Despite the familiarity of the Meditation from Thaïs in the concert hall, Massenet’s operas haven’t fared well in the UK, where only Manon could be said to have any kind of place in the repertoire. Yet as a creator of pleasingly melodic and dramatically satisfying stage works the French composer knew his craft, as infrequent concert performances of his lesser-known works attest.
Here, fresh from their recent triumphant promenade staging of Candide, Scottish Opera presented a slightly staged concert performance of Thérèse, a work receiving its Scottish premiere despite being written at the turn of the 20th century. The opera is a three-handed melodrama set against the backdrop of the early, bloodthirsty days of the French Revolution. Girondists Thérèse and André have taken over the stewardship of the chateau vacated by a fleeing aristocrat, André’s childhood friend Armand. Of course there’s a twist: Thérèse was previously in love with Armand before she married André, a fact of which André is blissfully unaware.
