Hippolyte et Aricie

The prince Hippolyte loves Aricie, a beautiful prisoner devoted to Diana’s cult. As King Theseus’ disappeared in Hell, Hippolyte asks his mother in law, Queen Phaedra, for help. Little does he know that Phaedra secretly loves him and wants to offer him her hand and throne in marriage. And who could imagine that Theseus would come back from Pluto’s kingdom?

On 1st October 1733 was created a lyrical tragedy of such extraordinary intensity it changed the course of French music. Hippolyte and Aricie was based on Euricide and Racine’s work. Rameau, organist and little-known theorist in his fifties, thus produced his first opera. He was from then on going to rule the music scene with his descriptive orchestra and inventive harmony, both always at the service of drama.

Rameau adjusted his work of art each time it was played. Here, it is the 1757s version, without prologue, that Raphaël Pichon directs at the head of the Pygmalion group, whose orchestra happens to play period instruments. Jeanne Candel, who always commits at making music a theatre play , couldn’t help but connect with the visionary Rameau.

Lyrical tragedy in five acts, Libretto by the Abbé Pellegrin. Third version created at the Académie Royale de Musique in 1757.