Raf Vallone, Jacques Duby and Simone Signoret in Marcel Carné's 1953 film, Thérèse Raquin.

The sensual Thérèse and her lover Laurent murder her weak husband Camille. After marrying, they are haunted by Camille's ghost, and their passion for each other turns to hatred. They eventually kill themselves. Conservative readers accused Zola of prurience; the novel, however, illustrates the author's belief that sexual pleasure leads only to brutality and destruction.
Merriam-Webster Encyclopaedia of Literature

We are going to be seeing a lot of Thérèse over the coming months; on the Broadway stage, in the opera house and at the movies. Our fascination for this young woman who makes a few bad choices has not diminished since Émile Zola first gave her life in his 1867 novel, Thérèse Raquin. This lurid tale of lust and the awaking of sexual passion, adultery and murder, was published concurrently in serial form as Un Mariage d'Amour (a title so ironic as to be misleading) and proved so popular, a second edition had to be printed a year later.

In his preface to the second edition, Zola defended himself against charges of having written a pornographic tale and explained that he had wanted merely to create his characters, establish their circumstances, then observe them and record their behavior, as if conducting an experiment. Despite his claim, Zola acted as judge and moralist also. The obvious disingenuousness of his argument is that Zola himself invented his characters and their behavior; he can hardly call himself a passive observer. By book's end, one cannot help but conclude that in Zola's world the pursuit of passion and sexual gratification, especially when a women does it, leads to destruction - not an uncommon fate in 19th century literature. One might even feel that the perennial attraction of Thérèse is that we too may observe her, live vicariously through her actions, but then return to our safer, purer lives with the superior feeling of not having given into our baser instincts.

Thérèse's real destiny, though, was the theater - she fairly screams to get off the page - and six years after he published his book, Monsieur Zola adapted it for the stage. Of that effort, Harvey O'Brien of culturevulture.net writes:

In 1873 this four-act play about cumulative guilt was something of a revelation. It is set mostly in the fringes of its own story, concentrating on the build up to and aftermath of what would usually be 'significant' action. Its characters are largely unsympathetic, drawn more from the social currents of nineteenth century France than the conventions of dramatic theatre. It is a harsh and ugly play with frustrated characters trapped in wells of emotion which they find difficult to understand [and] even more difficult to express. They are selfish and egocentric, mired … in a state of terminal decay. The story charts the downward spiral of secret lovers who carry out the murder of the woman's husband. It's a classic case of not being careful what you wish for, as the deed (or rather first the anticipation and then the consequences of it) traps rather than liberates them. This is true not merely psychologically, but physically, as all of the action takes place within the rancid confines of the Parisian apartment they must share with her dead husband's mother.

Thérèse made it to London 1891 as the heroine of the renamed play Thou Shalt Not, and she crossed the ocean to play Broadway in 1938. But, it was a 1945 Broadway production starring Eva LeGallienne, Dame May Whitty and Victor Jory, in which she made a greater impression on the American public. Since then, she has rarely been out of work. A recent theatrical version of Thérèse Raquin was adapted by Neal Bell and has been seen around the U.S., Europe and New Zealand.

Émile Zola's titular tragic heroine and her paramour murder her third-wheel husband, but his ghost returns to haunt them and turn them against each other. (From boxoff.com)

Thou Shalt Not is the title of Harry Connick, Jr.'s new musical, which is scheduled to arrive on Broadway October 25, starring Craig Bierko and Kate Levering (who played together in last season's Broadway revival of The Music Man). Mr. Connick has moved Thérèse from 19th century Paris to New Orleans in the years immediately after World War II. Her placid life is set asunder by a jazz musician returning from the war, played by - you guessed it - Harry Connick, Jr. Susan Stroman (Contact, among many other things) will direct and choreograph.

Costume design for Dallas Opera production of Thérèse Raquin by Marie-Jeanne Lecca.

One imagines there was an opera in the works when the young composer Kevin Oldham wrote "Row, I Like To Row," "Paint Me," and "Sleep And Dream," all of which he noted as being "from Thérèse Raquin." Unfortunately, Mr. Oldham died from AIDS in 1993 at the age of 33 before Thérèse could reach the stage.

A housewife gets fed up with her wimpy husband and conspires to kill him with the help of a brutal truckdriver with whom she's begun an affair. (From hollywood.com)

Thérèse's first appearance on screen was in the 1928 French silent movie starring Marie Laurent and directed by Jacques Feyder (he also directed a film adaptation of Carmen); the movie was released in the U.S. alternately as Shadows of Fear and Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery. Marcel Carné revisited the saga in his famous 1953 film starring Simone Signoret, Raf Vallone, and Jacques Duby. In that version, Laurent and Thérèse throw poor Camille from a train, a method of murder with more cinematic potential than drowning - his original fate.

Actress Kate Winslet is trying on the new hat of executive producer to bring Thérèse Raquin to the big screen again, featuring herself as the led-astray-Thérèse and Dame Judi Dench as the manipulative Madame Raquin. David Leveaux, known in London and on Broadway for his 1999 revival of Tom Stoppard's play, The Real Thing, plans to make his film directorial debut with the project. Mr. Leveaux directed the most recent off-Broadway production of Thérèse Raquin that starred Joanne Pearce and Neil Pearson.

In 19th Century France,Therese Raquin's lover murders her husband leaving the pair full of remorse. (From tvchronicles.com)

The BBC took up Thérèse Raquin in 1950 (with Nancy Price) and again in 1971 (Kate Nelligan, Brian Cox, Alan Rickman, Kenneth Cranham, Mona Washbourne, with Simon Langton, directing). Of the latter production, tvchronicles.com notes that it "caused a slight fuss at the time of its original broadcast because of the frank nature in which the story was dealt with." Downgraded from a "scandal" to a "fuss" - how times change.

Leaving no stone unturned, we also found out that Degas' painting "Interior (The Rape)," c. 1868-1870, is said to have been based on a scene from Zola's book.| View Degas' "Interior (The Rape)"

There is a thematic parallel to be found in James M. Cain's novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934), which spawned four films: Pierre Chenal's Le Dernier Tournant (1939) with Fernand Gravet and Corinne Luchaire; Visconti's first film Ossessione (1943) with Clara Calamai, Massimo Girotti, and Juan De Landa; MGM's classic 1946 movie directed by Tay Garnett, with Lana Turner, John Garfield and Cecil Kellaway; and the 1987 remake with Jessica Lange, Jack Nicholson, John Colicos and Anjelica Huston, directed by Bob Rafelson to a screenplay by David Mamet. Composer Stephen Paulus and librettist Colin Graham made an opera of Mr. Cain's book that had its premiere at Opera Theatre of St. Louis in 1982. Cain's novel is also said to have influenced Albert Camus' The Stranger.

Some also note the similarity between Lady Macbeth and Thérèse, both heroines who have a difficult time admitting their guilt in the commissions of murder, but we think that is taking things a bit too far.

'Thérèse Raquin' (the Opera)

Act Two set design for Dallas Opera production of Thérèse Raquin by Marie-Jeanne Lecca.

On November 30, Tobias Picker's third opera, Thérèse Raquin, will see the spotlight in Dallas, a product of a commission by The Dallas Opera, L'Opéra de Montréal (where it will be seen in a French translation by acclaimed playwright and author Normand Chaurette) and San Diego Opera. Sara Fulgoni will play Thérèse, Richard Bernstein will be Laurent, Gordon Gietz will play Camille, and Diana Soviero is to be Madame Raquin; Graeme Jenkins will conduct and Francesca Zambello will direct. It was Jonathan Pell, Director of Artistic Administration for The Dallas Opera, who first approached Mr. Picker about making an opera for the company and helped gather together librettist Gene Scheer and Ms. Zambello to join in the creative effort. USOperaWeb spoke to Mr. Pell about the commission.

"In August 1996, I saw [Picker's first opera,] Emmeline in Santa Fe. I have been to many premieres over the years and it was the first time I can remember such a galvanic response from the audience. They were weeping at the end and rose spontaneously to their feet. It was not a standing ovation in that pro forma sense that happens because people think it is the right thing to do. It was an honest, emotional reaction to the tremendous power and impact of the piece. What also impressed me was that Tobias was a composer who wasn't just writing music, but was writing for the theater. There was an inherent dramatic sensibility he brought to opera and I was stunned at what he had achieved with his first attempt. I went backstage to see him afterward and asked him if he would be interested in coming to Dallas to do a new piece for us.

How was the subject matter chosen? "We discussed subject matter together for quite a while - it was a massive search really. The Company had ideas, of course, but we weren't going to impose them on him. When you spend two years of your life locked in a room with a group of characters, you have to care about them deeply and respond in a visceral way to the subject matter.

"Thérèse Raquin was probably the fourth or fifth subject we considered seriously. It was interesting how that came about. Tobias's sister was dusting her bookshelves, the book fell onto the floor and she picked it up and reread it. She suggested it to Tobias who read it and had an immediate response. [We couldn't help but notice the importance of sisters in influencing their composer brothers: Carlisle Floyd's sister brought Olive Ann Burns' novel, Cold Sassy Tree to his attention.] Having read the book and seen the film adaptations, I was thrilled by the prospect because I knew how inherently operatic the subject could be. It's amazing that there haven't been more attempts to adapt it to the musical stage. Everyone at the Company ran out and bought the book and became terribly excited by its potential - everyone thought it really leant itself to being adapted to the opera stage. We contacted Montreal and San Diego and they recognized the importance and stature of the venture and became equal partners in the commission and production.

Once the commission is extended and subject decided upon, what role does the company play during the creative process. "When you invest in someone's talent, you trust what they are going to do. In the creative process, Tobias is the one giving birth. All we can do is act as midwife to help make the birth as easy as possible. There is a great deal of give and take. We have been involved at every stage certainly. After receiving the first draft of the libretto, we made suggestions, but they were completely subjective and not at all mandatory. In fact, we were thrilled with the first draft of the libretto. Gene, being a composer in his own right, had a real sense of what opportunities existed in the source material, and knew how to enhance them for an opera. Francesca was also involved from the beginning, looking at it from her perspective, and making suggestions. But ultimately, it is Tobias' piece and he was the one who had to be convinced it would work.

Opening scene design for Dallas Opera production of Thérèse Raquin by Marie-Jeanne Lecca.

"So often, what happens with contemporary opera is that the music doesn't in any way enhance the piece. To adapt a subject from one genre to another, there has to be something that the music brings to it - that makes it more than the original. So often, composers just set the text of a play or an adaptation of a novel that ultimately has no truly operatic dimension. I was overwhelmed by how Gene and Tobias had found all these opportunities for scenes, arias and musical ensembles that were integral to the piece, that made it an true opera and not just a play set to music.

"From my personal perspective, Tobias has evolved as a composer from a very thorny and intellectualized style of writing to one that might be perceived as more "accessible." But, his music is still extremely sophisticated. The problem in commissioning new works isn't so much concern about the style of the musical writing but the inherent theatricality of what the composer can bring to the piece. Many of these so-called avant-garde composers write music that might be intellectually stimulating, but it doesn't grab the emotions. If opera isn't about love and death, it essentially doesn't work. Philosophy belongs on the page, not on the stage. An opera shouldn't be an intellectual exercise or cerebral exploration. It must grab the audience by the heart and move them emotionally. That's what opera does better than any other art form."

Research assistance provided by Marco Place.

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