opéra français • la reine de chypre
Vlaams Radio Koor • Hervé Niquet • Orchestre de chambre de Paris • Véronique Gens • Cyrille Dubois • Étienne Dupuis • Éric Huchet • Christophoros Stamboglis • Artavazd Sargsyan • Tomislav Lavoien
Although Fromental Halévy’s name entered the annals of the history of French music thanks to the success of La Juive (The Jewess) in 1835, many have argued that La Reine de Chypre (The Queen of Cyprus), written six years later, deserves to be considered his masterpiece. Wagner in particular found the music of the latter opera “noble, moving, even new and elevating” – so much so that in an article he provided a complete analysis of the work.
The story of La Reine de Chypre takes the audience along on a voyage from the palaces of Venice to those of Cyprus. Always ready to try something new, the publisher Maurice Schlesinger invested the enormous sum of 30,000 francs to acquire the rights to the opera. Alas, despite the initial successes, which led to various translations and arrangements, the work has since disappeared from the European stages and has not been performed in the last century and a half. This year, Palazzetto Bru Zane resurrected the forgotten masterpiece with the latest release in the critically acclaimed 'opéra français' series.
This recording has been awarded a CHOC de Classica and Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (PdSK) 2018 3/4.