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Les Fêtes d'Hébé
Amphithéâtre Olivier Messiaen - from 22 to 27 March 2017
Les Fêtes d'Hébé
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Amphithéâtre Olivier Messiaen - from 22 to 27 March 2017
2h20 with 1 interval
About
In few words:
"Let us dance and sing one and all, let us enjoy tender moments, and charming hours for happy lovers!"
Chœur des mariniers, Première entrée, scène V
After the scandal surrounding the first performance of Hippolyte et Aricie and the stormy reception of Les Indes galantes, Jean-Philippe Rameau finally gained incontestable fame with the opera‑ballet Les Fêtes d’Hébé ou Les Talens liriques. First performed at the Paris Royal Academy of music on 21st May 1739, the work was to be performed many times to constant acclaim up until 1770. The Prologue portrays Hébé, the goddess of youth, harassed by the Pleasures and obliged to flee Olympus and find solace in the arms of Love. The work recounts the victories of the God of Love in three acts or “Entrées” entitled “La Poésie”, “La Musique” and “La Danse”. With a libretto designed above all to show the arts of dancing and singing to full advantage, first in epic, then lyric and finally pastoral style, Rameau is able to give unfettered rein to his genius. The choreographer Thomas Lebrun proposes a resolutely contemporary interpretation of Rameau’s “opéra-ballet” with the artists of the Paris Opera Academy, choristers from the Centre de Musique Baroque in Versailles and the musicians of London’s Royal College of Music.
Représentations tout public - Voir les séances
22 mars 2017 à 20h
23 mars 2017 à 20h
25 mars 2017 à 20h
Représentations scolaires - Comment réserver ?
27 mars 2017 à 14h
Rencontre autour du spectacle
14 mars 2017 à 18h - Read more
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Les Fêtes d'Hébé
Opera in a prologue and three acts (1739)
In French
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Performances
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Article
An Hour in the Company of Thomas Lebrun
The Director of Les Fêtes d’Hébé
05’
When one goes to the opera, one sometimes likes to recall how many years have passed since the work was last performed. Spectators of Les Fêtes d’Hébé who indulge in this test of memory are unlikely to come up with a ready answer: Rameau’s opera-ballet has not been performed in a staged version for the last 247 years. It makes a striking comeback in a production with ballet, directed by choreographer Thomas Lebrun for the Paris Opera Academy.
Thomas Lebrun’s programme note is more poetic than explanatory and begins thus:
“There is love
There is war,
There are lies,
There are things left unsaid, games of power…
In the end, Les Fêtes d’Hébé accords well with our own time.”
Should one see in this versified form a humoristic nod to Rameau’s work, which is epic, lyrical and pastoral by turns and whose form has defied any attempt to stage it for the past 247 years? First performed at the Royal Academy of Music in Paris on 21st May 1739, Les Fêtes d’Hébé was a triumphant success, crowning its composer with glory after the scandal of Hippolyte et Aricie and Les Indes Galantes. Based on a libretto conceived essentially to showcase brilliant displays of singing and dancing, Rameau gave free expression to his genius. Indeed, it is difficult to resist this music whose melodic lines conceal marvellous underlying harmonies and pave the way towards German classicism. For this new production at the Amphitheatre, the singers of the Academy will be joined by the Choristers of the Centre for Baroque Music in Versailles and musicians from the Royal College of Music in London, conducted by Jonathan Williams.
I started out from very simple impressions: one colour per entrée. Blue, red and yellow. Thomas Lebrun