Voyage by Guillaume de RubrouckQaraqorum - Voyage dans l'Empire mongol, opera by François Bernard Mâche (music and libretto) to Voyage dans l'Empire mongol by Guillaume de Rubrouck. Created by the Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing at the Théâtre Municipal in Tourcoing on 2 March 2017. Attended performance on 5 March 2017.Christophe Crapez, tenorXavier Legasa, baritonePaul-Alexandre Dubois, baritoneQuatuor DebussyRegie: Alain Patiès

Qaraqorum cannot be called an opera right away. It is more a mixture of theatre, music, history and philosophy. Qaraqorum was the capital of the Mongolian empire in the 13th century. In 1253, the Franciscan priest Guillaume de Rubrouck was sent by Louis IX (called Saint-Louis) to the Mongolian Steppe to meet a prince who was believed to be a Christian. On foot and horseback, the man covered about 16,000 km in two years via Constantinople to the heart of Central Asia. He met Buddhists, shamans, Muslims, Jews and Christians living seemingly in perfect harmony. Back from his long trek, he wrote a report for the king in which he mentioned his acquaintance with these peoples, their customs, their languages and their religions. The report expressed sentimental concern and unease. Departing with a strong belief in the Gospels and a firm view of good and evil, his godliness was shaken and challenged by the presence of all these deviant faiths that were lived with equal piety but completely differently. That's pretty much what the programme booklet tells us. Read Rubrouck's full story here. 
" Tolerance  
This new opera has an obvious message and was composed on behalf of the French state with only one idea in mind: to urge the dissenters among us to tolerance. Clearly, therefore, the creation and also the subsequent performance were school performances. Probably unique in opera history! Imbibing an ideology has to happen at a young age. The idea is not new: the Nazis realised it back in 1922 when they created the Hitlerjugend. "Tolerance": the magic word to solve all our conflicts! If it was possible in the Middle Ages, why not now? First and foremost, tolerance must come from both sides and that is certainly not the case in our society. Besides, religion is not the ideal example to promote tolerance and we best take Guillaume de Rubrouck's message with a grain of salt. Nor does the programme booklet tell us that this was already a second trip, preceded by a delegation led by André de Longjumeau, and that the Mongol response then was clear: the will of the Eternal God was that the Mongols should rule the world. Religions were never tolerant of each other and were the source of the most gruesome wars. Heretics were burned at the stake and infidels were (and still are!) beheaded. The correct-and right-thinking government will pretend to us that those beheadings are only done by terrorists.That is confusing the symptom of a disease with the cause. Richard Dawkins, in his book "God as Misconception" (original title: The God Delusion), even argues that the term "terrorists" is unjustified. They are believers who do strictly what religious doctrine requires of them and are themselves convinced of their righteousness. They are no more than hitmen with particularly low IQs who are convinced they will be rewarded in the afterlife. The principals are in the mosques and in the Quranic schools that are co-financed by us, nota bene.The root of evil is that religions exist anyway! But that's a chapter that would distract us too far...
The opera
Back to the opera which unfortunately doesn't have much to offer musically. The journey is told in proper chronic order by three characters: a tenor and two baritones who barely sing ten per cent of their lines effectively. So we got more theatre than opera. Moreover, this was brought in a semi-humorous style that strongly resembles skits or cabaret. The (too) short pieces sung were also difficult to bring home. At first we associated it with Gregorian chant but the entries were too brutal for that, madrigals is also not the right term and for a moment we even thought of "Les voix Bulgares". The voices themselves sounded euphonious and crisp, but it is difficult to give an individual rating as they sang together almost all the time.
We got the best musical moments from the Quatuor Debussy, especially when they were briefly allowed to play alone, undisturbed by the singing or the declamation.The act of the opera is about a long journey in distant, unknown lands. We therefore expected the video footage to bring us some breathtakingly beautiful, colourful projections of the Eurasian Steppe and local costumes 
bring. Of course, that was "wishful thinking". Instead, some animations were shown, briefly a map and the scene-filling rear projection wall even often just remained blank.(Due to a lack of inspiration?)The work lasts no more than an hour and 20 minutes, but it seemed like an eternity. We can hardly recommend a visit, but those who still want to see the opera can still go to the Théâtre Cinéma Paul Eluard in Choisy-le-Roi on 9 May 2017, to La Crypte in Lagorce on 8 July 2017 and to the Théâtre 95 in Cergy-Pontoise on 21 December 2017. Those interested in Guillaume de Rubrouck (William of Rubrouck) should visit the museum in the Flemish-French village of Rubrouck.There are also several books about his travels, including by Willy Spillebeen (Rubroeks reizen - Davidsfonds -2009).G.M. (Published on 6/3/2017)

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