Amor Conjugale, Giovanni Simone Mayr
COVID 19: Annulé

• 23 septembre 2020 – 20h00 – Salle Ravel de Levallois-Perret

Cast 

Zeliska – Chantal Santon-Jeffery

Floreska – Natalie Perez

Amorveno – Yu Shao

Ardelao – Bastien Rimondi

Peters – Olivier Gourdy

Moroski – Adrien Fournaison

Opera Fuoco Orchestra

Direction – David Stern

What is wonderful about Giovanni Simone Mayr’s opera L’Amor Conjugale is that we are immediately in familiar territory, namely that of Beethoven’s Fidelio. The story, adapted by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly and set in the imaginary 17th century Poland in the original libretto of Gaëtan Rossi, tells the tale of the opera’s heroine and her adventures in liberating her captive lover. As with Beethoven’s Fidelio, the six characters are colorful and the plot unravels in masterly fashion.

We are fortunate to have Mayr’s autograph manuscript. His fine pen traces an ever inventive musical imagination, and without ever repeating himself, he creates a transparent orchestral fabric which both supports the voice and lets it shine. This does not preclude the orchestra from occasionally taking the lead as in the prelude to the second tableau in which the audience discovers Amorveno (the husband) captive in a subterranean dungeon. Amor Conjugale enjoyed decades of success after its premiere in 1805. The proportions are perfect and in one act of one and a half hours, everything is said - with humor, gravitas and of course plenty of sentiment.

Pascal Duc, editor