St Petersburg, Concert Hall

Les Troyens


epic opera duologue (part I)
(in concert)

Performers

Age category 12+

Credits

Music by Hector Berlioz
Libretto by the composer after motifs from Virgil’s Aeneid
Performed in French
The performance will have synchronised Russian supertitles

SYNOPSIS

Part I. The Capture of Troy

Act I
At the advice of the cunning Ulysses, the Greeks, raising the siege of Troy and abandoning their camp, leave a giant wooden horse that the Trojans take to be a gift to Pallas Athene. Cassandre, daughter of King Priam of Troy, foresees the fall and destruction of Troy and convinces her fiancé Chorèbe to flee from the accursed city. Chorèbe, however, does not believe her predictions and tries to calm his bride.

Act II
The people are praising the gods of Olympus for the salvation of Troy. Priam passes in a procession together with Hйcube, Énée, their suites and warriors. Folk games and rituals begin.
Andromaque, the widow of Hector, together with her son Astyanax, is giving vent to her implacable grief for her warrior husband amidst the general rejoicing.
Énée relates that the priest Laocoön, who has called on the Trojans to burn the wooden horse, has been swallowed up by a sea dragon – this is the wrath of the goddess Athena, enraged at the blasphemy that is occurring.
Priam, ignoring Cassandre's requests, orders the horse be brought to Troy and placed near the temple dedicated to Athena. At the same time, form the horse's belly comes the sound of clanking weapons, but the Trojans take this to be a good sign and triumphantly drag the statue towards the city. In despair, Cassandre observes the procession.

Act III
Scene 1. Énée's palace.
The ghost of the murdered Hector appears before Énée, who has foreseen the destruction of Troy, and orders him to flee the city and seek Italy, where he is to establish a new Troy – Rome.
Panthée brings news of the Greeks who have entered the city in the stomach of the horse and who are destroying it. Chorèbe, Énée's son, calls on Troy to be defended, and he heads the warriors.

Scene 2. Priam's palace.
The women are praying at the altar of Cybele, begging the goddess to help their husbands. Cassandre relates that Énée and the other Trojan warriors have saved the treasures of King Priam and led the people out of the fortress. She predicts that Énée and the other Trojans that remain alive will found a new city in Italy. At the same time, she relates that Chorèbe has died and takes the decision to destroy herself. The Trojan women admit that Cassandre's predictions have come true, and they made a fateful error in not listening to her. Then Cassandre calls on them to join her in death so that they do not become slaves of the victorious Greeks.


Musical Preparation: Natalia Mordashova
Principal Chorus Master: Andrei Petrenko

 


Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Any use or copying of site materials, design elements or layout is forbidden without the permission of the rightholder.
user_nameExit

The highlighting of performances by age represents recommendations.

This highlighting is being used in accordance with Federal Law N436-FZ dated 29 December 2010 (edition dated 1 May 2019) "On the protection of children from information that may be harmful to their health"