L'Africaine
, though begun much earlier, was
Giacomo Meyerbeer
's last opera and was not staged until after his death. Its name and its setting changed several times; the composer called it
Vasco da Gama
(or
Vasco de Gama
in French), and the action shifted from Africa to India and back. This live recording of a 2018 Oper Frankfurt production in Germany used both the
and
titles and split the difference in setting by staging the whole thing, believe it or not, in outer space, with a blue heroine (someone tell the folks at Star Trek: Lower Decks). The plot details a romantic love triangle of the titular explorer, involving an admiral's daughter, Inès, and an African girl, Sélika, who, true to colonialist form, gets the short end of the stick and ends up committing suicide by camping out under a tree that emits poisonous gases. It would be easy to let this go over the top, but the singers avoid this. Tenor
Michael Spyres
is in top form here, mostly spurning heldentenor moves in favor of a good deal of vocal beauty and lyricism. The star of the show may be mezzo-soprano
Claudia Mahnke
, who brings great delicacy to the role of Sélika. Veteran conductor
Antonello Manacorda
keeps the action moving at a brisk pace, and the only major complaint here is
Naxos
' live sound, which gives a vague background quality to many of the voices.
Meyerbeer
's operas, in general, and especially this one, are somewhat under-recorded, and it was no surprise to see this welcome album land on classical best-seller charts in the spring of 2024. ~ James Manheim