Giovanni Legrenzi (1626 – 1690)
Opéra en 3 actes
Livret de Giulio Cesare Corradi
Créé le 4 février 1675 à Venise au Teatro San Salvador
Direction musicale : Christophe Rousset
Mise en scène : Jetske Mijnssen
Décors : Herbert Murauer
Costumes : Julia Katharina Berndt
Éclairages : Bernd Purkrabek
Venere : Sophie Junker
Giove : Carlo Allemano
Giunone : Julie Boulianne
Apollo : Jake Arditti
Cintia : Soraya Mafi
Mercurio : Rupert Entiknap
Marte : Christopher Lowrey / Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian (Versailles)
Nettuno : Stuart Jackson
Plutone : Andre Morsch
Saturno : Arnaud Richard
Discordia : Alberto Miguelez Rouco
Amore : Ada Elodie Tuca
On 4 February 1675, the people of Venice hastened to the Teatro San Salvador to hear the latest piece by Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-1690) and to admire the stage machinery and artifices unstintingly deployed to bring the drama to life. La Divisione del mondo was an immense success at this premiere, which was followed by numerous revivals. Corradi’s libretto fits perfectly the requirements of a dramma per musica in the latter half of the 17th century. Reworking the myths, it depicts the division of the universe following the victory of the gods of Olympus over the Titans. All of which is in reality a pretext for a stage presentation of the gods’ worst misbehaviour, of which all are guilty, with the exception of the patriarch, Saturn. Venus, her son Cupid, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, as well as Apollo, are the protagonists in grotesque situations produced by byzantine amorous intrigues.
It is on this complicated plot, driven by a myriad of unexpected turns of events, that Legrenzi hangs a quite remarkable opera whose recent rediscovery encourages us to reexplore for our greater pleasure the oeuvre of one of the most revered composers of his time.
New coproduction Opéra national du Rhin – Opéra national de Lorraine.