Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Le Roi at le fermier

An opera beloved by Marie-Antoinette makes a stunning comeback.
“Le Roi,” which had its premiere in 1762 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, has been lovingly resurrected by Opera Lafayette, a Washington period-instrument group that specializes in obscure 18th-century French repertory. It opened in Washington recently and was staged at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Thursday evening on its way to the Opéra Royal de Versailles next month. 

The work is based on Robert Dodsley’s “King and the Miller of Mansfield,” a tale of how the king of England loses his hunting party in Sherwood Forest. In “Le Roi” Richard, the young gamekeeper, loves Jenny, the shepherdess (the role played by Marie Antoinette at Versailles), who is abducted but resists the advances of the lascivious Lord Lurewel. Meanwhile the King wanders incognito among the peasants, learning that royalty should listen to their subjects more often. (Read entire post.)
More HERE and HERE.

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