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Lully: Psyche
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Sunday January 30th 2022
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Royal Opera
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3pm | 2h15 without intermission
Cast
Ambroisine Bré Psyche, a distressed woman
Déborah Cachet Aglaure, Love, a nymph
Bénédicte Tauran Venus, a muse
Eugénie Lefebvre Flora, Cidippe, a nymph, a muse
Cyril Auvity Love, Vertumnus, Mercury
Robert Getchell Vulcan, a distressed man, a fury
Zachary Wilder Apollo, a zephyr, a fury
Fabien Hyon Palemon, Silenus, Bacchus, a zephyr, a fury
Philippe Estèphe Jupiter, a distressed man, a satyr
Anas Séguin Lycas, Momus, the King, the River, a fury
Matthieu Heim Mars
Dominique Bonnetain haute-contre
Benoît Porcherot haute-contre
Les Talens Lyriques
Christophe Rousset Conductor
Presentation
In 1671, Molière took on the grandest commission from Louis XIV: the tragédie-ballet Psyché, with choreography by Beauchamp and stage machinery by Vigarani. Molière laid out the plan for the work but, pressed for time, only wrote the first act, leaving the following acts to Pierre Corneille and the interludes to Quinault, who wrote the text to be set to music by Lully. The 340 performers of the triumphant premiere remain legendary, as do the 700 drums and 80 cannons gathered by Louis XIV to perform the Prologue and the final interlude in the Royal Bastion of the Dunkirk fortifications, just completed by Vauban!
Show moreMolière staged the piece at the Palais-Royal without Lully’s consent, leading to their definitive falling-out. In 1678, Lully reclaimed the interludes and had Thomas Corneille compose the necessary links to turn it into a tragédie lyrique, without using Molière’s text. In the end, Lully’s version of Psyché became the most vibrant reflection of the duo’s final shared creation… but with no more words from Molière!
A deep connoisseur of Lully’s operas, nearly all of which he has recorded, Christophe Rousset brings to this Psyché—a work marked by grandeur and twists—all the brilliance of the great masterpieces by the inventor of French opera.
With the support of Madame Aline Foriel-Destezet, Great Patron of the anniversary season of Les Talens Lyriques.
Programme
Lyric tragedy in five acts with a prologue, based on a libretto by Thomas Corneille and Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, premiered at the Royal Academy of Music in Paris in 1678.
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Download the programme of the show
And also…
Lully – Psyché
N°86
