Jules Massenet – ROMA – ‘Mon père ! … Ma fille ! Va ne te trouble pas’

ROMA
Opéra tragique en 5 actes
Composer : Jules Massenet (1842–1912)
Libretto : Henri Cain, after Alexandre Parodi’s tragedy ‘Rome vaincue’ (1876)
First performed : Opéra de Monte-Carlo, 17 February 1912

SETTING : Rome, 216 BC

PLOT : Rome is at war with the Carthaginians led by Hannibal. The oracle says that Rome is being defeated are because a vestal virgin has let the sacred fire die out. Fausta, niece and adoptive daughter of the noble senator Fabius Maximus, is the culprit. Her lover, the legionary tribune Lentulus, tries to persuade her to flee, but she is a Roman woman and will face her fate. The Senate, despite the pleas of Fausta’s blind grandmother Posthumia, condemn Fausta to death: she will be buried alive. Posthumia and Fabius decide that Fausta will not face such a slow, terrible death. Posthumia stabs her granddaughter through the heart.

‘Mon père ! … Ma fille ! Va ne te trouble pas’
‘Je suis la vestale flétrie’
‘Fille des Fabius ! Toi, Vestale ! Ô prêtresse !’
‘C’est mon heure suprême’

Fabius asks his niece Fausta to justify her crime. She admits her crime to her uncle : she has burnt with a profane and triumphant love, for which she must be punished. The old Roman is seized with fury, and curses her for dishonouring her family. He is moved to pity by the grief of the young woman, who begs his pardon. ‘Do you know how to die well?’ he asks. She proudly replies: ‘There are no cowards in the family of Fabius!’ Like a true Roman woman, she will walk with a steady step towards the execution she deserves.

Fausta, Vestale (dramatic soprano): Anne Marguerite Werster
Fabius Maximus, sénateur, oncle de Fausta / senator, Fausta’s uncle (basse chantante or baritone): Jean-Marc Salzmann

Conductor : Patrick Fournillier
Nouvel Orchestre de Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne, 9 November 2001