L’île du rêve

Description

“To write this, one must be a poet,” Massenet confides to Reynaldo Hahn while reading the score of L’Île du rêve. Composed when the young man is not yet 18, this “curtain-raiser” already possesses the qualities of the great works of the time. It reveals the coloristic talents of a Bizet, the passionate impulses of a Massenet, and even the prosodic originality of the young Debussy. The plot tells the story of a French officer's love for a young Polynesian woman whom he must abandon. This subject – also set to music by Puccini (Madame Butterfly) and Delibes (Lakmé) – is approached in an almost symbolist manner: the romanticism of the music contrasts with a contemplative and introspective treatment of the narrative. This is where Reynaldo Hahn particularly shines: from the very first measures (hymn to Bora-Bora), in the various romantic situations between Loti and Mahénu (notably the duet “Restons encore les paupières mi-closes”), and even in the neo-Handelian prelude of Act II.