What is good with Giovanni Simone Mayr's Conjugal Amor is that we are immediately in a known country: and for a very simple reason, since it is the story of Fidelio, from Beethoven's Fidelio. The story as told in the libretto by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, adapted and transposed in an imaginary Poland of the seventeenth century by the librettist Gaetano Rossi, tells us about the adventures of a heroine who undertakes to release her husband from captivity. . As in Fidelio, the six characters are all colorful and the dramatic unfolding is masterfully conducted.
Little is known about this work by Mayr, as in general we do not know much about Mayr, and that is a pity, because it shows not only an accomplished writing technique and a remarkable sense of drama. Our opera lover's ear places him immediately somewhere between Carl Maria von Weber - for the remarkable dramatic effects that orchestral writing knows how to stage - and Gioachino Rossini for the lightness of the orchestration and the so seductive vocal writing, occasionally virtuoso, because we are in full bel canto - which works wonders in ensemble pieces, duets, trios, quartets and sextets. Not to mention that Mayr's real melodic talent makes it hard to get rid ofof a melody when you have it in your head (in fact, until you hear the next one )! The proportions are perfect, and in just one hour and a half game, everything is said, with humor, seriousness and of course a lot of feeling.
We are fortunate to have Mayr's autograph manuscript: his fine and light writing certainly very quickly follows his musical imagination which is constantly renewing and never repeating itself, and it is obvious that he cares about an orchestra. always transparent which carries the voice and highlights it. This does not prevent him from occasionally giving the first role to the orchestra, for example on the occasion of the long prelude of the second scene when the spectator will discover Amorveno (the husband) captive at the bottom of a dark underground. The work had lasting success in the decades following its creation in 1805.The proportions are perfect, and in just one hour and a half part, everything is said, with humor, seriousness and of course a lot of sentiment.
