Picture of the Week : Scenes from Vienna

Back when I studied abroad in 2008 in Paris, I took a trip to Vienna, Austria. We had visited Barcelona before going to Vienna and had received great advice from a woman in our hostel. She said that all of the museums were like the ones in Paris so there was no point in visiting them. So instead we checked out the architecture

and saw an opera for 2 euros ( standing for the whole La Traviata) but it was well worth it.

The Opera House

La Traviata

The only to remember is that when you are planning a trip back to Paris, remember to book the train for Vienna, Austria not Vienna, France. So we ended up paying 300 euros each to make it to Strasbourg, France and then tried to ask the train to reimbourse us for "our" mistake. Let's just say the site wasn't very clear, because I had friends who ended up taking the train to Vienna, France thinking they were going to Austria, they got off and were like "Where are we ?"

Strasbourg, France

 Have you visited Vienna or Austria ?

 

Now Playing: Cadmus et Hermoine

This week at Opéra Comique, Lully's tragic opera will be playing Cadmus and Hermoine till the 5th of november. It is an opera in 5 acts, the music is played by Le Poème Harmonique, they have performed this opera once before at the Opéra Comique, most of the opera can be found on youtube as the performance was filmed.
Below is a snippet of the opera for this year, with a brief introduction in French by Benjamin Lazar, the producer.



A little history about the opera:
The French-language libretto is by Philippe Quinault, after Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It was first performed on April 27, 1673, at the Paris Jeu de Béquet.


The prologue, in praise of King Louis XIV, represents him as Apollo slaying the Python of Delphi. The opera itself concerns the love story of Cadmus, legendary founder and king of Thebes, Greece, and Hermione (Harmonia), daughter of Venus and Mars. Other characters include Pallas Athene, Cupid, Juno, and Jupiter.

With Cadmus et Hermione, Lully invented the form of the tragédie en musique (also known as tragédie lyrique). From contemporary Venetian opera, Lully incorporated elements of comedy among the servants, elements which he would later avoid, as would subsequent reformers in Italian opera. A contemporary transcription of the overture by Jean-Henri d’Anglebert remains a possible part of the harpsichord repertoire.

For information about ticket registration, check out Opéra Comique's site.