La voix humaine

the French opera
1958 one act opera by Francis Poulenc

La voix humaine (English: The Human Voice) is a forty minute, one act opera for soprano and orchestra composed by Francis Poulenc in 1958. The work is based on the play of the same name by Jean Cocteau, who, along with French soprano Denise Duval, worked closely with Poulenc in preparation for the opera's premiere. Poulenc's tragédie lyrique was first performed at the Théâtre National de l'Opéra Comique in Paris on 6 February 1959, with Duval as the solo singer and Georges Prêtre conducting; the scenery, costumes and direction were by Cocteau. The libretto consists of a woman's last phone conversation with her lover, who now loves someone else. During the call, the woman reveals that she has attempted suicide because her lover has abandoned her.

Cocteau finished writing La voix humaine in 1928, and the monodrama was premiered two years later. Having been previously criticized for using mechanical effects in his plays, Cocteau sought to reduce his drama to the "simplest of forms". Indeed, the one act play involves a single character in a single room with a telephone. The character — an anonymous woman referred to only as "Elle" ("she" in French) — has been abandoned by her lover and reveals that she has attempted to commit suicide. The play consists of her last conversation with her lover.

Upon the success of his second opera Dialogues des Carmélites in 1957, Poulenc was encouraged to compose more works in the genre. Hervé Dugardin, the Paris director of Ricordi Publishers, suggested that Poulenc set Cocteau's monodrama to music, with Maria Callas singing the role of Elle. Poulenc also identified with Elle's situation, which allowed him to "pour immense anguish into his opera Like her he abused sleeping pills, tranquilizers and anti depressants." and spent the next two months orchestrating the work, completing the version for full orchestra on 7 August 1958. The tragédie lyrique was premiered on 6 February 1959 at the Opéra Comique, Paris, with Georges Prêtre conducting and Duval performing the role of Elle. The opera met immediate success and went on to be performed at La Scala in Milan, as well as in Portugal, Britain, and the United States. The entire orchestra rarely plays at once; such moments occur only when the soprano does not sing, or when her voice lyrically rises above the orchestra. Common characteristics of Poulenc's vocal lines include multiple repeated notes, few intervals greater than a fifth, much step wise motion and motion by a third, and rhythm and accents designed to reflect actual speech patterns, especially "the pauses and hesitations of a phone conversation." Other functions of the orchestra include the representation of Elle's agitation while trying to reach her lover and the jazz she hears on her lover's side of the phone conversation. Perhaps the most important orchestral function other than unifying the overall work is the portrayal of the telephone ringing through repeated sixteenth notes on the xylophone, shown in Example 5. Although the pitch and the duration of the ringing changes throughout the opera, the timbre of the xylophone is only ever used to represent the "voice" of the telephone, making it easily identifiable. Yet in these motives, she identifies a number of tonal references, including "half steps or leading notes, sevenths, or appoggiaturas, which raise expectations for tonal functioning and tonal resolutions. Poulenc's motivic, cell like aesthetics does not undermine a sense of totality, but treats it as constantly deferred, or in motion." Poulenc thereby uses tonal techniques in a more modern, tonally ambiguous harmonic language.

Denise Duval; Orchestre du Théâtre National de l'Opéra Comique, Georges Prêtre. EMI (1959)
Wenche Foss; Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Øivin Fjeldstad. (Full title: Stemmen / La voix humaine. Norwegian libretto by Pauline Hall. TV movie. See link below.) NRK. CD. 1963. Jane Rhodes. Orchestre National de France. Jean Pierre Marty. INA Mémoire vive IMV015 (1976). Carole Farley. Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. José Serebrier. Varèse Sarabande. CD (1981)
Carole Farley. Scottish Chamber Orchestra. José Serebrier. (Full title: Poulenc: La voix humaine; Menotti: The Telephone. Newman movie.) VAI (DVD, 1990)
Julia Migenes. Orchestre National de France. Georges Prêtre (director: Peter Medak). Kultur. DVD (1990)
Françoise Pollet. Orchestre National de Lille. Jean Claude Casadesus. Harmonia Mundi. CD (1992)
Pauline Vaillancourt. Orchestre Chants libres. Jean Eudes Vaillancourt. SNE. CD. 1995. Felicity Lott. Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Armin Jordan. (Full title: La voix humaine; La dame de Monte Carlo.) Harmonia Mundi (2001)
Jessye Norman. Orchestre de Paris. David Robertson. (Live in Paris). Premiere Opera (2002)
Anne Sophie Schmidt. Orchestre Ostinato. Jean Claude Casadesus. Kultur (DVD, 2005)
Barbara Hannigan. Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris. Esa Pekka Salonen. Arthaus Musik (DVD, 2018)
Veronique Gens. Orchestre National de Lille. Alexandre Bloch. Alpha Classics (2021)

Felicity Lott, Graham Johnson. Champs Hill Records (DVD, 2013)
fr, Jean Christophe Rigaud. Ad Vitam (CD, 2017)
Daniela Mazzucato, Marco Scolastra. Brilliant Classics (CD, 2019)