Gretry's Zemire et Azor was first performed before the court at Fouritainebleau on November 9th, 1771. It was an immediate success; the composer was granted a pension and a gratuity on the following day and in December the opera was given at the Comedie-Italienne. Thereafter the work achieved international success and was performed in London at the King's Theatre in 1779—but in Italian—in Moscowiand many other cities as well. The librettist of Zemire et Azor was Jean-Francois Marmontel who may have based his masterpiece on a fairy-tale, La Belle et la Bete, by Madame Le Prince de Beaumont, or maybe on an opera-comique libretto by Favart which had been set by Edigio Duni during the mid 1760s. Gretry used the prolific lklarmontel frequently during the early. part of his career before him Rameau had set four of his texts; one of them, Acante et Cephise also has a strong fairy-tale element. Zemire et Azor, however, is not just a fairy-tale but one in which moral issues also play a part, to that extent, at least, the opera is in tune with Enlightenment thinking of the time. The work is full of variety, a blend of comic and serious, of fantasy and myth, of singing and dancing; and it was evidently very much. in accordance with French taste of the time since no less than 128 performances were given in Paris between 1771 and 1780.
This new performance is a recording of a production made under the direction of Alan Curtis. I cannot find much in the booklet about the recording itself but it sounds as if it has been made from live performances. Whether or not this is so the sound is far from ideal. The spoken dialogue comes over in a rather artificial sounding acoustic with too much echo and I found both the vocal and orchestral perspectives too far away and somewhat ill focused. If the performance itself is interesting enough one learns to put up with a few shortcomings such as these and there are some attractive things here. The orchestral playing is lively and, where Gretry generates an air of excitement, it rises splendidly to the occasion. Nevertheless, some of the string playing is untidy in ensemble and, in exposed passages, undernourished in sound. I am not convinced by much of the solo singing, either. Bruce Kelly as the Persian merchant Sander is disappointing and Albert Voli as his slave, Ali, gives a harsh, poorly characterized performance. Gerard Garino as the Persian prince, Azor, is more engaging but the three daughters of Sander, Zemire, Fatme and Lisbe, all soprano roles, are weak throughout. Fatme and Lisbe only appear in ensemble numbers but Zemire, sung by Martine Masquelin, has an ariettc and two airs as well as duos and trios. Her intonation is unreliable and her technique hardly up to Gretry's requirements.
In short, this is a disappointing issue which fails to realize the charm in Gretry's music. Opera lovers may feel that it is better than nothing and as T have said, there are some pleasing moments; but a strong performance of this opera on record is still awaited'