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Echo et Narcisse (1779) - Christoph Willibald Gluck
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Background
After the resounding success of Iphigénie en Tauride (1779), Gluck set out to compose his last of the seven Paris operas, which turned out to be his final opera. Whereas Iphigénie en Tauride is often considered Gluck’s best opera, its immediate successor, Echo et Narcisse (1779) was ill-fated and quickly disappeared from the repertoire.
Echo was premiered a mere four months after Tauride, and the Parisian audience was not prepared for the differences between these two operas. Although the music resembles that of his other French operas, the pastoral story lacks the dramatic intensity that viewers expected in a Gluck opera. Thus, the serene music—though it is at times quite beautiful— lacks dramatic impulse.
The lackluster reception drove Gluck out of Paris, but he remained committed to Echo’s merits. In 1780, he revised the opera, to no avail; another revision, which premiered on 8 June 1781, fared better. However, the opera has not received many performances since then, with the exception of performances in 1987 organized by René Jacobs. The published score is in fact the 1781 version. While the music remained quite similar to first version, the sequence of events was modified, and a Prologue was added. Also, Cupid’s role was substantially reduced, as he was cut from the first two acts, though he remained in the Prologue.
Plot
In the Prologue, Cupid sings of Echo (a nymph) and Narcissus (a hunter), who fell in love, only to have Apollo interfere in order to gain Echo for himself. However, Cupid is certain that Narcissus will once again find love.
With the help of her nymph friends (Eglé and Aglaé), Echo prepares for her wedding on a hillside, near Cupid’s temple, at the beginning of Act One. Although she pretends to be happy, she tells Narcissus’s friend Cynire that she is concerned, as she knows Narcissus has been hiding from her. Cynire has not seen Narcissus, and Echo suspects that the absence of her lover is due to unfaithfulness. Echo asks Cynire to find Narcissus, and then she later sees her betrothed staring into his fountain. Unbeknownst to Echo, Narcissus has fallen in love with his reflection, which Apollo has made in the image of a beautiful goddess. When she calls to Narcissus, he turns and walks away, unaware of her presence. Echo then declares that she cannot live without Narcissus.
Act Two reveals Echo’s weakened state, as she is on the verge of death. After Cynire learns from Eglé that Echo can be revived by a glance from Narcissus, he rushes off to find the hunter. Narcissus enters, desiring another look into his magical fountain, and when Cynire explains to him that Echo is dying, Narcissus is unable to comprehend the situation. Apollo suddenly returns Narcissus to his senses, and Narcissus learns of Echo’s condition. As Narcissus runs toward Echo, who is in Cupid’s temple, the doors close, and he enters the forest.
Echo’s voice lives on—a true “echo”—at the beginning of Act Three, in the orchestra, which imitates her sound. The resemblance is so strong, in fact, that her nymph friends believe that they indeed hear her voice. Narcissus laments his beloved’s death, and as he prepares to stab himself and join her, the temple doors burst open, revealing that Echo is still alive. A celebration concludes the opera, with Cupid praised for reuniting the two lovers.
Bibliography
Title from title page: ECHO / ET / NARCISSE / Drame Lyrique en trois Actes / avec un Prologue.
Genre: Drame lyrique
Siglum from Gluck thematic catalog: W. 47
Composer: Christoph Willibald Gluck, 1714-1787
Librettist: Baron Ludwig Theodor von Tschudi, dates unknown
Libretto based on: Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Setting: A small valley in Thessalia
Premiere: Paris, Opéra, 21 September 1779 (Wotquenne), 24 September 1779 (Howard, Gluck: A Guide to Research)
First published: Paris: Des Lauriers, 1779
Volume in the UNT Collection: Paris: Des Lauriers, 1779
For further reading on Echo et Narcisse, see:
Del Monte, Claudio. Christoph Willibald Gluck nel 200’ anniversario della morte. Edited by Vincenzo Raffaele Segreto. Quaderni del Teatro Regio Citta di Parma, no. 19. Parma, Italy: Grafiche, 1987.
Fend, Michael “Der Fehlschlag von Glucks Echo et Narcisse und die Probleme einer ‘musikalischen Ekloge.’” In D’un opera l’autre: Hommage à Jean Mongredien, eds. Jean Gribenski, Marie-Claire Mussat, Herbert Schneider, and Lucien Bély, pp. 31-43. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1996.
Hayes, Jeremy. “Echo et Narcisse.” Grove Music Online, ed. Laura Macy. [Accessed 17 December 2003]. <http://www.grovemusic.com>
Howard, Patricia. Christoph Willibald Gluck: A Guide to Research. New York and London: Garland, 1987.
Kaplan, James Maurice. “Eine Erganzung zu Glucks Korrespondenz.” Die Musikforschung 31 (1978): 314-17.
Physical
Dimensions: 34.25 x 24.25 cm.
Collation: [20: unsigned, 1-492 503 51-642 652(652 + x2)]; 133 leaves, pp. [4] 1-256 [257-258].
Conservation: Very light foxing; clear adhesive tape on some pages.
Binding: Light green leather with red leather front nameplate (reads “MR. DE GOUVE”) and spine title (reads “ECHO”).
Comments: Copper-plate engraving (plates measure 27 x 20.2 cm); dealer plate reads “Kenneth Mummery / Books and Music / Bournemouth, England”.