Opera: Guercœur

In the ethereal beyond, time and space are abolished. The shadows, freed from their earthly cares, celebrate the greatness of the goddess Truth. Cloaked in eternal glory, she triumphantly enthrones, surrounded by Beauty and Goodness; at her feet lies Suffering in her cloak of blood. In the midst of this chorus of praise rises a discordant lament: "To live! Who will give me back the intoxication of living?" It's that of Guercoeur, who died in the prime of life after finding love with Giselle and freeing his people from a tyrant alongside his friend Heurtal. Unable to rest, Guercoeur begs for his body back. Vérité warns him: two years have already passed on this earth where nothing lasts. His fall from Paradise could be brutal...



A committed composer, feminist and Dreyfusard, Albéric Magnard (1865-1914) was like his character: a hero who died for his country's freedom. In September 1914, he was killed trying to fend off German soldiers who burnt down his house in retaliation. Many of his unpublished manuscripts were destroyed, including the Guercoeur manuscript, which was later miraculously reconstituted. After a long sojourn in the purgatory of forgotten masterpieces, this fascinating opera, whose prodigious score contains post-Wagnerian fulgurances transfigured by the colors of French music, is revived on a French operatic stage for the first time since its premiere in 1931, thanks to Ingo Metzmacher, Christof Loy and Stéphane Degout.

6-85€

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