Médée

Even among contemporaries, there were voices of the highest praise: without a doubt, Marc-Antoine Charpentier's "Médée" was the work after the death of Lully - the founder of French opera at the time of the Sun King - in which a special skill is revealed.

In view of this "Médée", one can learn a lot about the art of composition, about the organic interaction of text and music, about the visualization of a multi-layered tragic event, whose grandeur and power know how to touch immediately. Charpentier's opera is unique in its combination of French classicism with Italian melodic beauty, singular also in its richness of expression and tone color. Each character gains a sharp profile, as does the drama itself, which is staged by Peter Sellars, with bridges from mythical times into the present, once again underlining how current and effective the ancient Greek mythical world is for us.