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Grétry: Richard the Lionheart
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From Thursday 11th to Sunday November 14th 2021
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Royal Opera
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1h20 without intermission
Cast
Rémy Mathieu Blondel
Pierre Derhet Richard
Melody Louledjian Laurette
Marie Perbost Antonio, The Countess
Geoffroy Buffière Sir Williams
Jean-Gabriel Saint-Martin Urbain, Florestan, Mathurin
François Pardailhé Guillot, Charles
Cécile Achille Madame Mathurin
Charles Barbier Seneschal
Laura Jarrell Colette
Virginie Lefèbvre Béatrix
François Joron A Peasant
The Ballet of the Royal Opera
Le Concert Spirituel Choir and Orchestra
Hervé Niquet Conductor
Marshall Pynkoski Director
Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg Choreography
Antoine Fontaine Set Design
Camille Assaf Costumes
Hervé Gary Lighting
Dominic Who Fight Choreographer
Presentation
A king imprisoned, his knights who wish to free him and sing of their loyalty to him, a famous tune “Ô Richard, Ô mon Roi” sung in the Royal Opera by Louis XVI’s Bodyguards during their banquet on October 1, 1789, in homage to Marie-Antoinette and the king. This song ignited outrage, drawing the crowd to Versailles, who forced the royal family to leave the palace on October 6, never to return… This marked the end of Versailles and its Royal Opera. Here is the celebrated Richard the Lionheart (1784) by Grétry, the most renowned 18th-century French opéra-comique in Europe for a century, now returning to the stage after decades of absence!
Show moreHervé Niquet and Marshall Pynkoski are taking on this doubly historic task. This production deliberately sets the action during the reign of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, with whom Grétry’s opera heroes were easily identified by their contemporaries. Grétry himself was no stranger to the Royal Opera, having premiered Cephalus and Procris there in 1773. The set design reflects the style of painted canvases and frames typical of the Royal Opera’s construction, while the costumes are those of pre-revolutionary France (no longer the medieval style used in the original production), and the staging showcases Sedaine’s rich text, which quickly gained fame.
As Marie-Antoinette’s favorite composer, Grétry’s Richard represents both the peak of his career, the dawn of an artistic style soon embraced by Romanticism, and a powerful historical marker of a fading era. This is an opportunity to revive the opera in the grand history of Versailles and France. It is also the first full production at the Royal Opera of Versailles since 1789!
Production: Royal Opera / Château de Versailles Spectacles
Co-production: Le Concert Spirituel, Centre de musique baroque de Versailles
Created in 2019 with exceptional support from ADOR
The Centre de musique baroque de Versailles provides its décor collection.
Individual parts produced by the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles based on the Breitkopf edition.
Programme
Comic opera in three acts with a libretto by Michel-Jean Sedaine, premiered in Paris in 1784.
Production: Royal Opera of Versailles, 2019 – Revival
- Download the programme of the show
And also…
Grétry – Richard Coeur de Lion
N°28
Discover or rediscover this ode to the last King of France! For its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, the Royal Opera revives the most famous French opera-comique of the 18th century for more than a century.
More info
