La Belle au bois dormant (Inclus Livre)

Description

Well forgotten today, the composer Charles Silver was one of Jules Massenet’s most promising students, whose elegance of style and effective dramatic gesture he mastered. His opera La Belle au bois dormant, inspired by Perrault, bears witness to this through its colorful, lively, and surprisingly modern music: Puccini is not so far away. The libretto enriches the original tale with delightful comic touches, embodied by the characters Jacotte and Barnabé, who bring a light counterpoint to the fairy-tale plot. Successfully performed in Marseille in 1902, the work unfortunately did not benefit from a Paris premiere, which slowed its spread despite a warmly received revival at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. Accessible, refined, and driven by a universal subject, this score deserves a second chance to be given to it so that it may—who knows—perhaps win back its place on international opera stages.