Organization

Singer

Soprano

Anna Prohaska

Aricie

Mezzo-soprano

Magdalena Kožená

Phèdre

Adriane Queiroz

Oenone

Elsa Dreisig

Diane

Tenor

Reinoud Van Mechelen

Hippolyte

Bass

Gyula Orendt

Thésée

Peter Rose

Pluton

Jupiter

Roman Trekel

Tisiphone

Sarah Aristidou

La Grande-Prêtresse de Diane

Slávka Zámečníková

Une Chasseresse

Serena Sáenz

Une bergère

Baritone

Michael Smallwood

Mercure

Conductor

Simon Rattle

Stage director

Aletta Collins

Set designer

Olafur Eliasson

Lighting designer

Olaf Freese

Choreographer

Chorus master

Martin Wright

Dramaturge

Detlef Giese

Costume designer

Une Matelote

David Oštrek

Linard Vrielink

1. Parque

Arttu Kataja

2. Parque

Jan Martinik

3. Parque

State Opera Berlin

Orchestra

Freiburger Barockorchester

Others

Staatsopernchor Berlin

French

Hippolyte et Aricie -  (Hippolytus and Aricia)

Berlin

Germany

Staatsoper Unter den Linden

Apollo-Saal

Hippolyte et Aricie by Jean-Philippe Rameau, from Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, 2018. Directed by Andreas Morell, conductor Sir Simon Rattle. Starring Anna Prohaska, Magdalena Kožená, Elsa Dreisig, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Gyula Orendt, Peter Rose, Roman Trekel. Performed in French.

Jean-Philippe Rameau is now one of the most celebrated opera composers of all time—but he didn’t make his debut in the genre until he was nearly fifty! Already highly respected as a music theorist and harpsichord composer, his encounter with Montéclair’s Jephté in 1732 ignited a burst of creative energy that Rameau would forge into dozens of now-beloved operas, the very first of which was 1733’s Hippolyte et Aricie.

For this first foray into the dominant musical genre in Europe, Rameau enlisted Jephté librettist Simon-Joseph Pellegrin, who based the new tragédie en musique on Racine’s Phèdre (itself rooted in classics by Seneca and Euripides). The tormented, almost impossible love between Hippolyte (son of Athenian king Theseus) and Aricie (daughter of the king’s enemy), served as the narrative backdrop upon which Rameau broke with operatic conventions and sparked a scandal in the operatic milieu. The public was split into more conservative Lullistes, who saw Rameau's music as a threat to the forms established by court favorite Lully, and Ramistes, who prized Rameau’s innovations in harmony, orchestration and ornament—among them composer André Campra, who declared of Hippolyte et Aricie that “there is enough music in this opera to make ten of them; this man will eclipse us all.”

Nearly 300 years later, Hippolyte et Aricie’s place in the repertoire—like Rameau’s place in opera history—is no longer in question, though it is certainly still capable of causing a stir. This 2018 production unites an impeccable cast—including Anna Prohaska as Aricie and Reinoud Van Mechelen as Hippolyte—with Sir Simon Rattle and the Freiburger Barockorchester, one of the world's most prestigious baroque orchestras, in a bold new staging that sparked lively controversy with its striking modernity.

Hippolyte et Aricie Rameau

Public

Hippolytus and Aricia

German

English

Approved

Watch full performance here: Hippolyte et Aricie (2018)

Hippolyte et Aricie by Jean-Philippe Rameau, from Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, 2018. Directed by Andreas Morell, conductor Sir Simon Rattle. Starring Anna Prohaska, Magdalena Kožená, Elsa Dr

Hippolyte et Aricie - Preview clip

Opera | J. P. Rameau : Hippolyte et Aricie, Staatsoper Unter den Linden

Hippolyte et Aricie

Götter und Menschen – die Begegnung der Ewigen mit den Sterblichen ist oft spannungsreich und wenig vorsehbar. Die beiden Paare in Rameaus Tragédie lyrique – Hippolyte und Aricie, Thésée und Phèdre – erfahren die Macht der Götter am eigenen Leib, durch das Eingreifen von Diana, Jupiter, Pluto und Neptun. Zugleich brechen permanent seelische Regungen aus ihnen hervor, kaum beherrschbare Emotionen, gegen die alle Vernunft nichts auszurichten vermag. Verbotene Leidenschaften lodern auf, und die Liebe sucht sich ihren Weg nach ganz eigenen Gesetzen.

Idylle, Geheimnis und Schrecken walten in gleichem Maße, im Wald, am Meer oder in der Unterwelt. Farbenreich und voller Kontraste ist Rameaus Musik, mit einer Vielzahl an Klängen, Formen und Ausdrucksmomenten. Tiefer Ernst paart sich mit leichtfüßigem Entertainment, lyrische Innerlichkeit mit dramatischen Zuspitzungen – ein Kosmos tut sich auf, der den Schatz der griechischen Mythen ebenso offenbart wie den Zauber des französischen Barock.

Deutsch

Gods and humans - the encounter between the eternal and the mortal is often tense and unpredictable. The two couples in Rameau's tragédie lyrique - Hippolyte and Aricie, Thésée and Phèdre - experience the power of the gods first hand, through the intervention of Diana, Jupiter, Pluto and Neptune. At the same time, mental impulses constantly break out of them, emotions that can hardly be controlled and against which all reason can do nothing. Forbidden passions flare up and love finds its own way according to its own laws.

Idyll, mystery and horror reign in equal measure, in the forest, by the sea or in the underworld. Rameau's music is rich in color and full of contrasts, with a multitude of sounds, forms and moments of expression. Deep seriousness is paired with light-footed entertainment, lyrical introspection with dramatic escalations - a cosmos opens up that reveals the treasure of Greek myths as well as the magic of French Baroque.

Hippolytus and Aricia by Rameau, From (2018/2018), Directed by Aletta Collins,, Conductor Simon Rattle, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, Germany

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