Gaziel and Picarol, two modernist dramas (Granados Anniversary)

Enric Granados / Apel·les Mestres: “Gaziel” and “Picarol”

Two Catalan modernist dramas

Following the revival of the opera Follet, we have once again decided to stage Catalan modernist operatic works with music by Enric Granados and the libretto by Apel·les Mestres. In this case we propose two shorter pieces with spoken dialogue, which were written for the sessions organised by the associations “Teatre Líric Català” (at the Tívoli) and “Espectacles-Audicions Graner” (at the Teatre Principal) in Barcelona.

Picarol is an operatic comedy or dramatic ballad in one act with a libretto by Apel·les Mestres inspired by the theme of Victor Hugo’s Notre Dame de Paris. It presents the drama of a jester in love with a princess in medieval times. It was premiered during the Teatre Líric Català’s 1901 season at the Tívoli theatre in Barcelona and went through four different productions, with over a hundred performances between 1901 and 1906. It consists of six musical numbers by Enric Granados, among which the Cançó del cuc i l’estrella (Song of the Worm and the Star) drives along the work.

In Gaziel, Apel·les Mestres adapted the Faustian myth by applying it to an artist of his own time, an ironic critique of the bourgeois society of the epoch. This lyrical-dramatic poem, with three scenes in one act, has eight musical numbers by Granados, some purely instrumental. It requires four soloists, male choir and orchestra. It was premiered at the Teatre Principal in Barcelona in 1906 as part of the programme of Espectacles-Audicions Graner.

We are presenting these two works to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Enric Granados, performed by the Cadaqués Orchestra Ensemble and the Choir of the Enric Granados Auditorium in Lleida under the baton of Jaime Martín, with stage direction by Marc Rosich.