1- Jules Massenet Cendrillon " Enfin je suis ici... " (At last I'm here...)
2- Camille Saint-Saëns Henry VIII "O cruel memory".
3- Jules Massenet Le Cid " De cet affreux combat... Pleurez ! pleurer mes yeux !... "
4- Hector Berlioz La damnation de Faust "d'Amour l'ardente flamme" (The Damnation of Faust)
5- Charles Gounod Sapho "Où suis je?...Ô ma lyre immortelle" "
6- Jules Massenet Werther, Prelude
7- Jules Massenet Werther "Werther... Werther... Who would have told me the place... I'm writing to you from my little room" "
8- Jules Massenet Werther " Va, laisse couler mes larmes... "
9- Fromental Halévy La Juive " Il va venir et d'effroi... " (He'll come and frighten you)
10- Georges Bizet Carmen " L'Amour est enfant de Bohême " " (Air alternatif)
11- Charles Gounod La Reine de Saba "Me voilà seule enfin... Plus grand, dans son obscurité" (The Queen of Sheba)
Published by Klarthe on November 8, 2019
A flame of love
The 19th century, the age of Romanticism. Grand opera and opéra-comique dominate in France. While the former questioned the exercise of power, religion and the roots of civilization, the latter depicted a sentimental universe before gradually moving towards lyrical drama.
The heroines of these operas evolve in a patriarchal society, where women are ready to make any sacrifice for their lovers. They speak of their love, their fears and their despair.
Cinderella expresses her fears on returning from the ball, obliged to hide from her in-laws and flee alone in the dark, while Catherine d'Aragon misses her native Spain, which she will never see again, having just been repudiated. Marguerite and Sapho suffer from having been abandoned by their lovers, Charlotte laments having had to reject the one she loves, and Chimène mourns her father, killed by her fiancé. As for Rachel, she waits for Samuel, beset by bad omens, while Balkis and Carmen sing of their ardor...
Karine Deshayes, winner of two Victoires de la Musique awards, performs the roles of these 9 female figures, from operas by 6 French composers written between 1835 and 1899, all of whom have in common that they have in their hearts "an amorous flame".
Distribution
Karine Deshayes mezzo-soprano
Victor Hugo Franche-Comté Orchestra
Jean-François Verdier conductor
Chloé Van Soeterstède artistic director