P y g m a l i o n

Fidelio’s libretto, based on a comic opera by Bouilly and Gaveaux, met resounding success in Paris in 1798. Drawing inspiration from the Reign of Terror, a period of the French Revolution, this artwork inspired many composers. Beethoven turned it into an ode to justice and made it his philosophical legacy. At the end of a galant century and in the early days of a society founded on mariage, the marital love that was denied to Beethoven is a the heart of this drama.

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The composer worked on this opera for ten years, until it triumphed in 1814. Like Mozart, Beethoven had transcended singspiel’s form and language. More importantly, he had entrusted lyrical art with its true mission: the public.

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Rarely played in Paris, Fidelio finds an opera auditorium at the Opéra Comique that is very similar to the ones Beethoven knew back in the 1810’s.Together with Siobhan Stagg and Michael Spyres, Raphaël Pichon and Cyril Teste have created a performance induced with fiery musical intensity and politics.