Organization

Conductor

Sébastien d'Hérin

Singer

Gaëlle Arquez

Circé

Caroline Mutel

Astérie

Hélène Carpentier

Eolie

Romain Bockler

Phaebetor

Sébastien Droy

Ulysse

Nicolas Courjal

Elphénor

Opéra Royal de Versailles

Orchestra

Ensemble Les Nouveaux Caractères

French

Circé -  (Circe)

Versailles

France

Opéra Royal

Circé Desmarets

Public

Circe

English

Approved

Tragedy in music in a prologue and five acts on a libretto by Louise-Geneviève Gillot de Saintonge created in Paris in 1694.

Henry Desmarest is, with Charpentier and Lorenzani, one of the great "thwarted destinies" of music under Louis XIV. A precocious and talented composer, appreciated by the King from his twenties, he was not accepted as Master of the Royal Chapel, and Lully also convinced the King not to let him go to study in Italy. Taking advantage of the weakness of one of the composers of the Chapel, Desmarest writes several Grands Motets for him, until the scandal pushes the King to dismiss the incompetent

For his part, Desmarest made a great career in opera from 1693 to 1698, but his fate was shattered: he exchanged a promise of marriage with Mademoiselle de Saint Gobert in 1697, to which his father did not consent. At the birth of their child, the father sues for seduction and kidnapping: the couple flees to Brussels to escape justice, which condemns Desmarest to be hanged in effigy on the Place de Grève. Become principal Chapel Master of the new King of Spain Philippe V (the grandson of Louis XIV), then from 1707 Superintendent of Music of the Duke of Lorraine, he pursued a career far from Paris and its immense musical possibilities. Despite the admiration that Louis XIV had for his works, he never authorized his return to France; in 1720,

His lyrical tragedy Circe , premiered in 1694, is his second opera and one of his great successes: the libretto focuses on the meeting of Ulysses and the Magicienne, for which the composer reserves a role the size of the famous heroines. by Lully. The very rich orchestration is already moving away from the Lullist style, and the dramatic force of the work carries everything in its path. For this resurrection, it is the flamboyant Véronique Gens who will play the emblematic figure of the evil and in love Circe!

Circe by Desmarest, From (2022/2022), Conductor Sébastien d'Hérin, Opéra Royal, Versailles, France

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

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Further reading

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Venues