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    Thésée

    Jean-Baptiste Lully

    The art of lyric tragedy in the French style in which Lully’s music is a natural pairing for Quinault’s verses.

    Christophe Rousset
    Christophe Rousset © Eric Larrayadieu
    Karine Deshayes
    Karine Deshayes © Aymeric Giraudel

    Mathias Vidal | Thésée
    Karine Deshayes | Médée
    Deborah Cachet | Aeglé
    Marie Lys | Cléone / Cérès / A shepherdess
    Bénédicte Tauran | Minerve / La Grande Prêtresse de Minerve / A divinity 
    Thaïs Raï-Westphal | Dorine / Venus / A shepherdess / A divinity 
    Robert Getchell | Bacchus / A pleasure / A shepherd / An old man / A divinity / Un jeu
    Fabien Hyon | A Pleasure / An Old man / A combatant / A divinity / Un jeu
    Philippe Estèphe | Egée
    Guilhem Worms | Arcas / Mars / A pleasure / Un jeu 

    Christophe Rousset | direction
    Les Talens Lyriques
    Chœur de chambre de Namur | direction Thibaut Lenaerts

    Sung in French with French and English subtitles

    We owe the invention of lyric tragedy which dominated the French opera world for over a century to the Florentine composer Giovanni Battista Lulli. Although his early works (Cadmus, Alceste) still bear the traces of the blend of registers which existed at the time, notably the Italian influence, Thésée stands out as the first opus in what would become a highly codified form: an overture in the French style, an allegorical prologue praising the king, and five acts illustrating a heroic subject. The extremely concise libretto cuts straight to the chase and achieves an unprecedented unity of tone and dramatic tension. The libretto by Quinault, a superbly effective stage writer, makes a major contribution to the success of the work. The clarity of the poet’s verse is an obvious and perfect match for Lully’s music. Christophe Rousset pursues his exploration of the Lully corpus with a team of soloists equally well versed in the art of declamation and singing

    Production Théâtre des Champs-Elysées 

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