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Zélide and her lover Myrtil have magic garlands which will stay fresh and green forever as long as they are faithful to each other. However, Myrtil falls for Amaryllis and his garland begins to wither and die. Regretting his action, Myrtil places his garland on the altar of Cupid in the hope that the god will rejuvenate it and save his chances with Zélide.
Zélide finds Myrtil's wilted garland and swaps it for her own. Upon returning to the altar, Myrtil finds his garland apparently restored to life. Praising the god, he returns to Zélide, only to find her with a withered garland of her own!
Myrtil refuses to believe Zélide has been unfaithful to him, despite evidence to the contrary. It is this forgiveness that eventually saves the day. Both the lovers' garlands are restored and they all live happily ever after.
La Guirlande was the first of several collaborations between Rameau and Marmontel. Many of the dances were borrowed from an earlier opera by Rameau, Le temple de la gloire (1745), which had been a failure.[4]
The modern musicologist Cuthbert Girdlestone described the work thus: "It is a flawless piece of Dresden-china Rameau. This is not, in my eyes, the most precious kind of Rameau nor, fortunately, the commonest; indeed, it is seldom that he abides successfully within the slender framework of the bergerie; but he has done so here and the result is perfection, even though the perfection be of a modest order."[5]
- La guirlande (with Zéphyre) Sophie Daneman (Zélide), Paul Agnew (Myrtil), François Bazola (Hylas), Chorus of Les Arts Florissants, Capella Coloniensis of WDR, conducted by William Christie (Erato, 2 CDs, 2001).
- La Guirlande (The Enchanted Flowers); with Claudie Saneva, soprano (Zélide); Jean-Jacques Lesueur, tenor (Mirtil); Versailles Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Bernard Wahl; chorus under the direction of Elisabeth Brasseur (Nonesuch Records] H-71023, LP, not dated).
- Notes
Sadler booklet notes p.10
Sadler booklet notes p.10
- Sources
- Girdlestone, Cuthbert, Jean-Philippe Rameau: His Life and Work, New York: Dover, 1969 (paperback edition)
- Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. ISBN 0-14-029312-4
- Sadler, Graham, Booklet notes to the Christie recording