O vin dissipe la tristesse

HAMLET
Opéra en 5 actes
Composer : Ambroise Thomas (1811–1896)
Libretto : Michel Carré & Jules Barbier, after Alexandre Dumas, père and Paul Meurice’s ‘Hamlet’ (1847), itself an adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’ (1602)
First performance : Paris Opéra (Salle Le Peletier), 9 March 1868

SETTING: Elsinore, Denmark.

PLOT: Something’s rotten in the state of Denmark.
Carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,
Accidental judgements, casual slaughters,
Deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall’n on the inventors’ heads.

No. 10 – Chanson bachique : ‘O vin, dissipe la tristesse’
Hamlet has asked a troupe of players to stage The Murder of Gonzago; the play’s the thing wherein he’ll catch the conscience of the king. He pretends he only wants to forget the death of his father and be diverted, and sings a drinking song.

Hamlet (baritone): Thomas Hampson
Marcellus (tenor): Gérard Garino
Horatio (bass): François Le Roux
Ambrosian Singers

Conductor : Antonio de Almeida
London Philharmonic Orchestra
London, 1993