At The Opera, Gustav Charpentier: Louise, March 24, 2018
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Louise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists.
The opera depicts Parisian working-class life. However the city itself is in many ways the true star of this very atmospheric work – invoked at various points during the opera. A French example of verismo opera, it tells the story of the love between Louise, a seamstress living with her parents in Paris, and Julien, a young artist. It is the story of a young girl's desire for freedom (associated in her mind with her lover and the city of Paris).
Cast:
Louise – Ileana Cotrubas
Julien – Placido Domingo
The mother – Jane Berbie
The father – Gabriel Bacquier
New Philharmonia
Georges Pretre – conductor
8:00 p.m.
Pietro Mascagni
Cavalleria rusticana, opera Intemezzo
Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony; Ondrej Lenard, conductor
8:11 p.m.
Cotrubas / Domingo
Charpentier
Louise
; Pretre, conductor
11:25 p.m.
Giuseppe Verdi
Verdi's Great Opera Hits