Sémélé

Description

"For lovers of baroque splendor, here is reissued, a masterpiece that remained in the shadows for nearly three centuries, the opera Sémélé by Marin Marais, with the Concert Spirituel conducted by Hervé Niquet." For this 2007 recording, reissued here in a new presentation, Hervé Niquet at the head of the Concert Spirituel, resurrects Sémélé by Marin Marais. Best known for his music for the viola da gamba, Marais was also the author of several lyrical tragedies composed for the Académie royale de Musique. Sémélé, created in 1709, is the last opera of one of the greatest composers of the reign of Louis XIV. Sémélé contains a brilliant prologue in honor of Bacchus, airs that seduce with their innovation, an inspired infernal scene, varied and characterized entertainments... and even an earthquake foreshadowing the final pages of Rameau.