera, but you will most probably have heard at some time or other its very famous coloratura aria "The Bell Song." Lakme is set in India in the middle of the 19th century, and was inspired by the conflicts aroused by the British occupation of the country. It has been heard all over the world, is a standard work. in the French repertoire, and has been translated into every European language. Lakme is the daughter of a Brahmin priest, Nilikantha, and with her father she worships Brahma in a secret temple so as to avoid the repressive actions of the British. Nilikantha longs for deliverance from the British yoke and plots revenge. The first act is set in a temple garden full of exotic flowers, where the songs of the worshippers are soon heard in the background. Nilikantha goes and the English characters enter-Gerald and Frederick, two officers in the Indian Army; Ellen, the Governor’s daughter, and Gerald’s fiancée; Rose, Ellen’s friend; and Miss Benson, the English governess. During this act, when the others have gone, Gerald meets Lakme, of whose great beauty he has already heard. They fall

in love and the act ends with Gerald hastening away to avoid being. seen by Nilikantha. The second act is set in a city square where traders cry their wares and sailors and soldiers mingle. Miss Benson has her watch purloined by a sepoy and a merchant tries to sell her an elixir of youth and beauty. Nilikantha enters with Lakme and asks his daughter to sing, hoping that her lover will betray himself. She sings the famous "Bell Song." Gerald reveals himself, and the lovers arrange to meet in a secret hut in the forest. Nilikantha knifes Gerald but his wound is not fatal. In the final act Lakme is: nursing Gerald in a forest hut which is surrounded with acacias, tulip trees and daturas. Here the lovers vow to be true but are interrupted by the arrival of Frederick, who urges Gerald to return to his regiment. Lakme realises she. is about to lose him and, takes a poisoned leaf. Not realising she is dying Gerald drinks a pledge with her from a sacred cup. Nilikantha finds their retreat in time to witness his daughter’s death. First produced in 1883, Lakme was . originally an opéra-comigque, and the action is at times advanced by spoken dialogue. This recording has one of the leading French coloraturas of the day, Mado Robin, as Lakme, the internation-ally-known Swiss tenor, Libero de Luca, as Gerald, and the chorus and orchestra of the Opera-Comique, Paris (2YC, Sunday, March 31, 8.30 p.m.).