Marc-Antoine Charpentier, David et Jonathas (1688)

This one is different from the other early French baroque operas I've seen in that it wasn't written for the royal court: it was written for the end-of-year festivities at a Jesuit college. That's why there's no prologue on the theme of the king's radness. Did your college graduation feature a specially-composed opera? Mine sure didn't. The commencement speaker was Anna Quindlen. She was...fine, I guess? I have to admit, I have zero memory of anything she said.

Well anyway! That's why we have this Biblically-themed work. It's kind of the usual thing, although the plot I found a bit choppy in places: maybe if I were more Biblically-literate, I would not have had that problem. There's David and Saul's son Jonathan, and they are in love (the production plays that up a little, but I think it was already kind of played up in the text). Saul is jealous of David's...martial prowess, I guess, although this does not include the ever-popular and ever-hilarious "Saul has killed one thousand, but David has killed ten thousand" line, so it's not wholly clear. Regardless, Jonathan and Saul die, and David is bereft, and then we have the inevitable thing where a triumphant chorus about him being kind sort of wrecks the mood.

Oh well! I still liked it a lot. Charpentier's music is rich and varied, and Jonathan's death creates genuine pathos. This production is a bit odd, but fine: it takes place in a number of wooden rooms, which can change dimensions seemingly at will. It also does this thing where instrumental sections are accompanied by tableaux of David and Jonathan as children; I didn't mind these, but they seemed rather pointless. I certainly didn't feel as though they deepened our understanding of or appreciation for the characters' relationship.

The question is, why can't I see more Charpentier operas? The second, more important question is, why is so much of his work, including his last FOUR operas, non-extant? Wikipedia explains: "virtually none of Charpentier's compositions from 1690 to 1704 have survived, because when the maître de musique died, the royal administration routinely confiscated everything he had written for the Chapel." And they...what, set it all on fire? I find that extremely vexing.