Joyce DiDonato descended the Concertgebouw stairs to give the Dutch premiere of one her most beloved works, Jake Heggie’s 2015 orchestral version of Camille Claudel: Into the Fire, for her debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Joined on stage by Antonio Pappano, and dressed all in purple, a colour signifying self-reflection and rarity, the American mezzo-soprano sought to reignite the fire and bring this work to a whole new audience.
The programme
Camille Claudel: Into the Fire
Jake Heggie’s song cycle originally conceived for string quartet and voice. It was premiered in 2012 by the Alexander Quartet and DiDonato and tells the complex story of French sculptress, Camille Claudel, whose art was overshadowed by her mentor, teacher and lover: Auguste Rodin. Their stormy relationship not only inspired her artwork but resulted in increasingly erratic behaviour with instances of Claudel locking herself in her studio and throwing her sculptures in the fire. An aborted pregnancy following Rodin’s broken promise of marriage was not only controversial at that time, but undoubtably compounded her increasingly fragile mental state. Heggie’s creation, Camille Claudel: Into the Fire depicts a fateful day in 1913. The artist walks through her studio for the last time, talking to her sculptures before being committed to an asylum where she would remain in solitary confinement for the remaining thirty years of her life.
The orchestral version
In the words of tonight’s soloist, this orchestral version “literally becomes another beast”. Whilst the original string quartet version takes inspiration from Debussy’s G minor String Quartet (and also, I would argue, Elvis Costello’s The Juliet Letters written for the Brodsky Quartet in 1993) tonight’s offering paints the story in a whole new guise. Employing clever orchestral story-telling skills honed from his time at San Francisco Opera writing Dead Man’s Walking, Heggie elevates the tonally-based material, juxtaposing familiar, comforting music with the haunting and achingly beautiful. Stillness vies with ferocious activity; menacing taunts sit alongside comforting modal and Indian-infused harmonies; distinctly American, hypnotic tom-tom rhythms and repeated cello ostinatos with slapping cello bows, compete with suggestive tambourine shimmers; and dramatic declamations for her lover, “Rodin, Rodin” jostle with moments tinged with regret. All recreating Claudel’s final conversations with her various sculptures on that fateful day.
A special moment
One emotional highlight deserves special attention. The fourth movement, La Petite Chatelaine sees Claudel talking to the head of a little girl, symbolising the child from the aborted pregnancy. “Hello, my little one, do you know who I am?” are piercing words from Claudel’s own letters. A solo horn and pizzicato cello followed by a hauntingly innocent clarinet solo over “Do you know my voice?” evoke further poignancy. As a mother, I recognise DiDonato’s difficulty delivering these words outside of performance. The thought of a child not recognising a mother’s voice leaves a lump in the throat. It is rare to hear such melodic beauty in a contemporary commission.
DiDonato is a compelling presence on stage and true to earlier protestations, proved that she was both “willing and vulnerable enough to expose herself on stage” for the sake of her art. However, it is her ability to mould the vocal quality of her voice, not only to match the ever-changing emotional rollercoaster of Heggie’s narrative, but to immaculately match the richly varied orchestral textures, which propels her talents into a different league. Whether it be the translucence of the violin harmonics at the breaking of dawn; or the raw, rugged earthiness of “But who I was has died,” at the close of Shakuntala; or the sibilant whispers of “Is it him?” Most addictive!
The libretto
Aided by Gene Scheer’s powerful libretti, this orchestral arrangement now in the expert hands of the RCO and Pappano, breathes new life into a relatively young work, opening Claudel’s tortured story up to a whole new audience, far beyond that of a string quartet. Camille Claudel: Into the Fire deserves to be considered a modern-day classic, justifiably sitting alongside the great song cycles of Berlioz, Mahler and Strauss. Bravo to the RCO for continuing to shine a light on female stories in this season’s programming.
The symphony
The evening concluded with an exciting and colourful reading of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Conducting without a baton, Pappano looked entirely at home on the Concertgebouw stage. His energetic and animated direction, complete with the odd percussive foot stamping and heavy breathing from the podium, brought a vibrancy and vitality to proceedings. Accents and exciting climaxes abounded, but never at the expense of the narrative. The decadent opulence of four harps in The Ball, as instructed by the composer himself, and the upbeat tempos had us all waltzing in our seats. Special mention should also go to the cor anglais, Miriam Pastor Burgos and solo oboist, Ivan Podyomov (positioned far away at the top of the Concertgebouw stairs) for their nostalgic antiphonal exchange to start the Scene in the Country. The rapturous applause for the evening’s endeavours was richly deserved.
The concert is available to watch on Medici TV and Mezzo Live
Further listening:
Listen to a recording of Camille Claudel: Into the Fire with the Alexander String Quartet and DiDonato.
Watch an ‘In Conversation’ with Jake Heggie where he talks in detail about how the song cycle came into being and the decision-making process regarding which sculptures to feature in the work.
Watch DiDonato give a masterclass to Julliard students in 2013 where she discusses her personal struggles at the outset of her career, and the destructive power of the voice within our head.
“Strengthen our strengths rather than trying to conquer our weaknesses.”
Joyce DiDonato
Watch the original trailer for the 1988 film Camille Claudel which charts Claudel’s emotionally turbulent relationship with Auguste Rodin
Finally… watch a video discussing Claudel’s early life. Lots of interesting commentary and photos
Read more from Clare
This concert was reviewed on Thursday 9th January, 2025 in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
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