New Perfume Review: Amouage Opus IX + Christopher Chong’s Coloratura Soprano Draw

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Opus IX debuts June 1 (it will be priced at $355

Opus IX is the latest addition to Amouage’s luxurious Library Collection, an assembly of diverse and densely constructed formulae launched initially in 2010. They are designed to be out of time, reckless, a cunning initiation of gaudy brilliance and sensual privacy. The Omani brand showcases the region’s distinctive olfactory history and potential market force as a manufacturer of luxury perfumes. I was born in Bahrain and spent childhood time in Saudi Arabia travelling with my parents, so the traditions of combining powerful fragrant oils and smoke on skin, fabric and in hair is something I remember vividly from growing up. Even now working in the perfume business, one of the things I love about my Middle Eastern clientele is their aromatic bravery; wearing three or more scents together, overlapping styles to create their own shifting olfactive weather.

christopher chong  creative director of amouage

Christopher Chong Creative Director of Amouage (photo courtesy of Christopher Chong)

From 2006 onwards under the guidance of CEO David Crickmore and Creative Director Christopher Chong, Amouage has developed into one of the world’s most recognisable luxury perfume houses, the house has become a byword for the use of sensual, Middle Eastern materials in scent, balms, rare resins, decadent roses, swooning animalic ouds and veritable desert caravan of extraordinary spices.

 

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Maria Callas as Violetta in La Traviata Lisbon 1958

The Library Collection is a little different from the brand’s regular offerings; an anthology of detailed tomes offering a more refined and complex vision. Created in collaboration with Nathalie Lorson and Pierre Negrin, Opus IX is described by Christopher Chong as a fragrance in three acts, tying neatly in with the regular head, heart and base note structure of a scent. The three acts in question being operatic, Verdi’s tragic masterpiece La Traviata in fact and most specifically the Lisbon Traviata of 1958, with Maria Callas in the role of doomed courtesan Violetta, singing at the height of her always controversial and divisive powers. Now I’m not an opera fan I’m afraid, hip-hop and electro are more my thing,  but  there are perhaps a few operatic voices I admire and I’m familiar with the story of La Traviata as it is based on La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas (fils), a novel I know well in French which I revisited again.

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La Traviata  La Fenice Opera House poster

Giuseppe Verdi’s work with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave debuted on the 6th March in 1853 at the La Fenice Opera House in Venice. An opera in three acts, three acts so demanding it is said that a different kind of voice is needed for each act.

 

The role of Violetta is written for a coloratura soprano, a more ornamental incarnation of the soprano voice. The word coloratura means ‘deliberate ornamentation of a melody’ and the coloratura soprano as exemplified by Maria Callas,  has a high vocal range capable of injecting complex emotional drama into the music by executing embellishments such as trills, staccatti and running vocal passages. It is this that makes their performances so compelling and sometimes unpredictable.

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Maria Callas as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata

Callas inhabited her roles with immense violence, she was a rarity among opera singers in that she could genuinely act and emote on stage as well as sing.  The Lisbon Traviata is legendary among Callas lovers for the bravura performance of her emotional voice. Despite being shaky in some of the upper register, this only seemed to add to the poignancy of her portrayal of the anguished and conflicted Violetta, a role she played sixty-three times in her career.

PortraitofaCamellia(TSF)

Camellia flower (TSF)

Opus IX attempts in olfactive form to capture the intensity of Violetta’s life. It is a big scent, bold and strident, dazzling out of the bottle with enough metal-edged jasmine to fill a hundred old opera houses to their gilded rafters. A constructed imaginary camellia accord is suggested in the top, a certain creaminess and romance appropriate to Violetta’s fragile consumptive state, an aromatic reference to her emblematic bloom.

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Maria Callas as Violetta in La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, Lisboa, 1958

The first act of the opera takes pace in Violetta’s Paris house where she holds her supposedly notorious salons and entertains her lovers. There is a party, the mood is buoyant and a man, Alfredo, confesses he loves her despite knowing she is a courtesan and wholly unsuitable for a man of his class and standing. Act I of Opus IX is correspondingly vivacious and dramatic, a whirl of that insistent jasmine, a symbol perhaps of Violetta’s piercing and undeniable presence. The spicy bite of black pepper is a night thing.. a shadow perhaps of things to come, it gnaws into the floral cacophony, mingling a little with the rising balms and animalics from below. I smell fire, a huge blast of petrolic fumes each time I spray it as if a naked flame would burn the stage to the ground.

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Maria Callas La Traviata

Act II of the opera brings us to a brief hiatus of bucolic charm as Violetta, having abandoned her former life, settles in her country estate with Alfredo and tries to pretend to be happy. But her past casts long shadows. Alfredo’s father visits, his daughter is getting married. Alfredo and Violetta’s scandalous liaison will stain any future happiness for the family. He wants her to break off her engagement to his son. She refuses at first and then reluctantly agrees to relinquish Alfredo for the sake of the family’s honour. This act of sacrifice quietly impresses Alfredo’s father who is persuaded that this beautiful ex-courtesan is a woman of honour. Act II of Opus IX is a slow affair of seething creamy woods and contradictory peaks of bitter sweat-stained glove leather and an unusual acrid beeswax note that La Traviata smears brutally through the midsection, this mix sits on the skin with a powerful, assaulting intensity. There is an interesting instability to the middle part actually; you can sense the imminence of end.

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Maria Callas  as Violetta dying  Lisbon La Traviata Act III

Act III of is inevitably soaked in sadness as Violetta’s tuberculosis finally ravages her. There is a duel for her honour and affection, reconciliation and her death in the arms of her beloved Alfredo. It is one of the greatest roles in opera and the Lisbon performance by Callas in 1958 is considered by many to be one of the all time great interpretations. What Callas may have lacked occasionally in technique and subtlety she more than made up for in her extraordinary physical interpretation of roles, living and breathing them as if her very life depended on them. Act III of Opus IX is rather sombre and darkening in sympathy, the dirty, sorrowful base notes of amber and civet seemingly adrift in the enormous sea of fading jasmine. Vetiver is listed, but I can’t smell this, it seems lost in the petrolic mist of waxen salinity that rises rather beautifully in the final stages.

MAria Callas at the opera 1956

Maria Callas at the Opera 1956 in a camelia strewn floral gown

There is no doubting the bravura intention and execution of Opus IX, it packs an emotive punch and feels very different in tonality and style to anything else in the Library Collection. I like the correlation between the scent and the drama of Callas’ performance in the Lisbon Traviata.  How much you believe in it depends on your acceptance of Amouage’s storytelling art.  Christopher Chong tells it with charismatic coloratura conviction. There are a few wobbles in the lower register, an olfactory stumble in the mid section but the overall performance is one of fiery floral beauty, fiercely supported by wonderful waxen woods and haunting leather sadness. As the curtain falls, you will remember this as one of most unusual and emotional Amouage perfumes in years.

Disclosure – Press sample 30ml bottle of Opus IX kindly supplied by Christopher Chong at Amouage, opinions my own.

The Silver Fox,  Editor and Author of The Silver Fox

MarieDuplessis

Marie Duplessis

 Marie Duplessis, the Parisian courtesan renamed Violetta Valery in La Traviata tragically died of tuberculosis at age 23. She was  the doomed heroine Margueritte Gautier most famously to another lover Alexandre Dumas (fils)  who wrote "La Dame aux Camélias", and  inspired  French perfumer Anais Beguine's fragrance of the same name. Art Direction: Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

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Amouage Opus IX image by TSF

We have a 10 ml decant from our press bottle of Opus IX for a reader in the USA, Canada or the EU (since we plan on buying the full bottle). To be eligible you must be a registered CaFleureBon reader. Please leave a comment with what appeals to you about Opus IX, where you live and if you have a favorite Amouage perfume.  Draw closes May 29, 2015

We announce the winners on our site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume

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38 comments

  • MikasMinion says:

    I have been curious about this one because it sounds so different from the Library Collection scents I have tried and because I’m a bit of an opera fan. My favorite from the collection is Opus VI but my all time favorite Amouage is Lyric Woman which is one of my top ten scents. I’m in the U.S.

  • A wonderfully written review, Mr Fox. The way you told the story of the opera simultaneously with the unfolding of the fragrance was just breathtaking. I liked Interlude, but I will be saving as well for a full bottle of Opus IX. Every time I read your writing my heart sticks in my throat from the sheer beauty of your prose. I am in the US. I love Lyric Women

  • Wonderful review, It was enjoy to read. Unfortunately I had never had chance to try any of the Amouage perfumes but I read a lot of those. I’m very interest about Opus IX, from the review it sounds fabulous.
    I live in Europe. Thank you for the draw!

  • I am very curious about this fragrance as I have never tried any from the Library Collection and this one sounds right up my alley! One of my favorite Amouage is Memoir – I always receive compliments when I wear it. Thank you for a beautiful review.

  • My favorite of my favorites is Interlude. I have not tried any of the Opus ones…yet. 🙂 I am interested how Amouage will do civet in the base notes of this perfume. U.S.A.

  • fazalcheema says:

    Even I am not a Jazz person like TSF but I also don’t get hip hop and rap…Electro is my thing though 🙂 This is a tribute to Maria Callas and Maria was a fascinating person, thus, I would love to try this. this review comes at an interesting time since I just acquired Lyric Man and Lyric Woman and hunting for Epic Man now. But my favorite Amouage remains Guy Robert masterpiece Amouage Gold. thanks so much for the draw. I am in the US

  • La Traviata is one of my favorite operas. And Maria Callas in Traviata is just divine. It’s interesting to see a perfume inspired by this opera. I think anything Amouage is worth trying at least once. My favorite Amouage is Gold Woman.

    I live in Canada. Thanks for the draw.

  • I have only tried one Amouage so far, but there’s so many I’d love to try. This one sounds really interesting – from the jasmine right down to the haunting leather. I’d love to try it, and to see La Traviata as well. Thanks for the draw, I’m in the US.

  • Elizabeth T says:

    I want to see the opera AND smell the perfume after reading this! Lovely article! My favorite Amouage so far is Beloved Woman, but this sounds so different than any of the ones I’ve tried. I want to smell the beeswax mingled in with the jasmine and amber…. ahhhhh. I’m in the US, thank you for the lovely draw!

  • Iphigenia says:

    I loved the way TSF manages to associate the scent with the drama of Callas’ performance in the Lisbon Traviata the notes of Opus IX with each act of Traviata and the different emotions that this divine interpretation from Callas’ wants to evoke that make Amouage Opus IX “a fiery floral beauty, fiercely supported by wonderful waxen woods and haunting leather sadness…. as the curtain falls, you will remember this as one of most unusual and emotional Amouage perfumes in years….”.
    This part makes Opus IX very appealing to me a perfume that is unusual and emotional, I definitely want to try it.
    I have heard so many good words about Amouage perfumes but never had the chance to experience one myself.
    I live in EU and I would be more than happy to experience this new creation since since it is a tribute to Maria Callas, (who happened to be also Greek as I am).

  • I love how the phases of Opus IX reflect on the acts in La Traviata. I am a big fan of Amouage, so it is difficult to pick a favorite. I really love Journey for Women and the newer Sunshine.

    I live in the U.S.

  • sanvean79 says:

    I have never smelled an Amouage! I know… Well, this sounds like a good start to indulge my love of dirty florals! I live in the EU

  • Laurentiu says:

    Opux IX seems to be more daring than any perfumes that Amouage has launched until now. The mix of leather, beeswax, civet and jasmine sounds right up my alley.
    My favourite from this house is Jubilation XXV, but I would love to test some of the fragrances for women for they too sound fantastic.
    I am from EU. Thanks!

  • Systeme D says:

    This sounds utterly gorgeous. I love the idea of pepper juxtaposed with jasmine, and the woods and leathers in the heart sound just my style.

    Amouage is always such high quality, and I would absolutely love to win this decant. My favorite Amouage is Memoir Woman.

    I am in the US, and I thank you for the chance!

  • I find Christopher Chong such an enigmatic person. For one thing, he looks like he’s about 20, yet he has this amazing job. He has an Asian heritage, in name at least, yet deals with perfumes of the heavy Middle Eastern type rather than the perfume light I am used to when in Asia. This is the first time I read he spent time in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. I have been in both places, and they are both at the bottom of my list of places I would ever want to go again! However, as woman, I observed how woman covered in black robes, often even covering their eyes, used perfumes and gold bangles to express their femininity.
    I loved this part of TSF’s description, “Act II of Opus IX is a slow affair of seething creamy woods and contradictory peaks of bitter sweat-stained glove leather and an unusual acrid beeswax note that La Traviata smears brutally through the midsection, this mix sits on the skin with a powerful, assaulting intensity. There is an interesting instability to the middle part actually; you can sense the imminence of end.” I just love that phrase, “you can sense the imminence of end.”!
    My favorite Amouage is Lyric Woman. I am in the USA.

  • colourshifted says:

    Lovely review, thank you so much. The story of La Traviata is so moving, and jasmine-leather seems so appropriate for Maria Calla. I do love almost everything I’ve tried from the House of Amouage. My favorite Amouage to date is Epic Woman. I am in the US.

  • Valentine Girl says:

    Have not tried any Amouage fragrance, but would love to try this for the jasmine & pink pepper juxtaposed next to the glove leather & beeswax. Really enjoyed the story of La Traviata told in three fragrant acts! USA resident.

  • I would love to try this peppery leathery Jasmine as I love Amouag my favorite is from another opera honor for women about Madame butterfly
    Thank you

  • The Library Collection releases are always interesting because of the extra-care that is evident in their production from a house that typically seems to pay close attention to detail to their releases. This one immediately caught my attention when I first read of its existence (here on CaFleureBon) because of the quoted notes in its composition. On paper, it seems to be a departure from the darker profiles of previous releases.

    Needless to say, I am thankful for the draw. My favorite Amouage (excluding Attars) is Dia Man. I am in the US.

  • BlessedTA says:

    Thanks for the article, Mr. Fox. I’ve not tried any of the Amouage fragrances.

    I am in Canada, Thanks for the chance.

  • Donna Spiegel says:

    Many thanks for the lovely article, I always enjoy reading you, Silver Fox. I have always been attracted to Middle Eastern influenced fragrances, oils, so it’s no wonder that Amouage is a house that I’ve found I liked. That usually spells trouble for me. It’s how I have so many bottles in the house 🙂 I like Amouage Woman I think, probably as my most favorite, as far as the Amouage line, Gold is lovely too – for when I go for the Big, Bold, richness of scent like days. I don’t think I found one yet I haven’t liked. They just have their days, that’s all. Love the idea also of building a fragrance with a story. although, I’m sure, many do have their own, we just may not be that aware perhaps.

    I’m a registered reader, in the US. Thanks again!

  • Jasmine is one of my favorite notes. This sounds so amazing and quite different. Loving the dirty base. So different from anything I own. My favorite Amouage is Interlude for men. Such a stunning creation to me. In the USA. Thank you.

  • I have not tried any Amouage perfumes yet, but I love opera and I have heard wonderful things about this perfume house! I am in the US, thank you.

  • It sounds very different from the other Amouages so I am curious to try. I am in the EU and my favourite Amouage is Opus IV.

  • My favorite Amouage perfume is Fate Woman and Beloved and I would love to try Opus IX because of the leather and beeswax notes in it. I am in the U.S. Thanks!

  • Wuat it is the most appealing for me about Opus IX is that it seems an animalic scent. I love leather and civet together then I would like to give this a try!
    I’m in the EU. Thanks.

  • Thank you for this lovely review and draw! I loved the pictures, especially of Maria Callas in the camellia gown in 1956–she could walk into Cannes today. I’m not an opera person either but got a good sense of La Traviata from this piece.

    The drama of Opus IX appeals to me the most! Much of the time I wear linear scents because they are predictable and comforting, but scents with distinct ‘acts’ intrigue me. Peppered jasmine and fire, then woods and beeswax and leather, then a base of civet and amber in a ‘sea’ of fading jasmine– sign me up for this ride!
    I like how emotional it sounds, ‘sorrowful’ and haunting’ .

    My favorite Amouages are Jubilation XXV and Opus VI
    USA

  • JCIMS1611 says:

    I’m in the US and would love to win this 10ml bottle. The notes sound great hopefully the jasmine, leather, and civet play a major role to my nose.

    Gold Man is one of my Amouage fragrances I could not go without.

  • Opus IX’s interpretation of the camellia flower that reveals itself in three acts appeals to me (especially Act I with its black pepper). I live in the US and have not yet had the pleasure of wearing an Amouage perfume.

  • Love the explanation of opus IX as much as the intricate acts of an opera. Very dramatic and emotional. Definetly captures the attention of a perfume connoisseur. My fav. Amouage is Dia Man.
    Thanks USA

  • When there is salinity mentioned in the description of a perfume, I am all ears…errr…nose! The intrigue is even more emphasized by the jasmine as the main character, and the peppery-leather addition! So far, I like most of the fragrances of Amouage I have tried, but the Library collection is my favorite – Opus I, III and IV the most!
    Thank you for the chance! I am in Bulgaria (EU).

  • I’ve always wanted to try an Amouage fragrance! The one that interests me the most is Reflection Man. Just looking at the notes, it sounds like a very interesting and animalic scent. It sounds quite good!

    I’m in Canada and thanks for the draw!

  • The mix of leather, beeswax, civet… sound fantastic. To be honest I would like to sample every new Amouage scent, because all the perfumes in this brand have something special. My favorite right now… Interlude Man.
    I’m in France. Thanks for the draw!

  • What a terrific review! Opus sounds magical, and definitely has the potential to be in my collection. I have never tried anything from Amouage, but I respect the house really much. Canada

  • The jasmine and romance of Opus IX appeals to me. Thus far, Memoir is my favorite Amouage. I’m in the US, thanks!

  • Greg Mayne says:

    Epic Man and Lyric Man are a couple of my fav fragrances of all time! I’ve read up on this Opus one, and it sounds very well made. I’m a big fan of animalic type scents. And love the smell of jasmine.
    I’m a Canadian reader

  • Catherine Davis says:

    edifying review! The Library Collection works are so gorgeous and splendidly wearable! I am wearing IV right now and I love Opus I and Opus ViII. But Opus VII is my soul scent – and I am a fifty year old woman. The only ones I do not own are 2 and 5… And nine.
    From the regular line I love both Jubilations, Epic, Fate and Gold. I used to love Lyric the best but that was because it was my first one. Also live Memoir. Like Honour, Journey and Sunshine and Dia too – because all Amouages are beautiful. You can tell I am a House groupie!!!!