The Festival de Beaune: ''Festival international d’opéra baroque'' is a month-long annual summer festival of
baroque opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
in
Beaune
Beaune () is the wine capital of Burgundy in the Côte d'Or department in eastern France. It is located between Lyon and Dijon. Beaune is one of the key wine centers in France, and the center of Burgundy wine production and business. The annua ...
, France. It is notable for revivals of many baroque operas and performances of
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
on
original instruments
Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of the musical era in which ...
.
More recently the town has also become host, in a different week, to the ''Festival international du film policier de Beaune'' - a festival of detective films.
Founded in 1982, the Baroque Music Festival of Beaune has presented over 80 operas, over 30 of them significant revivals and world, European or French premières; over 100 oratorio and sacred music concerts, including 5 revivals or premières. In addition to recitals by individual performers. The festival also runs classes and voice workshops, the ''Académie de Chant baroque''.
Venue
The concerts take place in the
Hospices de Beaune
The Hospices de Beaune or Hôtel-Dieu de Beaune is a former charitable almshouse in Beaune, France. It was founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of Burgundy, as a hospital for the poor. The original hospital building, the Hôtel-Dieu, one of ...
The following includes only major revivals and premières:
;1988
*
Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (; 1643 – 24 February 1704) was a French Baroque composer during the reign of Louis XIV. One of his most famous works is the main theme from the prelude of his ''Te Deum'', ''Marche en rondeau''. This theme is still us ...
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...
: ''
Flavio
''Flavio, re de' Longobardi'' ("Flavio, King of the Lombards", HWV 16) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Matteo Noris's ''Flavio Cuniberto''. It was Hand ...
''. dir.
René Jacobs
René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946) is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor, but later in his career he became known as a conductor of baroque and classical opera.
Biography Countertenor
Born in Ghent, Jacobs began his music ...
;1993
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...
: ''
Scipione
''Scipione'' ( HWV 20), also called ''Publio Cornelio Scipione'', is an opera seria in three acts, with music composed by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music in 1726. The librettist was Paolo Antonio Rolli. Handel composed ''Sc ...
''. dir.
Christophe Rousset
Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 18 ...
Marc Minkowski
Marc Minkowski (born 4 October 1962) is a French conductor of classical music, especially known for his interpretations of French Baroque works, and is the current general director of Opéra national de Bordeaux. His mother, Mary Anne (Wade), i ...
;1994
*
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...
: ''
Poro
The Poro, or Purrah or Purroh, is a men's secret society in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast, introduced by the Mane people. It is sometimes referred to as a hunting society and only males are admitted to its ranks. The female ...
''. dir.
Fabio Biondi
Fabio Biondi (born 15 March 1961) is an Italian violinist and conductor. He is a specialist in Baroque and early music.
Biography
Born in Palermo, Sicily, Biondi had a late start, having never even held a violin till age 11, but by the follo ...
;1995
*
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...
: ''
Riccardo Primo
''Riccardo primo, re d'Inghilterra'' ("Richard the First, King of England", HWV 23) is an opera seria in three acts written by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music (1719) . The Italian-language libretto was by Paolo Antonio R ...
''.
Christophe Rousset
Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 18 ...
;1994
*
Niccolò Jommelli
Niccolò Jommelli (; 10 September 1714 – 25 August 1774) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic reforms including redu ...
: ''
Armida abbandonata
''Armida Abbandonata'' (''Armida Abandoned'') is an opera in three acts by the Italian composer Niccolò Jommelli. The libretto, by Francesco Saverio De Rogatis, is based on the epic poem ''Jerusalem Delivered'' by Torquato Tasso. The opera was fi ...
''.
Christophe Rousset
Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 18 ...
;1995
*
Nicola Porpora
Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Porpora (17 August 16863 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli. Other students included compose ...
Rinaldo Alessandrini
Rinaldo Alessandrini (born 25 January 1960) is a virtuoso on Baroque keyboards, including harpsichord, fortepiano, and organ. He is founder and conductor of the Italian early music ensemble Concerto Italiano, performing music of Monteverdi, Vivaldi ...
;1996
*
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he ...
: ''
Acis et Galatée
''Acis et Galatée'' (''Acis and Galatea'') is an opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Unlike most of his operas, which are designated '' tragédies en musique'', Lully called this work a '' pastorale-héroïque'', because it was on a pastoral theme an ...
''.
Marc Minkowski
Marc Minkowski (born 4 October 1962) is a French conductor of classical music, especially known for his interpretations of French Baroque works, and is the current general director of Opéra national de Bordeaux. His mother, Mary Anne (Wade), i ...
;1997
*
Tommaso Traetta
Tommaso Michele Francesco Saverio Traetta (30 March 1727 – 6 April 1779) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic ref ...
Christophe Rousset
Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 18 ...
*
Antonio de Literes
Antoni de Literes (18 June 1673 Majorca – 18 January 1747 Madrid), also known as Antonio de Literes or Antoni Literes Carrión) was a Spanish composer of '' zarzuelas''. As with other national forms of baroque opera, Literes's stage wor ...
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...
: ''
Admeto
' ("Admetus, King of Thessaly", HWV 22) is a three-act opera written for the Royal Academy of Music with music composed by George Frideric Handel to an Italian-language libretto prepared by Nicola Francesco Haym. The story is partly based on Eur ...
''.
Christophe Rousset
Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 18 ...
*
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of Fr ...
: ''
Zoroastre
''Zoroastre'' (''Zoroaster'') is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 5 December 1749 by the Opéra in the first Salle du Palais-Royal in Paris. The libretto is by Louis de Cahusac. ''Zoroastre'' was the fourth of Rameau's '' trag ...
Henri Desmarets
Henri Desmarets (February 1661 – 7 September 1741) was a French composer of the Baroque period primarily known for his stage works, although he also composed sacred music as well as secular cantatas, songs and instrumental works.
Biogr ...
Christophe Rousset
Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 18 ...
*
Antonio de Literes
Antoni de Literes (18 June 1673 Majorca – 18 January 1747 Madrid), also known as Antonio de Literes or Antoni Literes Carrión) was a Spanish composer of '' zarzuelas''. As with other national forms of baroque opera, Literes's stage wor ...
: ''
Acis y Galatea
''Acis y Galatea'' is a zarzuela by Antonio de Literes to a libretto by José de Cañizares. It was first performed on 19 December 1708 in Madrid at the theatre in the Buen Retiro Palace for the 25th birthday of King Philip V.Eduardo López Banzo
;2001
*
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he ...
:
Persée
''Persée'' (''Perseus'') is a tragédie lyrique with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully and a libretto by Philippe Quinault, first performed on 18 April 1682 by the Opéra at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris.
Roles
Synopsis
ACT I: The Pal ...
''. Christophe Rousset
*
Francesco Cavalli
Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque music, Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverd ...
Gabriel Garrido Gabriel Garrido is an Argentinian conductor specialising in Italian baroque and the recovery of the baroque musical heritage of Latin America.
Garrido was born 1950 in Buenos Aires, and at the age of 17 with the Argentine recorder quartet, Pro Arte ...
;2003
*
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Giovanni Battista Draghi (; 4 January 1710 – 16 or 17 March 1736), often referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (), was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and organist. His best-known works include his Stabat Mater and the opera ''L ...
: ''
L'Olimpiade
''L'Olimpiade'' is an opera libretto in three acts by Metastasio originally written for an operatic setting by Antonio Caldara of 1733. Metastasio’s plot vaguely draws upon the narrative of "The Trial of the Suitors" provided from Book 6 of '' ...
''.
Ottavio Dantone
Ottavio Dantone (born 9 October 1960) is an Italian conductor and keyboardist (primarily harpsichord and fortepiano) particularly noted for his performances of Baroque music. He has been the music director of the Accademia Bizantina in Ravenna sin ...
;2004
*
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Giovanni Battista Draghi (; 4 January 1710 – 16 or 17 March 1736), often referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (), was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and organist. His best-known works include his Stabat Mater and the opera ''L ...
: ''
Il Flaminio
''Il Flaminio'' is a 1735 opera buffa by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi to a Neapolitan libretto by Gennaro Antonio Federico, first performed at the Teatro Nuovo, Naples. Untypically in Pergolesi's difficult and short career the opera was an immedi ...
''.
Ottavio Dantone
Ottavio Dantone (born 9 October 1960) is an Italian conductor and keyboardist (primarily harpsichord and fortepiano) particularly noted for his performances of Baroque music. He has been the music director of the Accademia Bizantina in Ravenna sin ...
;2005:
*
Francesco Bartolomeo Conti
Francesco Bartolomeo Conti (20 January 1681 or 168219 July 1732) was an Italian composer and player of the mandolin and theorbo. He also wrote the oldest mandolin method book that has survived.
Little is known about the biography of Conti. He wa ...
: ''
Don Quichotte in Sierra Morena
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
''.
René Jacobs
René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946) is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor, but later in his career he became known as a conductor of baroque and classical opera.
Biography Countertenor
Born in Ghent, Jacobs began his music ...
.
;2008:
*
Domenico Scarlatti
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti, also known as Domingo or Doménico Scarlatti (26 October 1685-23 July 1757), was an Italian composer. He is classified primarily as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the deve ...
: ''
Ottavia restituita al trono
Ottavia (/otˈta.vja/) is a Latin origin feminine given name. It is the feminine version of Ottavio and has a variant, Ottaviana. The name means "eighth". Its name day is 20 November in Italy which is celebrated in honor of Saint Ottavio the Martyr ...
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Giovanni Battista Draghi (; 4 January 1710 – 16 or 17 March 1736), often referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (), was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and organist. His best-known works include his Stabat Mater and the opera ''L ...
: ''
Adriano in Siria
''Adriano in Siria'' (''Hadrian in Syria'') is a libretto by Italian poet Metastasio first performed, with music by Antonio Caldara, in Vienna in 1732, and turned into an opera by at least 60 other composers during the next century. Metastasio ...
''.
Ottavio Dantone
Ottavio Dantone (born 9 October 1960) is an Italian conductor and keyboardist (primarily harpsichord and fortepiano) particularly noted for his performances of Baroque music. He has been the music director of the Accademia Bizantina in Ravenna sin ...
.
;2009:
*No premieres - Handel celebration: ''
Ariodante
''Ariodante'' ( HWV 33) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The anonymous Italian libretto was based on a work by Antonio Salvi, which in turn was adapted from Canti 4, 5 and 6 of Ludovico Ariosto's ''Orlando Furioso''. Ea ...
'' F. M. Sardelli; ''
Giulio Cesare
''Giulio Cesare in Egitto'' (; , HWV 17), commonly known as ''Giulio Cesare'', is a dramma per musica ('' opera seria'') in three acts composed by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music in 1724. The libretto was written by Nic ...
'' E. Lopez Banzo; ''
Rinaldo
Rinaldo may refer to:
*Renaud de Montauban (also spelled Renaut, Renault, Italian: Rinaldo di Montalbano, Dutch: Reinout van Montalbaen, German: Reinhold von Montalban), a legendary knight in the medieval Matter of France
* Rinaldo (''Jerusalem Lib ...
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he ...
Les Talens Lyriques
The French musical ensemble Les Talens Lyriques was created in 1991 in Paris, France, by the harpsichordist and orchestral conductor Christophe Rousset. This instrumental and vocal formation derives its name from the subtitle of ''Les fêtes d'Hé ...
, dir
Christophe Rousset
Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 18 ...
Orlando Furioso
''Orlando furioso'' (; ''The Frenzy of Orlando'', more loosely ''Raging Roland'') is an Italian epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was no ...
1714,
Septem verba a Christo ''Septem verba a Christo in cruce moriente prolata'' is a cycle of Good Friday cantatas, based upon Christ's words on the cross attributed to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.L'incoronazione di Dario Dantone
Amadis (Lully)
''Amadis'' or ''Amadis de Gaule'' (Amadis of Gaul) is a ''tragédie en musique'' in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully to a libretto by Philippe Quinault based on Nicolas Herberay des Essarts' adaptation of Garci Rodríguez de Mont ...
Teseo
''Teseo'' ("Theseus", HWV 9; ) is an opera seria with music by George Frideric Handel, the only Handel opera that is in five acts. The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Philippe Quinault's ''Thésée''. It was Hande ...
'' and ''
Serse
''Serse'' (; English title: ''Xerxes''; HWV 40) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was first performed in London on 15 April 1738. The Italian libretto was adapted by an unknown hand from that by Silvio Stampiglia (1 ...
'', Rameau ''
Zaïs ''Zaïs'' is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau first performed on 29 February 1748 at the Opéra in Paris. It takes the form of a ''pastorale héroïque'' in four acts and a prologue. The librettist was Louis de Cahusac.
The score is particularly ...
'' and ''
Castor et Pollux
''Castor et Pollux'' (''Castor and Pollux'') is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 24 October 1737 by the Académie royale de musique at its theatre in the Palais-Royal in Paris. The librettist was Pierre-Joseph-Justin Bernard, ...
''
;2015: 33rd Nicola Porpora ''
Il Trionfo della divina Giustizia ''Il Trionfo della Divina Giustizia'' (Naples 1716) is the second oratorio of Nicola Porpora
Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Porpora (17 August 16863 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque music, Baroque era, whose ...
Zoroastre
''Zoroastre'' (''Zoroaster'') is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 5 December 1749 by the Opéra in the first Salle du Palais-Royal in Paris. The libretto is by Louis de Cahusac. ''Zoroastre'' was the fourth of Rameau's '' trag ...
'', Vivaldi ''
Tamerlano
''Tamerlano'' (Tamerlane, HWV 18) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, adapted from Agostin Piovene's ''Tamerlano'' together with another libretto entitled ''Bajazet'' aft ...
''
;2017: 35th Festival - Alessandro Scarlatti: ''Mitridate'', Handel ''
Ottone
''Ottone, re di Germania'' ("Otto, King of Germany", HWV 15) is an opera by George Frideric Handel, to an Italian–language libretto adapted by Nicola Francesco Haym from the libretto by Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino for Antonio Lotti's opera ...
Giustino (Vivaldi)
''Il Giustino'' ''RV 717'' is a 1724 opera by Vivaldi set to a libretto by Nicolò Beregan, also set by Albinoni and Handel. The opera was composed for the 1724 carnival season in Rome and premiered at the Teatro Capranica.
The aria of Anastasio, ...