Composer: Thomas, Ambroise (1811-1896)

Fine soprano performances from Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson and Victoria Simmonds can't save Ambroise Thomas's inanimate object of a plot. Thank goodness Wagner saved us from more of the same. 

When I heard that Nathan Gunn was opening Washington National Opera’s 2012-13 season Celebrity Series, I could not be more excited. Indeed, this American baritone, known in the musical world as “the opera divo”, represents everything that today’s opera fans look for in a singer: a beautiful voice, first-class acting, an appealing physique and of course, a great sense of humor.

Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet has riled and infuriated ever since its 1868 première, though for many it is merely an object of derision: one 1869 correspondent to the satirical magazine Punch admits not having seen the work but nevertheless disparages it as ‘Omelette’, a musical ‘burlesque’, and pillories Thomas’s fondness for drinking songs with the lines ‘To drink or not to drink? That

À travers l’Orient fantasmé des compositeurs français, c’était un autoportrait vocal que nous offrait Sabine Devieilhe à la Philharmonie. 

L'Opéra de Marseille ouvre sa saison avec une production d'Hamlet d'Ambroise Thomas encore perfectible mais également pleine d'éléments positifs.