Petitgirard – Joseph Merrick de Elephant Man / Stutzmann · Rivenq · Breault · Koch · Devellereau · Petitgirard

Fond, at times, of Ravel’s stirring oboe-range tones, Laurent Petitgirard is likewise fond of the dancing quality of French impressionist composition. This is not to say that Petitgirard’s first opera, Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man is at all a dance piece, but only to note that the flurrying notes and cascading washes of strings run up against ominous horn calls and invoke impressionist techniques both obliquely and overtly. The story here is that of Joseph Merrick, whose rare condition, which many concluded was neurofibromatosis and others now claim was the even rarer Proteus syndrome, disfigured his face and earned him notoriety as the “Elephant Man.” Petitgirard tracks Merrick through four acts–and a thoroughly moving libretto from Eric Nonn–demonstrating how the emergence of Merrick as a public spectacle signified the transition from the Victorian to the modern age. The music straddles both worlds, with much of it cloaked in hefty, sweeping string layers and classically operatic vocal breakthroughs from Nathalie Stutzmann (as Merrick) and the entire cast. The modern elements come through in the haunting shadows that Petitgirard creates behind Nonn’s libretto and the pair’s attention to the factual details of Merrick’s life. Inevitably, Petitgirard’s work will draw comparison to David Lynch’s 1980 film. Petitgirard’s use of choral segments to move the drama along is masterful, and the work reveals a singular talent, one that draws on the musical past (and present) but also goes beyond mere stylistic summation or pastiche and creates a moving, modern work that will have astonishingly broad appeal. –Andrew Bartlett