Zoroaster by Rameau, so 30 dub 2022, Od (2022/2022), Dirigent Alexis Kossenko, Théâtre Municipal Raymond Devos, Tourcoing, France

Alexis Kossenko and an extraordinary cast bring Rameau's first version of Zoroaster back to life! Rameau left two very different versions of his musical tragedy Zoroaster : the first, in 1749, suffered cabals that forced the poet and the composer to withdraw the work from the poster and to completely redesign it in 1756 to make it more conform to expectations. In 1749, Rameau was at the top of his game. Melody, harmony, orchestration, choral writing hold no secrets for him. With Zoroaster , he innovates again. For the first time, he does away with the prologue, and makes the overture a philosophical “program”, the fight between day and night, good and evil. The 1749 version is entirely subject to the avant-garde ideas of Freemasonry: the initiatory journey of Zoroaster is exactly that of Tamino inThe Magic Flute , but two generations earlier. What confuses part of the public is the abandonment of a mythological or medieval subject in favor of a distant Persian mythology: Zoroaster is a moral, social and philosophical opera. The 1749 version was still awaiting its recreation: Alexis Kossenko takes up the challenge with passion.