Antonio Salieri has the status of legend that is only granted to famous criminals... yet he did not assassinate Mozart! Glorious in Vienna where he had become the main composer, "dauphin" of Gluck and played throughout Europe, he was able to conquer the Parisian public by surprise. His master Gluck had reluctantly accepted the commission for the opera Les Danaïdes , and had secretly entrusted it to Salieri. The creation in 1784 aroused the greatest excitement, and the public recognized this work as a peak of Gluck's art... until a press release from him specified that the work was entirely by his hand. by Salieri! Overnight, Salieri became the darling of Paris. Marie Antoinette, who had attended the premiere and received the "real" composer on several occasions, rewarded him commensurate with the event.
In 1787 Salieri took on Beaumarchais' first opera: Tarare , whose author had launched an unprecedented media campaign, prohibiting all access to rehearsals, and arousing such anticipation that four hundred guards had to be stationed around the opera. to contain the crowds of the first in 1787! The work, which combines Turkishness with a violent critique of the excesses of despotism, was "revolutionary" in more than one way, and was an extraordinary triumph, remaining for several decades the most lucrative show at the Paris Opera! Salieri and Da Ponte recast the work for an Italian version, Axur, Re d'Ormuz created in Vienna for the emperor in 1788, and which toured the world, from Russia to Brazil.
Denouncing the violence of despotism, the valiant general persecuted by the evil sultan sees the people rise up, put the tyrant to death, acclaim the general and put him on the throne: this intrigue unknowingly prefigures the Revolution, the death of Louis XVI and Bonaparte! To the point that in 1790 in Paris, on the occasion of the events commissioned for the Fête de la Fédération, Beaumarchais had a complementary final act carried out to create The Coronation of Tarare , which was also a great success.
Christophe Rousset brings this incredible work back to life, whose virtuosity of Beaumarchais' libretto makes it a true "monument" of French theater.
