L’Étoile du Nord is an 1854 opera written by Meyerbeer for the Opéra-Comique.  It follows on from a series of successful grand operas for L’Opéra de Paris.  To some extent it’s an attempt to create something lighter than the early works but the composer doesn’t quite seem able to let go and the work combines comic and serious elements in a way I cannot describe as successful.  Format wise it’s pretty much an opéra-comique with no ballet (though some folk/social dancing) and spoken dialogue.It starts well enough.  The first act is pretty engaging.  It’s a version of Peter the Great on his travels.  We meet him in disguise as a carpenter in a Finnish village where he falls in love with the cantinière Catherine.  There are drinking songs and a wedding and other opportunities for singing and dancing.  At this point I was thinking “operetta” and wondering whether this would end up prefiguring Offenbach somehow.  The act does end on a more serious note though.  Peter is set to return to Russia (without Catherine) taking the other local Russian; the baker Danilowitz with him.  Then, on the eve of his wedding, Catherine’s brother George is conscripted into the army so Catherine, feeling abandoned by Peter, decides to take his place.

Act 2 is set in the camp of the Russian army.  Peter is still in disguise but as an officer this time with Danilowitz as his ADC.  They get very drunk and start flirting with two girls.  Unfortunately Catherine is posted as sentry outside Peter’s tent and is majorly offended by the goings on so she slaps her corporal (last seen as a Cossack leader in Act 1).  She’s sentenced to be shot but escapes.  Peter foils an attempted army revolt by revealing himself as tsar.  Really though this act just feels like an excuse for a succession of predictable numbers; a song in praise of the cavalry, a waltz, a song in praise of the infantry, a march, a drinking song etc.

The short third act tries to wrap things up.  Peter is back in Moscow pining for Catherine.  Her brother George has been arrested, because the authorities think he’s the soldier who socked the corporal Gritzenko then deserted, and he’s going to be shot.  Catherine shows up but she’s gone mad and there’s a very feeble mad scene.  Peter has a replica of the Finnish village built so they can all go back to Act 1.  Catherine is cured and becomes empress.  All through there’s a weird mix of humour and menace which I just couldn’t get into.

Musically it’s formulaic but not without invention.  The sopranos get the best music.  Catherine gets a lot of fairly involved coloratura work and a really lovely “prayer” at the end of Act 1.  The other soprano; Prascovia, George’s bride, gets almost equally difficult and rewarding music.  Peter is a proper bass but gets a few passages that would challenge the agility of most anyone who could sing the low notes.  Danilowitz and Georges are both high tenor roles demanding considerable agility like in so many other French operas of this period.  Gritzenko is a pretty straightforward baritone role though requiring comedic ability.  The orchestration is inventive and colourful and there really are some very well written set pieces.  It just doesn’t hang together dramatically.

It was produced and recorded at the Wexford Festival in 1996 with a cast that features a couple of young singers who would go on to much bigger things; Juan Diego Flórez, as Georges, and Chris Maltman, as Gritzenko.  The star though is Elizabeth Futral as Catherine.  Most of the 1840/50s Paris operas have that role that demands proper coloratura but also a more lyric/dramatic sound and this is no exception.  She manages it very well.  Darina Takova, as Prascovia, doesn’t have quite as much to do but she’s very good too.  Vladimir Ognev is Peter and he has really good, very Russian, low notes but he is challenged at times when greater agility is called for.  Both Flórez and, especially, Aled Hall, as Danilowitz show the proper tenor style.  Hall also shows considerable comedic skill. as does Maltman.  The Wexford Festival Chorus and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland are really pretty good too.  24 year old Vladimir Jurowski shows why he would go on to be one of the defining opera conductors of the late 20th/early 21st centuries.

It was recorded during a live performance so there’s stage noise and applause and occasionally the balance is a bit off but it’s a pretty decent recording overall.  It’s available as a 3 CD set or digitally as MP3 or CD quality FLAC.  The booklet has good information and a synopsis but not the libretto but fortunately the record box gives a link to an on-line version.

I think this recording does justice to the piece but I really can’t get enthusiastic about it.  I don’t think comedy is really Meyerbeer’s thing.  This isn’t as silly as Dinorah but it’s getting close.

Catalogue information: Naxos 8.660498-500