Zampa ou La Fiancée de marbre

Description

Zampa triumphs at the Opéra-Comique on May 3, 1831. Undoubtedly because the libretto by Mélesville bears some similarities to Mozart's Don Giovanni: a hero without faith or law – the pirate Zampa – wants to force Camille, who is promised to Alphonse, to marry him, but the statue of Alice Manfredi, one of his previous victims, comes to life and takes him to Hell. The action skillfully combines tragic and comic dimensions. Musically, Hérold responds to the romantic sensibility of his time: he distills some discreet "gothic" touches, plays on the local color (the plot takes place in Sicily), and exploits the dramatic resources of orchestration and harmony (Berlioz notes "chords of a savage and fantastic appearance"). Zampa amplifies the opéra-comique by borrowing from grand opera: a vocal style mixing French and Italian elements, spectacular scenes like the eruption of Etna (which recalls the climax of La Muette de Portici in 1828), and the contrast between collective and intimate scenes. The work is clearly a response to the simultaneous creation of Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable.