Chapter 88 of Dumas great novel of revenge and adventure, The Count of Monte Cristo, is called ‘The Insult’. Here are a few excerpts pertinent to this brief note:

 

Albert went to his room, and dressed with unusual care. At ten minutes to eight Beauchamp arrived; he had seen Chateau-Renaud, who had promised to be in the orchestra before the curtain was raised. Both got into Albert’s coupe; and, as the young man had no reason to conceal where he was going, he called aloud, “To the opera.” In his impatience he arrived before the beginning of the performance…

He hoped to meet with M. de Monte Cristo either in the lobby or on the stairs. The bell summoned him to his seat, and he entered the orchestra with Chateau-Renaud and Beauchamp. But his eyes scarcely quitted the box between the columns, which remained obstinately closed during the whole of the first act. At last, as Albert was looking at his watch for about the hundredth time, at the beginning of the second act the door opened, and Monte Cristo entered, dressed in black, and, leaning over the front of the box, looked around the pit…

Although apparently not noticing Albert, he [the Count] did not, however, lose sight of him, and when the curtain fell at the end of the second act, he saw him leave the orchestra with his two friends…

“Dear Maximilian,” interrupted the count, “listen how adorably Duprez is singing that line,—

O  Mathilde! idole de mon ame!

“I was the first to discover Duprez at Naples, and the first to applaud him. Bravo, bravo!”…

“Hush, the curtain is rising. Listen! I never lose a note of this opera if I can avoid it; the music of William Tell is so sweet.”

 

The action at this point in Dumas’ novel takes place in Paris in 1838. Gilbert Duprez (1806-96) was at this time the sensation of Paris especially in the role of Arnold in Rossini’s final opera Guillaume Tell. He had, as the Count says, achieved fame in Italy where he had learned to produce the high C from the chest – an effect Rossini hated. This technique made him a star in Paris when he returned to France.

The first two acts have passed when the Count remarks about Duprez’ singing. The problem, of course, is that ‘Ah! Mathilde, idole de mon âme!’ is a duet in the first act. So either Dumas wasn’t much of an opera buff or he was really in a hurry when he wrote the scene. Regardless, his novel is a masterpiece of plot and intrigue.

Here’s the duet sung by Nicolai Gedda and Gabriel Bacquier. The tenor part is very high and overshadows that of the baritone. In fact, it is the casting of a tenor who can cope with Arnold that presents the greatest difficulty in producing Tell.

Ah! Mathilde, idole de mon âme!

The complete novel is here.