The old ballad of "Patient Grissell" begins thus:
An English drama, "Patient Grissel," was entered at Stationers' Hall in 1599. The word "Grizel," the proverbial type of a meek and patient wife, crept into the English language through this story. Chaucer wrote:
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No wedded man so hardy be tassaille His wyves patience, in hope to fynde Grisildes, for in certain he shall fail. |
Several operas on this subject were written before Massenet's, but the ballet "Griseldis: Les Cinq Sens" by Adam (Paris, 1848), has another story. So too has Flotow's comic opera, "Griselda, l'esclave du Camoens."
Silvestre and Morand represented Griselda as tempted by Satan in person that he might win a wager made with the marquis. When the "Mystery" was given in 1891 the cast included Miss Bartet as Griseldis; Coquelin cadet as Le Diable; Silvain as the Marquis de Saluce and A. Lambert, fils, as Alain. It was played at fifty-one consecutive performances. According to Mr. Destranges, Bizet wrote music for a "Grisélidis" with a libretto by Sardou, but most of this was destroyed. Only one air is extant, that is the air sung by Micaela in "Carmen." According to the same authority Massenet's score lay "En magasin" for nearly ten years. Thus the music antedated that of "Thaïs" (1894), "La Navarraise" (1894), "Sapho" (1897), "Cendrillon" (1899), and it was not performed until 1901.
"Grisélidis" was produced at the Opéra Comique, Paris, November 20, 1901, with Lucienne Bréval, Lucien Fugère, Messrs. Maréchal and Dufranne. André Messager conducted. On November 23, 1901, the opera drew the largest receipts known thus far in the history of the Opéra Comique—9538 francs.
Mr. Philip Hale tells the story of the opera as follows:
"The scene is in Provence and in the fourteenth century. The Marquis of Saluzzo, strolling about in his domains, met Griselda, a shepherdess, and he loved her at first sight. Her heart was pure; her hair was ebon black; her eyes shone with celestial light. He married her and the boy Loÿs was born to them. The happy days came to an end, for the Marquis was called to the war against the Saracens. Before he set out, he confided to the prior his grief at leaving Griselda. The prior was a Job's comforter: 'Let my lord look out for the devil! When husbands are far away, Satan tempts their wives.' The Marquis protests for he knew the purity of Griselda; but as he protested he heard a mocking laugh, and he saw at the window an ape-like apparition. It was the devil all in green. The Marquis would drive him away, but the devil proposed a wager: he bet that he would tempt Griselda to her fall, while the Marquis was absent. The Marquis confidently took up the wager, and gave the devil his ring as a pledge. The devil of these librettists had a wife who nagged her spouse, and he in revenge sought to make other husbands unhappy. He began to lay snares for Griselda; he appeared in the disguise of a Byzantine Jew, who came to the castle, leading as a captive, his own wife, Fiamina, and he presented her: 'This slave belongs to the Marquis. He bids you to receive her, to put her in your place, to serve her, to obey her in all things. Here is his ring.' Griselda meekly bowed her head. The devil said to himself that Griselda would now surely seek vengeance on her cruel lord. He brought Alain by a spell to the castle garden at night—Alain, who had so fondly loved Griselda. She met him in an odorous and lonely walk. He threw himself at her feet and made hot love. Griselda thought of her husband who had wounded her to the quick, and was about to throw herself into Alain's arms, when her little child appeared. Griselda repulsed Alain, and the devil in his rage bore away the boy, Loÿs. The devil came again, this time as a corsair, who told her that the pirate chief was enamoured of her beauty; she would regain the child if she would only yield; she would see him if she would go to the vessel. She ran to the ship, but lo! the Marquis, home from the East. And then the devil, in another disguise, spoke foully of Griselda's behaviour, and the Marquis was about to believe him, but he saw Griselda and his suspicions faded away. The devil in the capital of a column declared that Loÿs belonged to him. Foolish devil, who did not heed the patron saint before whom the Marquis and Griselda were kneeling. The cross on the altar was bathed in light; the triptych opened; there, at the feet of St. Agnes, was little Loÿs asleep.
"The opera begins with a prologue which is not to be found in the version played at the Comédie-Française in 1891. The prologue acquaints us with the hope of the shepherd Alain that he may win Griselda: with the Marquis meeting Griselda as he returns from the chase, his sudden passion for her, his decision to take the young peasant as his wife, the despair of Alain. This prologue, with a fine use of themes that are used in the opera as typical, is described as one of the finest works of Massenet, and even his enemies among the ultra-moderns admit that the instrumentation is prodigiously skilful and truly poetic.